Good Morning Everyone and welcome the Saturday Morning Chat Group!
We are having some very rainy weather here. The skies are all gray and it looks like it's going to be an indoor weekend to me. Which isn't easy with Eli because he likes to be out on the move. I'm hoping it will clear up this afternoon.
Gas prices went nuts here yesterday because of the hurricane. People waited in lines as our gas prices went up over 50 cents a gallon.
Please pray for our friends in Texas. Ike has hit Galveston and looks to be amazingly powerful.
Alyson and Ford have been on my mind. They are in China to bring home their daughter Alyzabeth. If you would like to follow their journey, their blog is 'Imagine Alyzabeth An'.
*THE CHATROOM IS NOW CLOSED, HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Good Morning Everyone and Welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
157 comments:
hehe how sad am I sitting hear listening to your blog music!
Hey there Chelley, hold on just a sec...I'm trying to get the post right. How are you doing?
Well LOL for the first time in a month!!
hello girlies..
Well just wanted to say hello..
Off to work..
I will be watching for sure..
Hugs..
Have a Great Weekend..
Stop by my blog and give me some idea's... hugs..
Good Morning Kim,
Have a great day at work. I'll check out your blog.
What's up with you Chelley?
good morning friends
Hi there Amy.
hmmm Kim I am not sure will have to put my thinking cap on
Hi Amy
It's is early, I haven't had my coffee yet.
It's an ugly rainy day here.
in the last month
3 rounds of gastro
3 chest infections
2 cases of hand foot and mouth
5 heads of LICE ICK!!
1 case of ring worm
2 eye infections
LOL
No sunshine hear either.
RMJ did you get my email about the Starfish collections?
Oh Chelley,
That is awful! You poor woman. Where did all of this come from? The children's school?
I did Amy. You had said that a boyscout was taking donations for Starfish and would mail your box. I think that is wonderful! How cute of him. How did he hear about the Starfish babes?
Well some from the foster kids day care and some from the kids school a little from preschool and well the rest who knows.. This is the first weekend we have not had someone to a doctor
I hope that you guys enjoy this weekend Chelley. You poor thing.
I dont know. Amanda told me about him and his family. Thats going to save a lot of money! How are you doing?
How close are you to TX and Ike?
I am far from Texas, but I just checked the weather channel and Ike hit Galveston and looks just huge. I hope everyone is ok.
It really looks huge on radar and I saw a photo taken from space its just makes you feel ill for the people in its path
I'm looking at photos on weather.com and it is devastating.
I don't know why so many people did not evacuate.
Did I tell you that my parcel that I sent to starfish a year and a half ago
landed back in in Australia last week!
I dont know either. I heard the warning soooo many times here in Atlanta, I guess people didnt think it would be that bad
I bet they thought it wasnt going to be as bad... After the whole thing that happened with Gustva
Are you guys supposed to get any rain or wind from it Amy?
Its cloudy but I dont know if its from Ike or not!!!
It look like Georgia is not in the projected path. We are though, eventually. The rain we've been having is from Hannah, so it looks like more rain will come with Ike.
We don't get winds though, should just be rain by the time it gets here.
Stay safe, what are you doing this weekend?
nighty night girls I am off to bed!!
I hope you dont get too wet!!!
byye
I think the posts are getting posted kind of slowly today!!!
RMJ, your book is getting mailed this week. WoohOo
I don't know what we are going to do. I guess hang around the house today since it's rainy.
If it was nice I would have taken Eli to the zoo with Kelly/Truly blessed and her girls and some other friends, but it's definitely not a good day for that.
Good morning to all you lovely young women out there.
Just thought I shoud say a quick hello.
Not going to stay and chat with you gals (could never take the heat from all of you0.
Hope you have a great weekend.
Looks like it will bet wet and cool here.
Good day to take a nap.
Be safe in what ever you do and God Bless!!!
Good morning Kimberley, Amy & Chelley.
It's a gray day in W. Michigan. The news coverage of Hurricane Ike was frightening. But (and this is REALLY bad of me) I almost wish some of those moron TV reporters had gotten swept away -- what kind of idiot stands that close to the ocean when there is a HURRICANE bearing down on them? Doesn't mandatory evacuation mean everyone should leave? I'm sorry, I was so mad at Geraldo last night - he wants an award for journalism so bad that he put all of his staff and crew in danger just so he could be 200 feet from the Gulf. what an idiot!
As for the 90,000 other people who refused to leave, I cannot imagine why (stupidity, fear, refusal to believe that the gov't knows anything) -- and THEY put the rescue teams in danger by refusing to leave when they should have -- they should get a whopping huge bill for rescue services, IMHO.
Whew. I sound angry this morning! I'm really not, but this pushed a hot button I suppose.
Sleep Well Chelley!
I saw a photo of a couple carrying their 3 small children down the street in over 3 feet of water. I really don't get it.
The girls are up, have to get them some breakfast, and me some coffee!
Back in a few.....
Ok, I'll be here.
Oh, I didn't notice that Mr. Brian jumped on. Good Morning Mr. Brian if you are still around to see this...I hope you have a great day!
Any good baby names Amy?
Good Morning - Alyson & Ford here.
We are in Beijing and getting ready for bed! Thank you for all your love and bloggy hugs! All is well; we are anxious to get to CQ on Monday. Tuesday is "Forever Family" day.
I dont think we have any good ones on our floor but I did snoop around and found a name on another floor
Inyomamma and then I saw Areolard
cant make those up
Hi there guys! I have been thinking about you!!!
How cool that you are on the chat from Beijing.
Oh, I cannot wait to see you with Alyzabeth.
It sounds like you are having a great time.
Hey Aly & Ford -- loving following your journey!
Alyzabeth is going to have the BEST documented "journey to Alyzabeth" of any kid in the world! That is SO cool!
Good night, hope you're enjoying your time in Beijing!
We are having a good time; the time change is not too bad as we were so tired from being up 24 hours, we slept great last night. CCAI kept us busy with tours of Beijing today (it is 8:55 p.m. here).
I need to go as we just got back to the hotel and need to Skype family. It works great (and free too!).
Just wanted to say hi and tell you it is as wonderful as you can imagine!
Have a great day you two. I am so happy for you.
Amy, your names always crack me up. I know you aren't making them up, but there is a certain amount of ....incredulity that they're actually real!
Yes, we are posting alot of videos that are "unpolished". It helps as a back up if by chance we lose the camcorder (my family is downloading as our back up); we know we probably put too much "out there".
Thank you, thank you again for helping us during the wait!
Alyson
I should not have been snooping around but I wanted to see how my other nurses would pronounce them
Can you imagine being named In Yo Mamma? That is awful!
Alyson,
You guys are having your own unique journey and you put whatever you want out there. This is a time for your family. And I will tell you that your blog audience is so with you and glad to see whatever you guys want to share.
A& F -- your videos are GREAT!
I got all teary eyed in the first one -- it just summed up all of the anticipation, the agony of the wait -- it will be a priceless gift to your sweet Lizzy (are you still thinking of calling her Lizzy?)
Keep posting it -- it's wonderful (and makes me relive our journeys to beautiful China).
Well Kelly,
I don't think it's a good zoo day for us. It is raining and the skies are completely gray here.
How is your zoo? We cant wait to go see our new little panda.
InYomamma, I wanted to see if it was an African name or if I was just mispronouncing it
Yeah, I agree. Actually, it's not a horrible day to be forced inside here. I have so many little things that I've just let go since Ella came home, a rainy day might be the best time to attack some of them.
However, I'll need to pin my boys' feet to the floor to corrale the girls so I can actually accomplish some of my "to do" list...I wonder how long that'll buy me?
Our zoo is pretty good. I haven't been there in years. Last year we took Eli to Binder Park Zoo. I'd like to take him to the zoo here in our city this year.
We went to a zoo/farmstead when we were in Kansas City, so at least Eli has had a zoo experience this year.
I don't know if we have pandas or not.
Amy,
Our "little" zoo is just that -- little! It's only 17 acres, and built on the side of a hill. However, we did get a new Lion exhibit that just opened up (haven't seen it yet). There's not a whole lot they can do with such a small space (that attempts to be humane for the animals) -- let's just say that if you came to our town, you would NOT have our little zoo on your list of things you "must see"!
HA! I just read Kimberley's post about the zoo. Funny how our descriptions are completely opposite of each others!
We cant wait to visit a China zoo
Did you visit a zoo in China Kelly?
Amy,
China zoos are ...interesting. For a price, you can get pet some of the animals (for example, our son held a chimpanzee!). We saw many more animals "out" for photo ops -- kind of like you'd see at the circus -- elephants, monkeys, camels, goats, birds -- that kind of thing.
Interestingly, at both zoos we visited in China, the panda exhibits were small and depressing -- while other animals had nicer digs.
I will say that both zoos we visited (Nanchang & Guangzhou) the grounds were beautiful -- the grounds were landscaped so beautifully, and it was a great place to just walk.
The Nanchang zoo had a live animal show -- very much like the circus. All of the animals dressed up and doing "tricks" -- the kids were mesmerized by it.
I look forward to the day that we can go. I am happy for Alyson and Ford. Alyzabeth is just darling.
I want to go to the panda research center. Did anyone see that on the Travel Channel. For 1 hundred dollars you can have a panda sit on you
Ladies,
One thing that I want to say about the touring during your adoption trip is that you really can't relax and enjoy it. Maybe it was just me, but I doubt it.
First, our guide in Nanchang had us on a tight schedule. She kept shoo-ing us on to the next thing (and wasn't very pleased we stopped at the live animal show because that took about 1/2 hour!). You can't wander and look on your own schedule, so that is frustrating. And all of the little trips you see people take -- you're away from the hotel for two hours max. So by the time you get there, you might have 1 - 1/2 hours in total in each place, usually not enough time to really enjoy it.
I've said that the adoption trip whets your appetite for China. You really want to go back and see what you missed.
How cool is that? I think Panda's are so cool. Speaking of Panda's, where is K1? Probably sleeping.
Karen did go to the Chengdu Panda Breeding & Research center with two of my sons. It sounds like it was an amazing experience.
The three paid something extra (not sure it was $100) and they did get to stand behind a couple of pandas (who were busily eating) for photo ops. They had to wear latex gloves to touch them, though.
Good morning everyone!! I just wanted to stop in and say Hello to all of you! I am on my way to get a much needed haircut! If any of you have a chance please visit our blog and read about my big news! I know it seems that I am tooting my own horn but I am a little excited! All of you have a great day, as always all of you are in my thoughts and prayers. Love ya!
Morning...
Wow Kristy! You are publishing a book? That is fantastic! Congratulations!
kristy,
that is sooo awesome!
Thank you very much. Kind of weird huh!! Who would have ever THUNK it!!! Kimberly that picture on your header is gorgeous!
Hey there Rhonda, how's the house? Are you done yet?
Kristy,
I think it's wonderful to be able to say you have been published.
I'm sure that it was a lot of work.
You will have to let us know when it goes up for sale.
I'll take an autographed copy : )
Yup, it's been done for a couple of weeks (if not more). :)
How was your birthday? I see you got some crystal...I love china and crystal
The picture doesn't do it justice...really. It's nice, thick crystal, simply gorgeous. *sigh* I can't believe he sent it while he was away.
You got it Kimberly!! Have a great day everybody I am off to help myself look human again!!
Your husband is great. And it does look beautiful. Very ornate. Mine is pretty plain with a platinum rim. Yours is gorgeous.
FYI, I am giving away a sweet set of books on Monday over at my personal blog. Hope you will stop by.Its a set of hardback books from Guideposts and then Im mailing all of contesting winning books (including yours RMJ) on Wed
Have a great weekend Kristy.
RMJ, how are you doing, really>
Morning everyone!
Brian & Ruth and their three sons made it to China. I'm so happy for them (their travel blog is http://6000milestoabigail.blogspot.com).
Ruth is so sweet -- I met her last year at a gathering at K1's house. And her Abigail is such a cutie!
Good morning everyone! I am finally home on a Saturday morning and have electricity at the same time!
Amy,
I have been better. I can't really say much. But I have been better. I will say that I cannot wait until we find our daughter and know it is our daughter.
Hey there Jennifer and Lea!
Their little Abigail is truly darling Kelly!
Hey Kimberley,
Thanks again for the Smile Award. I found the rules on someone else's blog if you're interested...
I am just checking Rhonda's BLOG! Looks like another September B-day! Love that gift!
But, I also must say, i love that pumpkin cake!
You are welcome Kelly. Thank you for being such a good friend to me.
Oh yeah, we September girls have to stick together! I hope my man gets me some crystal : )
Just stopping for a second to say hello to you all. My house is in dire need of cleaning, and I only have a couple hours throughout the day to do it in.
Kimberley,
I love my smile award. It was much appreciated as I was having a bad adoption week. You got me back on track with that surprise!
I am agreeing about the hurricane reporters. I watched one act like he was being knocked down by 50mph winds - wimp!! Just overdramatic. I agree, they should have been inside, especially during the night. They couldn't show us anything anyway.
Good grief! We are really getting some rain here.
One quick story from the week however, before I leave.
We (my assistant and I) have been working with a little boy to teach him to recognize his name by the J looking like a hook.
Wednesday, my assistant was asking him to show it to her. He picked it right out and said, "I'm glad I got that hooker!"
Have a great weekend and week to come.
Lots of September birthdays in this group, interesting.
My DH fixed my computer for me for my birthday -- installed a HUGE new hard drive and lots of extra memory. Not crystal by any shot, but I love it!
Hey Nancy,
How are you guys doing?
Nancy,
Too funny! I'll never look at the letter "J" again in the same way!
That's a cute one Nancy!
oh thats funny!
I keep flipping back to the hurricane news to see if there are any updates.
It looks like the Texas coast was hit pretty hard.
Oh i need to go check it out. My plan is to hit the gym and then go to Trader Joes
Did any of you see my post on No place Like Home?
Only one of the China quake orphans has been adopted. Many of them were injured in the earthquake and no one wants to adopt them. I wonder if the Chinese government will allow international families to adopt them?
What is Trader Joes, I've heard of it but I don't know what it is?
I did read that. Did you read about the Chinese formula scare? Over 400 Chinese babies have gotten sick so far
I didn't see that. Wasn't the report that they had all been adopted?!? That is unbelievable. Here we all are waiting for children!
No, only one has been adopted. There are around 80 waiting. Amanda told me that there were a lot of amputations after the earthquake to get people out of the rubble. She was at a hospital with one of her children and 8 earthquake children were brought in with amputated limbs.
The article said that many of the waiting children have disabilities.
Wanted to say hi to everyone, don't have a lot of time to chat. I'm taking Grace to swimming lessons in a little bit.
That is so incredibly sad. I am really uneasy about how things have been going in the China-adoption world. I guess I feel like I'll never get there. THey think about things so backward.
Good Morning Gail! How are you guys doing? How is little Will?
How are things for you in the SN program right now?
Have a good day friends! I am off to Dragon Boating and hoping it doesn't rain till later.
BYE for now!
HI GAIL!
Our agency has referred more SN so far this month than they did in August and we are not half way there. Thats exciting. We are still at the end of the list though
When we were in China in July, the government run China newspaper had a big article about the orphans left behind from the earthquake. It made a point saying that only those orphans could be adopted by Chinese nationals. I just don't understand that at all. So sad.
That's great Amy. Any progress is good!
Hi/Bye Lea! Sorry I missed you!
Amy,
I hope you find your girl soon. I know that we all will find our way. And then there will be great showers and fun. Hopefully a centralized get together.
Have fun dragonboat racing Lea!
We are doing great Kimberley, Will is doing soooo well. It has taken time and trust on his part. I couldn't have gotten through this without everyone's support!
everyone keeps saying we could get a call anyday but being realistic, I think it will next Spring or SUmmer and thats okay with me. I want to save money, vacation time and lose some more weight
I don't think any of us would be doing as well as we are without each other.
I will tell you right now that without the support of this group, I would be in despair.
We all are very lucky to have each other.
Did you all see that Alyson and Ford dropped in this morning from China?
Sorry I went missing there -- my boy hijacked my computer to check the radar (trying to decide if this is the weekend to take the boats out of the water up at the cottage).
The reports that those poor children who were left "disabled" because of the earthquake that Chinese Nationals don't want to adopt just saddens me. I hope the CCAA will allow them to be adopted in the IA program.
I did see Alyson and Ford here. Their little girl is stunning!
The support provided by "strangers" via the internet can be more powerful and encouraging than that provided by long time friends and family. I think that's sad on one hand, but wonderful on the other.
I love being part of the IA community and the small world we live in because of the internet.
how long as it been since they got their referral? It seems like it was just the other day..That little girl is gorgeous
Things have been happening in lightening quick succession for some folks. One lady posted that they got their TA (travel approval) Sept. 2, then got a call on Sept. 8 asking if they could be ready to leave on Sept. 11 -- head spinning fast.
I really should get going -- pay attention to all of these kids I have!
Still not sure what I'm going to do today with the crew. It'll be a long day if we're all cooped up together inside because of the rain!
Everyone, have a wonderful weekend.
Kimberley, I will email you in a little bit...check for it.
Bye!
I also have to go...off to swimming lessons on this rainy day.
Take care and everyone have a great weekend!
Hi girlies - Just set up the kids tent in the rec room, no less - it is 85 here - ugh!! The sun is shining though:) Heard from Lisa (osborn) San Antonio and from our girlfriend in newcity - all are fine. My SIL brother is a safety official in Houston and is okay - his family was required to stay because of his job - they got a bit frightened last night.
How is everybody?
Amy, how does your agency refer SN?
What do you mean? I think they are looking at the other list (not the shared list) and they look at your LID and MCC date
Have a great day Kelly!
There are no other lists anymore. All of the SN children are going on the shared list. There are hundreds of children on it at any given time. I have seen it a couple of times. Usually around 400 children.
My agency gets SN reffals from the CCAA and then matches them with waiting families based on what needs you are willing to accept and how long you have waited. When they send out a referral, you then look at the case and decide if that's your child. I know lots of agency's do it differently.
I haven't talked to my agency recently about it, I guess I need to do that. We are planning to go SN, but Richard isn't quite ready to move that way yet. Lots of business crap these days.
I was told our agency as designated children for them to place but they have not done any placing from the shared list
I would imagine our agency is still doing things the same way, maybe just getting the SN children a different way.
I guess I need to do some more research
I don't think what I wrote made sense :) I meant that my agency must be getting SN referrals off the shared list now instead of getting a "batch" from the CCAA. I don't know.
Amy,
From what I have been told from several sources, all SN babies are on the shared list which is a web based portal. Any agency who has been granted access by the CCAA can look at that list and reserve any children they think they can match with a family. They can only hold the children for a limited time, so they need to match them as quickly as they can.
They give the family a file for the child with photos and their medical history and the family then has a designated amount of time to make a decision.
Now, your agency could be doing something different, but I have been told that there are no more individually sent out SN lists, all of the children are going on the shared portal.
Amy,
It's all the same really. Your agency will contact you when they think they have a baby that is a good match for you.
Really, it's no big deal, instead of a lot of little lists...there is one big one.
I JUST WANT TO SEE LITTLE LYNNMARIE!
And your post about the Chinese man was really cool.
How are some families able to see the whole list? I have friends emailing me the list right after they get it. SO some people are able to see the list and choose a file and some of us are waiting to be matched?
Im totally okay with that but it doesnt seem fair
I'm sure that's the way they're doing it then. I just knew some agencies used to send out a list and have families write letters requesting the children they would be interrested in. I honestly haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to it since I'm not on the list. I tend to stick my head in my shell, so I don't have to hear how few referrals they are sending out each month! That's probably not the best way to deal with it, but I guess I'm fortunate enough to be busy with the boys and try not to dwell on it all the time. It hasn't been easy though.
Some agencies are printing out the list and putting it on their yahoo sites or mailing it to their families.
I had access to one for a while, but it closed down.
It's against the CCAA policy for them to do this.
I know that some people have been able to see the list and choose their child.
My agency is not distributing the list and is not allowing anyone to request files off of it. They think that the CCAA will close down these sites and that the agencies who are doing this will have penalties.
Ok, thanks for all the input. I will continue to wait. Gods timing is far better than mine and I want what He wants for me!!!
Ok ladies, gotta go work out and get stuff for dinner.
I really love all of you!
Kim, are your boys playing any sports right now?
I know that some agencies go to the list and put a lot of children on hold and then they go to their families and try to match them all.
My agency only reserves one child at a time with a particular family in mind.
The agencies can work it anyway that they want to.
Have a great day Amy!
Bye, Amy. Have a great day.
Zach is playing hockey this year. Tyler hasn't signed up for anything yet, and I'd like to get Eli into some type of a tumbling class or something.
Youth hunt is coming up, so I'm sure the guys will be getting ready for that soon. Tim had his first meeting at the hunting club.
How about your boys?
Richard is at the camp right now. I guess widow season is upon us!
Yes, I think youth hunt is in a couple of weeks. I know Tyler is planning on going this year.
My BIL comes up every year and stays with us to go, but he is in Korea this year.
I'm sure my FIL will be here though.
Post a Comment