Christmas is here! It has been quite a year. Each year has its ups and downs. But, this year has been good to us. We traveled to Northern Virginia wine county, Las Vegas, Costa Rica, Philadelphia and now London (we leave this afternoon). We updated the house by painting the nursery and installing new carpet. I started a new job and assigned to a premier client and will be spending early 2008 in wonderful training program. Finally, we just found out that my husband was accepted to a Virginia Tech masters program. He is starting a Secondary Math/Science Education program this summer.  

I am thankful for what we have been blessed with. It is a time of reflection and, yes, I am being sappy.

Merry Christmas to all…. and a very happy New Year!  Cheers to you and yours. Now, London is calling…

On Wednesday, we recently received our extended adoption approval for another 18 Months from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. True to form, they sent us the someone else’s information. It is amazing that out of the three times we have received communications from them, three times something has been wrong. Once it was our information and twice they sent us other people forms. Our tax dollars at work.

On the upside… we were extended for free ($700 savings).  Score one for us!

Today, in the Washington Post, “Expecting The Expenses“ was the lead business section article. It talks about how much it costs to raise a child – from diapers to college and how many parents do not plan for the initial expenses. For example. did you know that a box of diapers costs $25? I didn’t… the article offers a little bit of advice, but it mostly serves as an eye-opener on the total costs.

The article mentioned a calculator on www.babycenter.com that estimates the costs of raising your child based on a few factors (e.g. they area where you live).   Our estimate (including college) – $348,418. The cost of the first year? Over $16,000.   My favorite part – the calculator has a little disclaimer “Before you despair, remember that your income is likely to increase over time!“   Hopefully, it is a big increase!

Babies.  China has referred LIDs through 12/15/2005. To see the wee ones, please visit:

http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/12/06/babies-6/

So, China has still not gotten out of 2005. What does that mean for us? That most likely, we will not be heading to China until 2009.  

Several weeks ago a family member asked us why we were waiting for China when we could adopt from another county. Now, this is a question that we have thought about, but not really vocalized. After a little reflection, we decided to contact our adoption agency about Vietnam. While supportive, they cautioned that the wait for Vietnam was growing and that a treaty was about to expire, that if not renewed, would close Vietnam to international adoptions. After thinking about the physical, mental and financial cost of having to redo all of our paper work that could result in nothing, we decided to stay the course. Sometimes you have to take a second look to know you are doing the right thing.

Below are some interesting stats that just came out from the State Department.  China has referred almost 1,000 fewer children this year.  Guatemala, a country MUCH smaller than China, has referred almost has many children. However, their program is under severe scrutiny right now (read more here).

Top Source Nations for Adopted Children

By The Associated Press – 6 days ago

Countries providing the most children adopted by Americans during the 2007 fiscal year, according to preliminary figures from the State Department. Figures from 2006 are in parentheses:

China 5,453 (6,493)

Guatemala 4,728 (4,135)

Russia 2,310 (3,706)

Ethiopia 1,255 (732)

South Korea 939 (1,376)

Vietnam 626 (163)

Ukraine 606 (460)

Kazakhstan 540 (587)

India 416 (320)

Liberia 314 (353)

Taiwan 311 (187)