It has been a while...

Hi there,

Long time no see!

More than two years ago, I've posted the last message on this weblog, after that.....silence. But only on this blog, not on the other ones. So we are still here!

A lot of things have happened during those years. Almost stopped with the adoptionprocess, that was the toughest one. And we did write about that, but only on the Dutch version of this blog.

That's why I am leaving this last message here.

We do have our Dutch weblog: adoptielog.blogspot.com and we still write there on a regular base.

Specially for you, the English readers, I have made a translate button on the Dutch weblog, so if you are interested, go check it out and catch up on reading.

Just choose your language in the top right of the screen and hit the translate button. At that moment you can read in very er... 'creative' English sentences what is going on in our lives.

Hope to see you on the other side on our dutch weblog!

http://adoptielog.blogspot.com

CCAA update

It's time for another CCAA update again:

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before May 31, 2006.

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before November 14, 2005.

This is good news, OUR DOCUMENTS HAVE PASSED THROUGH THE REVIEW!!!

This means that the CCAA has approved our documents. We had no calls or questions about our documents, so everything is just fine! Our files have moved to the next stack now, the stack of documents to-be-matched. And that's a huuuge stack.

The number of days waiting for the review
How long do you have to wait from the login date until the documents have passed the review stage?

This chart is here for the last time, since we are through the review. As you can see in the blue line, the last month went really fast through the review! I hope this is representative for the matching as well!!

Number of days waiting for the matching

The same story, waiting time is still going up. But, as the blue line shows, in this period, they managed to process more documents in one day, compared to the previous period. So let's hope they will continue to do that!

Number of days of documents matched
How many days of a loginmonth are matched?

Seven days. Not much. Now it seems that November is quite a large batch.

Maybe I'll check the relation with the time it takes to go through the review, compared with the time through the matching. If it takes a month a long (or short) time to be reviewed, is that also the case for the matching then?

Hm, I feel a new chart coming up!

We expect:

- documents reviewed: July 5, 2007
- documents matched: October 2008

The site Adoptionforecast predicts September 5, 2008.

Here are some more little things:

- we still need 177 days to be matched
- we are almost halfway there! 47.63 percent to be exact.
- in May 2006 the waitingtime was 342 days, now 596 days
- the very worst prediction is September 2009
- the very best prediction is January 2008

We'll see what CCAA will tell us next time, let's hope it is good news!

CCAA update

CCAA has published another update again:

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before November 7, 2005.

It's very disappointing again. First there were several positive rumors about a large batch this time, but as you can see, it is NOT. Six days is not much at all, so the possible date for our matching travels further into the future, again...

Number of days waiting for the matching

It's getting a bit boring, the waiting time keeps going up and up. It doesn't surprise me at all that the CCAA has told others that the waitingtime could increase to 3 years. Let's hope we will not see that happen!!!

Although they matched the same number of days as the previous time, it took a longer time, so the little blue line in the charts drops down. When o when will there be some positive news....

Number of days of documents matched
How many days of a loginmonth are matched?

The previous time I thought that the matching process would follow the same pattern as last year. But unfortunately this didn't happen. Same number of days in a longer time. That sucks!!

We expect:

- documents reviewed: according to the predictions, this has already happened
- documents matched: end of October 2008

The site Adoptionforecast predicts July 31, 2008.

Our own prediction is much further into the future, because the last few matching rounds have the focus in the calculations. These have been very slow, so that's why the predictions shoots forward into time. I hope this will corect itself later.

There's one big advantage though! We don't have to worry about the Olympics anymore, by that time they are DONE and OVER!

Sigh.

1 Year Documents in China

A very tiny cake to celebrate the fact that our documents are in China now, for 1 year already. Or well...'celebrate'. It doesn't feel like a celebration.

That's why the candle on the cake isn't burning.

We feel that we have to think about this milestone. But at the same time, we don't want to. Kind of a double feeling. What do we have to celebrate now? That we have 1 year of waiting behind us? That there is at least one year ahead of us? And that this can change every other day?

We can celebrate that we are already one year on our way to our child from China. Of course, we celebrate that. It keeps us going, that eventually, there will be a 'reward' for us, that our dream will come true, some day. Looking back, we have a whole year of waiting behin dus, that's quite some time.

Looking back, that year seems very short, as if it went by in a very short time. But looking forward...it all seems so long. Imagine that we are climbing a mountain. Looking ahead, we see the top of the mountain in the far distance, towering high above us. Far in the distance, we see our China child waving at us. That's where we have to go, but boy, what a steep climb it will be.

Looking back, we look down the mountain. That's what we already have climbed. And looking downward, it all seems more easy and faster. That too was a steep climb, but it looks less difficult now, compared to looking up.

So we are enjoying the view on this spot of the mountain. Resting a bit. And then, we tighten the ropes again and start our climb again. We keep up the spirit, will probably stumble upon some loose rocks and glide back down a bit. But we keep climbing.

And then, eventually, we'll reach the top, plant our flag and take our beautifulk child back home. And then...

Then it is REALLY time to start Celebrating!

CCAA update

CCAA has published another update again:

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before November 1, 2005.

Okay, at least they have processed more days than the previous month, but that wasn't very hard to do that. I think we were lucky to see this update on the CCAA site anyway, since there are plans not to provide this kind of information on their website anymore. From now on, the adoption agency can log in on the CCAA website for a monthly fee, and find all the information there.

So maybe, in the future there will be no more information from CCAA and then we have to look for messages on RumorQueen and messages from our own adoption agency Wereldkinderen. That shouldn't be any problem though.

Let's check the charts:

Number of days waiting for the matching

Ah well, the usual. Going upper-ti-up! No need to go into detail here....

Number of days of documents matched
How many days of a loginmonth are matched?

It seems that CCAA is following the same pattern as previous year. In March 2006 an all time low on number of days, same in 2007. Now it is going up again, as it was in 2006. So if the pattern cpntinues, next month there will be another increase. Let's hope so!

We expect:

- documents reviewed: according to the predictions, this has already happened
- documents matched: end of July 2008

The site Adoptionforecast predicts June 13, 2008.

So it all moves another month into the future again. The Olympic Games are getting in the way now. That will also mean, that we have to start saving some more money, according to the latest news from our adoption agency:

'We'd like to inform you that the costs in China (especially the hotels) are increasing slowly but surely, because of the Olympics.'

Hm, let's see if we can start some project to raise some money! Anyone wants to sponsor us?

Taking it slow

As you've might have noticed, the frequency of my posts is low lately. (As if I am the CCAA! ;-)

To be honest, I was thinking about stopping with the English version of this adoptionlog. I was doing some double work here. I maintained THIS weblog, plus the Dutch version!

I like to write on my weblog, but it just took too much of my time. After all, I have my personal life besides 'adoption'. One of my new year resolutions was, to pay more attention and time to the things around me, that are the most important. My wife, my family, my personal development. In order to change that balance, I have to compensate that time with other things. Maintaining this weblog is one of them.

It doesn't mean I'm removing this weblog. I will post once in a while the most important things about our adoption process, but all the extra's...well...I'll stick only to the Dutch version for that.

I got your messages, telling me that you look out for news from us. It's nice to find out that you all care about us. So that's the main reason that I'll keep posting the most important adoption related stuff. But for the extra's, you can check out the Dutch weblog. (After learning Dutch. ;-)

But I promise, I will keep you all informed. Although lately the news is not so great to write about. :-( But please do come back once in a while! I'll not forget you!

Thanks for your concern and interest, till next time!!

CCAA update

Okay, it has been a while ago, but here is another CCAA update. Not something to be happy about....

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before October 26, 2005.

ONLY TWO %#((^@#^( DAYS!!!!

This is the lowest number since I started keeping track of them. Two days!! TWO! This bad, BAD news.

Let's check the charts:

Number of days waiting for the matching

Going up, up, UP! Look at the little blue line in the chart. If that one goes up, it means that CCAA works harder and processes more files compared to the previous month. But as you can see, the line really crashes downwards. It's an all-time low!!

They processed TWO DAYS of files in 1 month time!! That's horrible!! That's slow! That's frightening....

Number of days of documents matched
How many days of a loginmonth are matched?

Look very closely at the little bar on the right, you might just miss it, because of its size. Only 2 days!! 2 DAYS!! TWO!!!

How is this possible? There are many rumors about the reason. One is, that there were an extreme high number of registrations in that period, plus a larhe part of the employees were sick. But still...two days. Man, that's very depressing.

We expect:

- documents reviewed: according to the predictions, this has already happened
- documents matched: end of May 2008

The site Adoptionforecast predicts May 24, 2008.

Things like these, make waiting very hard for us. We are getting serious doubts here, will we ever get a child form China anyway? What will happen in the future? When will it be our turn? 2008? 2009 maybe? What kind of impact will have the Olympic Games on our waiting period? Will China be closed for adoption in the future?

That's the worst part of it. WE DON'T KNOW. It will always be a guess. And that sure costs a lot of energy.

There is a saying: 'Good things take time.' Well, if it takes that long, we'll defintely get the most beautiful, smartest, healthiest child in the entire world!!

In the meantime...we wait.
Again.

CCAA update

Again CCAA has matched and reviewed another batch of files:

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before March 31, 2006.

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before October 24, 2005.

That means a lot this time. First for people we know, Chantalle and Mischa are through the matching now, and can expect a call in the coming weeks! And Anja and Edwin are through the review now.

But...we are NOT reviewed yet! Too bad, and the CCAA has matched very few files this time, I hope they'll catch up!

Meanwhile, I've adjusted the graphs again and also the way I calculate everything, I found a few errors, which I (hopefully) solved.

The number of days waiting for the review
How long do you have to wait from the login date until the documents have passed the review stage?

Now for the review the waitingtime is rising as well. Look at the new blue line in the chart. It shows the number of days/files they process during 1 day. The lower the line, the slower they work. So if the line rises, it means that they work harder! When the line comes above level 1, it means that they process more than one day of iles, which means that the waiting time is decreasing!

Conclusion:
In this case, the waiting time has increaed again and they process less and less days of files.

Number of days waiting for the matching

Here, you can see the blue line again. As you can see, the line was going up for hte last months, which means that they processed more days of files compared with the previous batch. But now you see a sudden drop, so they processed a lot less than beforen.

Maybe the Chinese Newyear is the cause of this. We'll see next time what will happen.

Number of days of documents matched
How many days of a loginmonth are matched?

Well, less and less each time. Not so nice to see that. I just hope this will be temporary...

We expect:

- documents reviewed: March 2007
- documents matched: April 2008

The site Adoptionforecast predicts March 14, 2008.

Well, another month to wait, we'll see what will happen next time. Until then, we wait...

She's baaahaaaack!

It's been a while that I have posted something, but it has also been a while, that we saw Angelina Jolie adopting a baby. Well, don't worry, she's going for it again! This time from Vietnam!

Enjoy her latest episode in the 'Wombraider' series...

CCAA update

It's CCAA time again, CCAA has matched some more documents again:

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before March 22, 2006.

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before October 13, 2005.

Another 16 days of matched documents and also the review has been updated again. They took some time to do that, I don't think our files will be reviewed this month...

Here are the charts again:

The number of days waiting for the review
How long do you have to wait from the login date until the documents have passed the review stage?

I think we still have to wait a bit longer, the waiting time is 309 days, that's about 10 months. Next time maybe eleven months? I don't think we will get reviewed this month February...

Number of days processing time for a loginmonth for the review
How long does it take for the documents of a certain loginmonth to pass the review department?

Hm, as you can see it took a lot longer this time, And for the coming period, there's Chinese New Year, so they'll have some days off. I expect they will take more time for the coming reviews.

Number of days waiting for the matching

Still going up, but not so strong. They keep the pace steady, they're not falling behind. (yet). This has some nice consequences, because our matching date is coming closer and closer...

Number of days of documents matched
How many days of a loginmonth are matched?

Another big two weeks again. I hope they keep this up! (Actually, I hope they crank up the tempo here. Come on you guys, step on it!)

For every chart, click on it to see a bigger version.

We expect:

- documents reviewed: March/April 2007
- documents matched: June/July 2008

The site Adoptionforecast predicts March 1st, 2008 for us. That's two days sooner than before! Very nice!

So, well, I think my calculations aren't that correct, but I don't care, I just love to look at the charts. And it's also nice to see that the possible matching date is slowly getting sooner and sooner. Some time ago, we thought it would be somewhere in December 2008. Now we are looking at June/July. I wonder what it will be next time!

Anyway, we're looking forward to the next matching period...

I've been tagged!

Oh no! I've been tagged by a fellow blogger on the weblog 'Dumplings, Three'! Now she has given me the impossible task to list 6 things that are strange about me.

At first I thought that was easy, but the more I think about it, the more difficult it gets! But...after a couple of sleepless nights I've come up with a list.

So behold...6 strange facts about myself:

1.
Each Saturday morning I write down the measurements of the energy meters in our house. So I register the water, gas and electricity measurements. Then I put them in an Excel sheet and I can see our water and energy usage in a chart. Many people think that's a bit exaggerated to do that, but I like to look at cool and nifty charts, and get aware of our energy usage at the same time. And at the long run, it saves money on the electricity bill! Ha!

2.
Place a bag of delicious 'drop' near me, and it will mysteriously disappear. At that same moment I gain some weight, twice the weight of that bag. Don't ask me why or how, it just happens!

3.
People who know me, see me as a nice, quiet, shy, peaceful guy, who cares about people and the world we live on. And that's what I am. Really. But ... then they find out about my 'other side'. Mwuhahah! I love to watch the most gory, bloody, scary horror movies, I like playing violent computergames and I enjoy listening to loud, noisy death/nu/doom/black/stoner metal. A weird combination, I know. But I truly am a nice guy. Really!

4.
I can wiggle my thumbs in such a way, that they kind of get dislocated or locked. It looks gross, but it doesn't hurt at all. I really like it, to make people press on my thumb, so they can feel it snap into place again. When they respond by a loud: 'EEEEEWWWWWW!', then I am a happy man.

5.
Toiletpaper hanging from a roll, always has to be OFF the wall. Not against it, see the picture to find out what I mean. When I encounter an incorrect roll of toiletpaper, I instantly change its position into the right one. No matter where I am.

6.
Actually, I'm over it now, but I have been afraid of turkeys. Yes, I do mean these ugly, horrible, dangerous, wild, vicious, mean, clucking, gobbling, raving mad, set for world domination, big birds!! When I was a young kid, a nasty experience at a pet farm with one of these deadly creatures altered my perception about these horrible beasts. I still don't like them, but I don't avoid them anymore. Thanks to my wife I 'learned to live with them'.

Phew! It was fun to look for strange things about myself, but I can conclude, I'm quite a normal guy actually....

Many weblogs I read already have been tagged by the original 'tagster', but if you read this and have a weblog, consider yourself TAGGED!! Let me know about your weirdest qualities and post a link to them in the comments.

Good luck!

Digging downwards....

When I was a little guy, I wondered, if I dig really deep into the ground, straight through the earth, where would I end up? Probably somewhere in Australia, they are called our 'tegenvoeters' (below feeters) here in Holland.

In the USA most of the people think they end up in China. I wish I would end up in China if I started digging!

That would be very nice. Suppose I'll start digging today, in our backyard. By the time that I reach China, it is also time to go there, to pick up our child! It sure saves on the costs of flying. Just perfect!

Fortunately there are handy tools which calculate the destination perfectly if you dig through the Earth. I did a few tests immediately, to see if it is all true:

Starting in Hong Kong, you'll pop out of the ground somewhere in the upper North of Argentina...

This map shows it in a very clear way:

And well, when I start digging in Beijing, I'll probably reach South-America as well...and yes, again I emerge in Argentina!

Too bad, that means there isn't a chance that I will reach China by digging a hole in our backyard. So where do I end up anyway? Somewhere in a huge and deep ocean near...

New-Zealand!

Better not dig there then! Before knowing it, I'd flood The Netherlands!

But that doesn't keep me from digging in China though. When we go there for our child, I'll certainly want to take some sand with me, from the homecountry, or maybe from the finding place or the orphanage. Put it in a nice small bottle. I think that's just special....

Relaxing advice

As most of you know, adopting can be quite intens, it can create a lot of stress. The waiting and all the uncertainty during the adoptionprocess can even create some sleepless nights.

So once in a while, it can be very healthy to take away all those thoughts away from the adoptionprocess. And when you can do some fun things at the same time, that's great too!

And that is why I found myself in the middle of a SAUNA, for the very first time of my life. A whole new way of relaxing for me. In the beginning it was not so relaxing though, it doesn't happen every day that I stand in my Adam's costume among complete strangers.

But really, this is relaxing on a high level! Sweating in the sauna, cooling down, swimming, reading near an open fire, having a delicious lunch and then start all over again. I can recommend this! You just sweat out all the stress, it's great. I've never thought that I would actually like this, but I do now!

And of course, I wondered, how does China cope with saunas? Well, I couldn't find much about it. Yes, the weather in China is like a sauna. Hot and humid, I found that out personally in Yangshuo, where the sweat just flew out of my body, like miniature waterfalls....

After searching the Internet I could only find a company selling saunas from China. EAnd furthermore only references to prostitution! A raid in a gay sauna', prostitution in Shenyang in hotels, massageparlors and saunas, about free condomns in saunas for preventing AIDS. Also in Shanghai there are 'special' saunas. And on usenet an exclusive report about visiting prostitutes in Hongkong (18+), in several places, like...indeed, saunas.

Hm, maybe next time when we are in China, it's better to stay away from a sauna!

Maybe that this guy can make a sauna out of his home. While cleaning the floor with a wet towel, he noticed steam coming from the floor. The floor was even so hot, that he could boil an egg in 10 minutes! Noone knows why his floor is so hot, but if he is smart, he'd better build a sauna there.

So we can visit him in China for a nice day of relaxing...

CCAA update

It is that time again, CCAA has matched some more documents again:

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before September 27, 2005.

Okay, 19 days have been matched this time. That's more than the previous time. So that is good news, however the coming months will take more time. September was a quit month, compared to the next two months.

Number of days waiting for the matching
It is till very clear, the waiting time is still going up. But less steep though. Just trying to see something positive about it.

Number of days of documents matched
How many days of a loginmonth are matched?
As I have said before, it is higher compared to the previous matchings. But the next two months were very busy onths, with a lot of documents. So I expect that the number of days will get lower for the next time...

We expect:

- documents reviewed: February/March 2007
- documents matched: June/August 2008

The site Adoptionforecast still predicts March 2008 for us. But now it is March 3d, so more in the beginning of the month. That's good!

Looking back and forward

1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10! Yep, all my fingers are still on my hand, the fireworks went just fine, I'm still alive. ;-)

At the end of the year, you can see all these lists and flashbacks at the previous year. On TV, in newspapers. So I don't want to stay behind! So here is a look back and forward in time.

The previous year.

At the beginning of 2006 we were still busy with the meetings with the social workers of the agency of Child Protection. We didn't worry much if we would get the approval to adopt. (But at the same time we were also nervous! You never know!) But then in March, we finally got the approval for adopting a child. That was an important moment!

Then the real work started. Collecting all the documents and sending them to China. At April 27th the documents were in the mail and at May 10th our files were logged in at the CCAA. Then it was time for the Big Waiting. At that moment the waitingtime was 11 months.

In the beginning we were still optimistic, but slowly it became clear to us that the waitingtime was getting longer. And longer. And longer. And now, at the end of the year, the waitingtime is about 16 months and still rising.

However, looking back, 2006 has passed rather quick. We have 7 months of waiting behind us, that is already a lot of time! We have done many nice things in those days. Had a great holiday, met a lot of nice people who were also adopting. Our life has become richer, we have expanded our world with a new culture, a better connection with China. That's also very valuable.

But there were also not so great things. They are private, so I will not write them on this weblog, but the people who know about it, know what I am talking about. In short, those were really %#$@^-moments.

Now, at the end of 2006, we can say it was a tough year, but at the same time a great year. We learned to appreciate the small things in life, things you take for granted, the little things. Knowing that our thoughts went out to China a lot, but that the world close at our home deserves our attention as well.

And that takes me to:

The new year.

It's going to be a very hard year. To be honest, we are quite sure that we will not become parents in 2007. That's just not possible, so we are looking at an empty babyroom for another year. And looking at the ever increasing waitingtime. No fun at all. Plus the previous mentioned private things. They will be on the foreground even more for this new year. A lot of uncertainty is ahead of us...

But I hope also a lot of good thing! In the new year, the focus will be on ourselves and on the people around us.

Some of these people will becaome parents, in the adoptive way and in the biological way. We will be a witness of that and I hope we can enjoy these moments a lot. Sharing the joy, and there where needed, support each other and give hope.

New people will come into our lives, who knows what kind of contacts we will find, that is also nice to look forward to.

And we, ourselves, are on the edge of some big moments in our lives. Personal develeopment, important choices, maybe this year it is time to start working on ourselves. On fysical level (loosing weight), but also on spiritual level. Paying attention to our own persons, in stead of China.

But China will still be a part of our life! And this next year we will certainly be busy with our adoption, China, our child, you name it. A holiday to China is not an option this time, but we will definitely visit another beautiful country. Maybe back to the UK, or going to Norway, another country we always wanted to go to. A last vacation with just the two of us. Or just going away for 1 day.

And for the rest, a lot of waiting. We'll try to make the best of it, we just get through the year day by day. Before we know it, we are already looking back at 2007!

We wish you all a beautiful new year, filled with love, strength, hope and joy!!