Favorite Foto Friday

Here's Camden at his roundest , 8 1/2 months. Isn't he cute? He is sitting in a rocking chair that has been in my family for over 50 years. I remember enjoying it as a child. I took this picture for Doug just before we celebrated his first Fathers Day.

Something for the Nursery

I was at HomeGoods the other day looking for some gifts (this seems to happen to me often) when I spotted this sweet little chair. I just couldn't resist. It goes so perfectly with the nursery bedding! So I have the bedding, some accessories and now even a chair so why is it that I can't quite get myself to pull the nursery together??? I think it's time to finally do it. We don't want to get caught with our pants down if you know what I mean! :)

Favorite Foto Friday

Favorite Foto Friday is something that Mary, a fellow adoptive Mom & blogger, used to do on her site. I always enjoyed it when she did it. So I thought I would add it to our site as well. Thanks for the idea Mary!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Camden as a baby. He is a mere 3 weeks old. Doesn't time fly? What's funny is that at age five (almost 6), he still often sleeps this way. Too cute!

I can't help but wonder if our daughter in China has been born yet. My gut tells me that she has. Only time will tell.....

ARRRRRRRR!

I just had to post this picture. Doug is such a great Dad. He plays with Camden in a way that it is difficult for me. No wonder that one of Camden's favorite things to do is just play with Daddy!

Kindergarten

I can't believe my sweet baby boy started all day Kindergarten this week. It seems like just yesterday that I was enjoying 27 hours of labor. :) I actually did pretty well. I figured I was going to be a complete mess. But not wanting to totally freak out the boy, I only teared up a bit. Perhaps it's all the dreading I did this past year. When the day finally came it wasn't so bad. Although it made me long even more for our dear daughter to come home from China. I never thought we would be sending Camden off to Kindergarten before she was home.

Camden on his first day. Isn't he handsome!?!

His teacher, Mrs. McCarty asked if I could help out with lunch this past week. It was great to begin getting to know her, the school and his new classmates. Of course I had to bring the camera along as well. So her's a pic of Camden in the cafeteria with his class.

I picked him up after his first day and asked him how it went. He said, "I didn't really like it because it was too long and all we did was work!" Typical boy response??? Later that day he did admit that he loved going on the playground three times in just one day. Fortunately later in the week things improved and there was some fun to be had. Although while praying at bedtime tonight, he thanked God that he had the day off of school. Hmm...

Northwest anyone?

We returned last Sunday after two wonderful weeks in the beautiful Northwest. Camden and I spent the first week in the Seattle area with my good friend, Jani and her family. She used to live in Tucson but moved back to her old stomping grounds when our boys were almost 2 1/2. Our boys are 13 days apart and were such good buddies before they moved. It's been fun to see them pick up where they left off last time we all got together. Jani has visited us twice since they moved so it was such a treat to (finally) visit her and her family and get a small taste of the Northwest or at least of the Northwest in August. :) First of all it was just so green and beautiful. It was a treat in and of itself to see so many amazing trees! We are from Tucson after all! It really takes very little to make us happy! :) In addition, we enjoyed Pike Place Market, the beach and hunting for sand dollars, picking blueberries (and then of course eating lots of blueberry pancakes and cobblers), Pacific Science Center, Seattle Children's Museum and the Space Needle. One of the many highlights was being buzzed by the Blue Angels while on the observation deck of the Space Needle. In addition, Jani's amazing husband, Ken offered to watch the kids while Jani and I spent the day kayaking around Blake Island. You rock Ken! We enjoyed amazing views of the Seattle skyline and the beautiful snow covered mountains surrounding the area. In addition, we visited Tillicum village which is the birthplace of Chief Seattle. Chief Seattle was the Native American that Seattle was named after. It was an amazing week with a very dear friend and her family!

Here's the two peas in a pod, Camden & Gabe at the beach.

Camden, Gabe and Jani & Ken's sweet daughter, Isabel enjoying the amazing fountain outside of the Pacific Science Center. The kids had great fun but for the boys the day in ended in blood and tears. Ah boys!

Jani & I kayaking around Blake Island.

Jani, Ken & the family outside their home.

At the beginning of the second week, Doug flew in and joined us for one night. We then headed north to join his side on Sinclair Island which is in the San Juan's. Doug's sister, Val and her husband Brian have a summer place there. It is a very small island with only a handful of year around residents. Their is no ferry service so to get to the island you either go by boat or plane. We arrived via Val & Brian's boat which took about 20 minutes from the Fairhaven dock. The island was incredible. Val & Brian have done so much work putting together an amazing slice of island life. They own 40 acres there and have cleared a few small areas for some small kit cabins and paths around the property. They also cleared another area that made a place to play soccer and volleyball which we greatly enjoyed. The main cabin is solar powered and and as of the last couple of years has running water. We still got to enjoy an outhouse though which I must add was by far the nicest outhouse I have had the pleasure of using. :) Their property has it's own beach and amazing views of surrounding islands as well as Seal rock which is where the seals like to hang. They have also added many wonderful activities. They have a telescope set up for viewing, a ball swing, tether ball, zip line and archery. They also had numerous bikes and kayaks to enjoy the island and ocean. We picked blackberries and had blackberry pancakes and way too much blackberry cobbler. We also went clamming and had homemade clam chowder. Yum! All that was missing was the bread bowl! :)

Here are my boys on Sinclair.

The boys doing one of the many enjoyable activities on Sinclair.

While we were there they had the lowest tides of the month so one of the high points for me was going out in the kayaks and boats. This is one of many amazing creatures we saw. We couldn't help but get a closer look at this one. We believe that it is a Sunflower Sea Star. Don't worry though no sea creatures were harmed during our explorations.

Grandma Alice, Doug & Camden enjoying low tide.

Camden enjoying the ball swing along with our niece, Marley and Doug.
Here's the whole gang. By the end of the week I think there were 19 of us.

It was a wonderful two weeks! Val & Brian thank you for sharing your island with us this summer. It was amazing!

On the way home I asked Doug, "So what do you think about the Northwest?" What do you think his response was? Yep, he rolled his eyes! :)

Some Background on China

China is a country whose culture dates back to some of the earliest records known to man. At first glance, some of China's beliefs may seem quite different than those we hold in the western world. One example of this is the cultural preference for a male child. There are several reasons why Chinese families might prefer a boy over a girl. In rural provinces, a family's livelihood depends directly on the output of its family members. Because of this, a family with sons would be at a considerable advantage compared to one with daughters. In addition, inheritance laws pass property on to sons. Historically, it is also the son's honored responsibility to take care of his parents in their old age. A daughter, however, would be expected to care for her husband's parents rather than her own. In this regard, the Chinese believe that having a son is crucial to their livelihood, as well as a form of social security for the parents when they grow older.

This situation was further complicated by an edict given in the 1950's by Mao Tse Tung who urged Chinese people to have lots of children to strengthen the country. The population growth from this edict led the government in the 1970's to be worried that China would be unable to feed her citizens. So, the Chinese government implemented the One-Child Policy in 1979, which prohibited families from having more than one child. The goal of this policy was to keep China's population below 1.3 billion by the year 2000. Today, China is home to those 1.3 billion people. Couples who violate the One Child Policy are subject to fines (equal to three years' salary), community ostracism, and even jail time. Thus there are hundreds of thousands of abandoned baby girls throughout China. The babies are abandoned in public places (such as busy streets or markets, railway stations, and in front of public buildings) so they will be found quickly. The babies are abandoned as infants - usually when they are only a few days old. In addition to little girls, handicapped babies and sick babies (both boys and girls) are also abandoned because most parents in China don't have the money to provide for their special needs. Once found, the abandoned babies are given a medical exam and then taken to orphanages. While the numbers of such adopted orphans has been growing, it still represents only a small percentage of the number of children abandoned annually.

The Longest Pregnancy in History: Our Adoption Timeline

Many have asked when we started the adoption process. Well here's a look at our timeline:

December 2004 ~ While still working with a fertility Doctor, a good friend mentions that America World Adoption agency is doing a local seminar. We attend the seminar but aren't yet sure what our next steps should be.

April 2005 ~ We feel that God is leading us to adopt but we don't yet know from what country or what agency. We are immediately drawn to China and Korea. But spend the next few months praying and researching countries and agencies.

Sept 11, 2005 ~ China is where our child is! We submit our application to America World Adoption Agency (AWAA) to bring her home.

Sept 16, 2005 ~ Our application is approved! :)

Sept 29, 2005 ~ We receive our home study and dossier (fancy word for the documents that go to China) packet. We immediately start the paperchase which is the term referring to the next step in the process which is assembling the soul-baring mountain of paperwork.

October 3, 2005 ~ We order new birth certificates, certified marriage certificate and mail the CPS form.

October 5, 2005 ~ I have my physical which includes blood work as well as compose a letter (for the Dr. to sign) detailing my past surgeries. The letter also had to state that I fully recovered and am able to parent a child. I also have new passport photos done. In addition I take our sweet kitty to the Vet for her physical. Yep, even the kitty must be checked out. Oh and the vet had to give me a letter on the office letterhead stating that the kitty wouldn't scratch our child's eyes out. ;-)

October 6, 2005 ~ Doug has his physical and blood work done. We compose his surgery letter for him as well. We begin to gather copies of all our financial records, last years tax return, fill out a financial form and request a notarized employment verification form from Doug's work.

October 10, 2005 ~ We have our state fingerprints and police background check done.

October 13, 2005 ~ We make arrangements for a guardian and have them fill out a form. We also write five page autobiographies about our lives. Yippee!

October 28, 2005 ~We have a traveling notary meet us at our Dr.'s office to notarize our Doctor's signature, letters, my unemployment letter, financial statement and application letter.

October 29, 2005 ~ We have our 1st home study meeting!

October 31, 2005 ~ We have our 2nd home study meeting.

November 1, 2005 ~ Cam has his physical and TB test.

November 17, 2005 ~ I happen to tell our social worker about all the speeding tickets I received when I was in college. :( Most of them were between the years of 1987-1989 (yah, yah, I was a bit of speed demon in my younger days. They didn't call me the Hustling Hyundai for nothing!) Well anyway, she had me draft a letter (that would go to China) detailing my poor behavior along with an apology that explained I learned from my poor choices and would never do it again. Hmm...

November 18, 2005 ~ Had our pool fence fixed so that it once again self closing.

November 21, 2005 ~ We have a pool inspector out to check that everything is up to code.

November 23, 2005 ~ We have our 3rd Home study meeting which is the anxiety causing individual interviews. They go just fine. But it does seem that our social worker doesn't quite get my sense of humor. Go figure! :)

November 30, 2005 ~ We have our 4th and last Home study meeting which is the dreaded home inspection. We scrub the house from top to bottom and do all sorts of crazy things like put more cabinet locks on and rearrange cleaners, knives and other kid friendly items. All of which she spends exactly zero time on. Oh well, they were all good things to do anyway. :)

December 2, 2005 ~ We mail Doug's Employee verification form to the Texas Secretary of State to be certified. (Doug's company is based in Texas)

December 14, 2005 ~ Our home study is sent to the Arizona Superior court.

December 28, 2005 ~ Our home study is approved!

December 29, 2005 ~ We send our I-600a Immigration form along with our home study to INS.

January 11, 2006 ~ We send Doug's employment verification form to the Chinese Consulate in Houston for authentication.

January 12, 2006 ~ We have our FBI fingerprints taken.

January 28, 2006 ~ We receive the much sought after I-171H form from INS. This form will allow us to bring our daughter into the US.

January 30, 2006 ~ I have all our forms certified at the Arizona Secretary of State's office in Tucson and then send them all to the Chinese Consulate in LA for authentication.

February 6, 2006 ~ I finish up the scrapbook type pics for the dossier.

February 13, 2006 ~ We assemble our dossier and send it to our agency. Here is the result of five months of paperchasing:



February 17, 2o06 ~ Our agency has checked and approved everything. We are DTC! This means our dossier has been sent to China. This is a great day!

March 13, 2006 ~ This is our Log In Date (LID)! This means our dossier has been logged in at the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in China.

May 27, 2006 ~ We receive the coveted brown envelope. We aren't sure what it's for, since not everyone receives one. But we are told we need to bring it to China. ;-)

February 1, 2007 ~ We are "officially" out of the review room. This is a huge milestone! This means that China has approved us and the next step is to be matched with our child.

April 18, 2007 ~ Unfortunately, due to the extended wait, our home study and I-171H form are getting ready to expire so we begin our home study re-certification and I-171H renewal. We have our home study visit today.

May 14, 2007 ~ We have our state fingerprints redone.

May 22, 2007 ~ We refile our I-600a immigration form.

June 6, 2007 ~ The Arizona Superior Court approves our re-certification.

We are currently waiting to have our FBI fingerprints redone and then receive a new I-171H immigration form.

The "Tarico Times" goes online!

After much deliberation, we (I mean I) have taken our yearly Christmas letter, the "Tarico Times", online as a family blog. Why the deliberation you ask? Well, first of all, I probably lack the writing skills to make this an interesting read to most people. Yep, the cat has been let out of the bag...although our Christmas letter is a joint effort, Doug writes a majority of it. I of course add anything that is funny or sappy. Ok not really....Doug is extremely funny, or at least I think he is. In fact, I have told him that he is pretty lucky to be married to me because I laugh heartily at all his jokes. He also accuses me of being “the funniest person I know" because I laugh at all my own jokes as well. Ok, ok, I like to laugh. It's good for the soul! In fact, I think some people should do a whole lot more of it. It would be good for them. But I digress...back to the reasons for deliberating about the blog. As Doug puts it, in his own cynical yet practical way, "Who is going to read it?" Hmm...not sure, I’ll have to get back to him on that. Lastly, attempting to put my thoughts and experiences into words (I have never even had a journal of any kind) and posting them for the world to see gives me a WEE bit of anxiety. That being said...here we are. :) Although I will be the one updating the blog for the most part, you can (hopefully…Doug willing) look forward to a few well written, or at least less sappy, posts from him along the way.

Why create a blog? Firstly, we want to keep our extended family and friends abreast of our journey to adopt our daughter from China, and will help answer the continuing question, "Any news?" Secondly, we hope this will be a sort of journal that we can someday share with our daughter, capturing what we did as we waited, prepared and longed for her to join our family. And perhaps most importantly, we just hope to share with those we love this amazing, wonderful and sometimes difficult road that God has us on. So grab yourself a caffeinated beverage (you might need it), settle in and enjoy a poorly written, but sure to be sappy and occasionally funny, blog of the life and times of the Tarico's. Welcome!