Thank you for not abandoning me.

Letter from Lukie (6), on the occasion of Thanksgiving, written in school:

Dear Family,
Thank you for not leaving me in the hospital, like Tio Jaime's parints.
love,
Lucas


He asked his teacher the other day, who told the class that she was adopted.
"Are you from China?"

I love my kids.

I'm not a doctor, I'm the baby!

Little Grazie said to me the other day, "Mami, will you tell the new baby she is adopted when she is Nene's age?"
" Well, yes, " I replied. "But she won't understand. Watch: Hey, Nene, you're adopted"
"I not a doctor, Mami, I de Nene!"

I love my kids.

To Nico, on the occasion of his 12th Birthday

Here's a hand to the boy who has courage
To do what he knows to be right;
When he falls in the way of temptation,
He has a hard battle to fight.
Who strives against self and his comrades
Will find a most powerful foe.
All honor to him if he conquers.
A cheer for the boy who says "NO!"

There's many a battle fought daily
The world knows nothing about;
There's many a brave little soldier
Whose strength puts a legion to rout.
And he who fights sin singlehaded
Is more of a hero, I say,
Than he who leads soldiers to battle
And conquers by arms in the fray.

Be steadfast, my boy, when you're tempted,
To do what you know to be right.
Stand firm by the colors of manhood,
And you will o'ercome in the fight.
"The right, " be your battle cry ever
In waging the warfare of life,
And God, who knows who are the heroes,
Will give you the strength for the strife.
--Phoeby Cary

November here, and NO referral

So, my last hopeful estimate of when we would see our new daughter's picture was this month, November 2006. But things over in China have slowed to a crawl. Good news is that we have been officially approved by China, our dossier passed review. Also good news is that there is no danger of adoptions stopping completely. If things go on more or less as they have been in the last 2-3 months, we should be getting her referral in February or March. Things could suddenly speed up, of course. Or they could slow down some more.
It has been a fruitful time for us, in any case. Little Nene, who we call our Divino Tormento, has grown up A LOT. He is still spectacularly loud, but can be reasoned with, most of the time. Nico started his new middle school, and has transitioned very well. The other day I was at the pharmacy and I found myself buying Clearasil and diapers. Isn't that great? I have one with pimples and one who wets the bed. Although, in his defense, the diaper is mostly for my peace of mind. He spends most of the night in our bed! This whole family bed concept started making sense recently when we got a king size bed. When we had a queen, I thought all those people were crazy.

If you really want to know why

Check out this video, of a rather nice orphanage that does international adoption in China. I'm assuming it's a rather nice one, because otherwise they wouldn't have an adoptive parent roaming around with a camera.

http://www.dropshots.com/day.php?userid=97713&cdate=20060517&ctime=002610

Don't you want to go and get several?

Everyone wants to know why

The question I've been asked so many many times is why. I give a different reason every time I'm asked. You see, I have lots of wonderful reasons.
For instance, I believe in big families. I feel that children are best raised in large families. It makes perfect sense to me that children with lots of siblings are more generous, helpful, empathetic, and kind. Wouldn't they have to be? There is always someone who needs more, whose needs must be met first, and the others learn to wait, and take their turn. They also learn to help and to be reliable and diligent. We are lucky to have more than enough material goods. If I only had 2 or 3 children, these would be very spoiled children. Now by force the children lead more measured lives, with some care as to what is spent, and on what. The older children know not to ask for spending money, and have learned to be frugal. If we must sacrifice some leisure time, if our vacations aren't spectacular, if the children must share their bedrooms, I think we will all be the better for it. As my decorator friend says: Less is More.
And if we want a large family, doesn't it make sense to take a child from an orphanage, who would never know the love of a mother and father and the riotous joy of an army of siblings? I once read a terribly sad report from Unicef on the plight of children growing up without families. The world is full of them, sleeping on pavements, working long hours for scant wages, at the mercy of any and all potential abusers. One time I saw a picture of abandoned little children sleeping on the floor of the airport in Singapore. And airline passengers stepping around them, unconcerned. One shouldn't be unconcerned, right? Yes, money given in charity does a world of good, but one child given a family is also a whole world of good.

Me and our youngest

Our Family

This is us. The picture is a little old, but we were all dressed up. I sent it to China with our dossier

HI FRIENDS

This is my very first post, and I'm not sure how much, or what to say. I've started this blog to make it easier for my friends and family to follow along in our adoption process, especially while in China. I have a vision of being able to post lots of beautiful pictures of our new baby with lots of great commentary, and people who care can log on and see it all. This presupposes some technological savvy on my part, which is lacking. So I'll practice for a while.
We are your basic family, Mami, Papi and four children. I say Mami and Papi because I'm Cuban-American, therefore we refer to our coming little girl as Our Chinita.
We sent in our dossier in November of 2005. We have 3 boys, ages 11, 6, and 2. We also have a 9 year old daughter. As you can see, we need another girl!
When we first applied, we were told there would be a 7 month wait, but this has stretched out and now we're hoping we get our referral in November and will travel in December. But this is just a hope, and it could go longer. We requested a baby girl, as young as possible, and we are hoping she'll be 7 or 8 months old, although however old she is will be fine with us.
We don't know what her name will be, this is in negotiation.