Friday, June 26, 2009

Travel Dates

We leave July 10 and arrive home on July 24th

Itinerary

Leave:July 10 LAX 23:50
Arrive: July 12 Guangzhou 06:20
Leave: July 12 Guangzhou 08:30
Arrive: July 12 Nanjing 10:15

Leave: July 18 Nanjing 11:00
Arrive: July 18 Guangzhou 13:10

Leave: July 24 Guangzhou 21:00
Arrive: July 24 LAX 18:50

Friday, June 19, 2009

Another Comforting Word

Psalm 121:5-8 The LORD watches over you- the LORD is your shade at your right hand;the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.The LORD will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life;the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

PTL!!! TA Finally

We got the call yesterday that we have TA. Now to find out when we will travel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have been busy with daughter has the last day of school yesterday and she had a friend over for a sleepover. So have not had much time to post this!!!!!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Waiting for TA longer than LOSC

Well it is officially a longer wait for TA than the LOSC for us! Today is day 76 wait from the date on our LOSC. And of course no word today! Too sad to say any more words!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

More Comforting Words

Psalm 5:11-12 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy. For you bless the godly, O LORD; you surround them with your shield of love.

Psalm 32:8 The LORD says. I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.

In Happy moments, PRAISE GOD
In Difficult moments, SEEK GOD
In Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD
In Painful moments, TRUST GOD
In Every moment, THANK GOD

Now the wait continues and I have gone through my words of comfort. I will need to keeping reading them to keep my sanity! It has been 64 days from LOSC and still no TA.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

More Comforting Words

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you.

Monday, June 1, 2009

More Comforting Words

Psalm 33:20-21 We put our hope in the LORD. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.

Nahum 1:7 The LORD is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him.

Isaiah 41:13 For I hold you by your right hand - I, the LORD your God. And I say to you, Don't be afraid, I am here to help you.

Taking Action

This is a copy of a post from one of my Yahoo groups!

As some of you know, under the Hague Convention, children are required to be up to date on all immunizations recommended by the CDC prior to entering the US. In my opinion, for many reasons, it is both cruel and unethical to require newly adopted children to possibly receive several vaccines prior to entering the US. There are reports of children receiving 6-7 vaccines just a couple of days prior to boarding their flight to the US. Below you will find the letter I found and adapted concerning this issue. If you are an adoptive parent, future adoptive parent or a US citizen who finds this requirement as ludicrous as I do, may I ask a favor? Would you please copy and paste this letter, inserting your own personal information, and send it to the Congressional representatives for your state? Not only are you exercising your right as a US citizen, you are helping to protect the health and well being of our children.
You can find the contact information for your state here...
Dear (____________________________),
My name is _______________. I am a soon-to-be adoptive Mother of a______________ born in the People's Republic of China. I am writing this letter to ask your office to both quickly and diligently work toward correcting a Congressional oversight in the Hague Convention that effects internationally adopted children. This oversight requires immigrant children adopted from Hague Convention Countries be up to date on all Center for Disease Control (CDC)recommended vaccines prior to entering the United States.
When the Hague Convention was passed, new regulations were issued in the Federal Register on October 30, 2007 at 72 FR 61301. The amendments revised the Department of State regulations to provide for intercountry adoptions that will occur pursuant to the Hague Convention. This provided a new definition of"child" under the Immigration and Nationality Act, amending 101(b)(1)(F) and adding 101(b)(1)(G). Public Law 105-73 provided the exception for newly adopted children from the vaccination requirement by allowing for a written affidavit from the child's soon-to-be physician in lieu of receiving vaccinations abroad. While revising the law for the Hague's implementation, in an apparent oversight, Congress forgot to extend this part of the process. As stated above, this oversight requires these newly adopted children become up to date with all of the CDC's recommended vaccines before they will be granted entry into the US.
It is important to note most of these children come from orphanages in developing countries. Various countries may have given the orphans anywhere from several to no vaccines. Often they have received vaccines relevant to diseases in their country and not required by the CDC. Some may have no medical record or an outdated record of the vaccines they received at the orphanage. Without Public Law 105-73 in place, the newly adopted children would be required to receive the vaccinations again.
As you can imagine, adoption is a very complicated process both emotionally and physically. Taking this into considering, these vulnerable children may be required to receive a mega dose of vaccines all in one day, just days before they board the lengthy international flight home to the U.S. To date, there are reports of children receiving 6-7 injections at their medical exam in Guangzhou China in order to comply with this requirement. In my opinion, this is both cruel and unethical.
As is the case with many children, they may be medically fragile at the time these vaccinations are required. As the law stands, there is no available exemption for anyone, including the medically fragile. If the family wants to return to the United States with their child, the injections are mandatory without exception.
It is important to note, as the law stands today, these vulnerable children are now the only class of U.S. immigrants that are given no possible exemption from their overseas visa immunization requirements. All other U.S. immigrants are allowed the possibility of exemption due to medical necessity or religious or moral grounds. Can it really be this is a result of the Hague Convention which was intended to actually provide MORE protections for these children?
The best way to handle vaccinations, and the way it was done pre-Hague, was once at home the child's Pediatrician orders a blood test to discover the child's titer antibody levels. With test results in hand, the Pediatrician recommends only those vaccines that are shown to be missing, on a safe time schedule.
We ask that your office quickly seek to extend the previous exemption that allowed adopted children to postpone their immigrant visa vaccination requirements until they are safely at home. Such an exemption would be similar to 101(b)(1)(G) Public Law 105-73 which provided the exception for newly adopted children to the vaccination requirement by allowing for a written affidavit in lieu of receiving vaccinations abroad before receiving an immigrant visa.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter. I look forward to your prompt and timely response. The well being of some of America's newest and most vulnerable citizens depends on it.
Regards,(__________name___________________)
citizen of the great state of (__________) and adoptive parent