We Have A Court Date!

May 20

in the court of

Orange County Florida.

Judgement will be handed down that Joanna Mei

was truly born.

She'll receive a Florida Birth Certificate indicating that her birthplace was Hunan, China.

(for a fee, of course)

IKEA Playroom

We took on the major task of re-locating JMei's playroom from our

spare room downstairs to the 2nd floor loft, adjacent to her bedroom.

We chose IKEA again for their creativity and price.

The additions brightened up an otherwise dark room.

JMei's tuffet for viewing her Disney & Blue's Clues videos.

At her musical playstation, a Christmas gift from Aunt Aly & Uncle Ford.

Toy storage doubles as wall decoration.

Waiting for a Court Date

Our petition for Adoption Certification with the State of Florida (giving JMei a Florida Birth Certificate) has been filed with the Orange County Court. In about 2 weeks, we'll receive a court date to finalize this ongoing adoption process.
We were fortunate to be referred to an attorney who adopted his daughter from China and now guides parents through the process and attends the hearing with the family. His assistant spent a year volunteering in a Chinese orphanage. We feel a wonderful team is representing our family.
In Orange County, the Adoption Certification hearings are clumped in with the non-contested divorce cases. When an AC item comes up, the attitude of the whole court changes ...... it's not in any procedure manual, it just happens. Judges will stop for pictures, interview the family and generally make it a happy and honoring occasion. We're looking forward to this family time with Joanna Mei. We'll post video if it's allowed ........

A Wash of a Weekend

Head on over to "The Other Blog - Content Questionable" and read about HomeDaddy's weekend .......

Our Testimony

Our church, First Baptist Church of Windermere, has been doing a video series called "Transformed Lives". Troy, one of our pastors (a really neat guy), realized that we probably had a transformation story relative to our adoption of Joanna Mei. He is right. We probably did about 5 minutes of video which was edited down to 60 seconds or so.

So folks, it can be a bit preachy - after all, it is a presentation for our church. Our faith is the major influence of our lives. Our faith makes us who we are.

Happy Velentine's Day ...... WHAT! No Magpies!?!?!?

On the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month on the Chinese lunar calendar, don't forget to look carefully at the summer sky. You'll find the Cowherd (a bright star in the constellation Aquila, west of the Milky Way) and the Weaving Maid (the star Vega, east of the Milky Way) appear closer together than at any other time of the year. Chinese believe the stars are lovers who are permitted to meet by the queen of Heaven once a year. That day falls on the double seventh (Qixi in Chinese), which is China's own Valentine's Day.
Most Chinese remember being told a romantic tragedy when they were children on the double seventh. In the legend, the cowherd and the Weaving Maid will meet on a bridge of magpies across the Milky Way once a year. Chinese grannies will remind children that they would not be able to see any magpies on that evening because all the magpies have left to form a bridge in the heavens with their wings.

More Change

I had some fun on obamaconme.com with one of JMei's pics.

Head on over to

JoannaMei, Bebe & HomeDaddy - or - Tales from the Cryb

and have a look at the original.

Happy New Year! Our Daughter Is Into Pyro!

Happy Year of the Ox.

We are moderately concerned (at this point in her life) that our daughter be aware of her Chinese culture. She is American by citizenship, but her heritage is Chinese and we plan to cultivate that awareness as she progresses in age. A local organization was having a Chinese New Year celebration which was aimed toward children from China who were adopted by American parents and we decided to take the young Empress to the affair.Both myself and the Empress are just about over The Cruds and we’re still not 100%, so venturing out to a gathering of this nature was not my top priority. But we embarked on the journey to the other side of town for the sake of the young ‘un – and she could have cared less.

We pulled up to the church (which had hired out a hall to the sponsoring organization) to find it being pressure washed. “Maybe it’s a building purification ritual for the Year of the Ox” I said to my wife as the compressor roared and our daughter squirmed to break free of her loving embrace. Both mother and daughter were attired in Asian garb crafted of the finest imitation silk, so as the Empress did the ‘alligator death roll’ to gain her freedom, the 2 slippery surfaces of the garments made for difficult carriage of the squirming package. “Here you go, HomeDaddy” said Mama and she handed over our writhing tot to daddy as we entered through the gentle shower of mist from the pressure washer. “Just get me an eggroll and some Tylenol and I’ll be a happy man” said HomeDaddy as he took on the task of playing pack mule and beast of burden for the Empress.

We entered the room to the peaceful sound and vision of little Chinese cherubs running about the dining area whilst screaming and producing sounds similar to that of a hole being bored in one’s scull. They were followed by event organizers who were attempting to corral them for activities and games. It was actually rather calming. No really. I whispered a quiet prayer of thanksgiving. “Thank you, God. I’m not the only one.”

The line for “The Slow Boat to China Buffet” was probably 30 hungry folks long and we shared stories about our adoption including Beijing in the dead heat of summer and ‘through the roof’ laundry bills at The White Swine. After 22 minutes, when we got to the steam tables, we were greeted with the news that they had run out of rice (fried and steamed) as well as noodles. Dang! 40 bucks and no rice?!?! Oh joy, oh rapture. I longed for some of the unidentifiable delicacies from the buffet tables back in China. I grabbed the 2 remaining eggrolls, and some fried nasties with sweet ‘n sour sauce and headed on as some kid grabbed the last crab rangoon. Twit!

We had pleasant conversation with the couples at our table and made the most of our incomplete meal. We gave thanks that we brought along the booster seat complete with child containment straps. After a truly primitive dining experience, the Empress delicately removed her bib and flung it on top of a decorative tea candle placed on our table for proper ambiance. As the bib went up in flames and began melting the plastic tablecloth, I thought “Just throw me on the fire and end it all” as I reached for my plastic cup of Sprite and doused what looked like a burnt offering at our table. “JMei, I know your food was cold, but I think I could have found a microwave in this place!”

After a family portrait in front of a bamboo screen, we bid a fond farewell to the remaining revelers and headed back to the sanctuary of my Ford F150. The pressure washers had left the scene, but the compressor remained behind. “Hhhhmmmm ……. Could’ve used that at our table.”

So, Happy !#@$ Year of the Ox, Y’all! Anyone have a Tylenol?

Baby Hanger - or - How's The View Up There in the Cheap Seats?

Ever seen one of these?

The Baby Keeper - for a Bird's Eye View!

Smarty Pants Dance

Brightman Review

We recently attended a Sarah Brightman concert here in Central Florida.

Head on over to The Other Blog - Content: Questionable for my review of the over the top event featuring popera's biggest nutjob.

Pray for Our President Elect

We are about 10 days out from the beginning of a new presidency in the United States. We've had some tough times this last decade and Barach Obama is going to have a full plate when he takes office shortly.
Regardless of party affiliation, our nation needs to come together and pray to God for this man who will lead our nation. God will hear the prayers of the people as we pray for wisdom, direction and peace for Barach Obama.
The election circus is over - it is time to put it behind us and get on board in the reconstruction of a country in need of God's hand directly on the shoulders of our new president ....... let us pray .......

Giant Lemon Arrives in Central Florida

Story at

http://joannamei.blogspot.com

Need access? Drop us an e-mail .....

duoloco@cfl.rr.com

What to Do With Great Art .......

..... when there's no more room on the refrigerator .....

JMei's Wall of Art on the way to the utility room.

We bought some shirt gift boxes after Christmas.

When the wall is full, the objects d'arte get stowed away in the boxes

until she's ..... maybe 18 .....

when we'll give her the boxes of art to do with what she wants.

Happy New Year and Congratulations!

Happy New Year, Y'all ....... and congratulations to all those who received their first glimpse of their new family member!

LIDs through the review room:

February 28, 2007 (no change)

LIDs through referral:

February 28, 2006

Ye Dan Kuai Le

The closest I could come to "Merry Christmas" in Chinese ......

Ye is short for Ye Su, which is the transliterated name for Jesus.
Su means to revive, to come to, or to rise again.
Kuai le is happiness, joy, delight, or rejoicing.
Thus, Ye Dan Kuai Le, or Jesus' Birth Happy, is how you say Merry Christmas in Chinese.

.... and Happy Hanukah (The name "Hanukkah" derives from the Hebrew verb "חנך", meaning "to dedicate". On Hanukkah, the Jews regained control of Jerusalem from an invading army and rededicated the Temple. At the re-dedication there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days, which was the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate fresh olive oil. So, Hanukkah is celebrated for 8 days and nights) to our Jewish friends in Blogland ..... Joanna Mei reminded me of this yesterday as she babbled along in the back seat and said something that sounded like "Shalom" ..... from the mouths of babes.

The Narnia Tree - Then & Now

The spirit of the past 2 or 3 Christmases without Joanna Mei are reflected in the pics below.

Christmas decorations & lights were minimal.

In 2007, we put "The Narnia Tree" in the thicket on the side of our house.

It was named for the mythical land in CS Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia".

The land was always cold and snowy

and the blue lights on the tree gave the area the feel of a cool evening.

Click on the pic above for the full view. It's kinda cool......

This year, the addition of the lights strung in the trees was added.

The presence of Joanna Mei in our home is reflected in the decorations throughout the house.

Referrals!

CCAA has updated the portal to reflect referrals matched through LID February 22, 2006. Some blogs are reporting 2/23/2006.

We congratulate the new parents who have been waiting for this news.

JMei is doing the dance of joy for y'all.

And the prize for the LONGEST PREGNANCY goes to......

.......the Alpine Salamander.........found in the central and eastern Alps. It gives birth to 2 young .... at lower altitudes, the pregnancy lasts for 2 years and at higher altitudes it jumps to 3 years ...... longer than placement of a child from China. We should all rejoice that we are not Alpine Salamanders living above the tree line!

......and the runner up......... the African Elephant.......the pregnancy lasts for around 22 - 24 months.This is one of the longest gestation periods in the animal kingdom. (The blue whale, for example, has a gestation period of around 1 year.)

As for those in the Waiting Room for China Adoption, does the pregnancy begin with the decision to adopt and attendance at an informational meeting - or - with the LID. If we're talking about the latter, then we're doing a bit better than the elephant and hopefully ....... the salamander.

It was 2 years ago that we originally posted this peice. Well, it indeed WAS 3 years from the beginning of the paperchase to our Forever Day, so at that point, the gestation period of the Alpine Salamander at high altitude was just about in line with the CCAA's time frame.

"Merry Christmas" from "Habitat for Insanity"

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