21 months

February 19th marks 21 months of waiting. What have we been doing during this wait? We recently started trying to get our home ready for a baby. The room we plan to use for her room has been our home office for the last 5 years. So to move the office upstairs we have to move the couch and table in the nook to the bedroom, to fit the couch in the bedroom we have to move out the dressers and rearrange the bedroom. To move out the bedroom furniture we have to make space in the garage. To make room in the garage we have to move the homeless ministry food and clothes to storage. And next there are the closets... [:-D

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! We had a wonderful time together tonight. We had a great dinner at our favorite restaurant Houlihan's, YUMO!

February Referrals

On February 4, 2008, our agency received 11 China referrals. These referrals were for our 12/20/05 log in date families. We did not receive any Chinese expedited referrals in this group. This group of referrals included 9 beautiful little girls and 2 handsome little boys! Both of the families that received boys requested boy or girl in their petition letter. They are from the Gansu, Guangdong, and Jilin provinces and Tianjin City. Their ages are 7 to 15 months, one 24 months and one 28 months. These families waited 25 long months from log in date to referral. We expect these families to travel in about 8 weeks.
One family that received the 24 month old boy requested a boy or girl 6-12 months old. The family that received the 28 month old girl requested a 0-12 months old girl but the referral fell within the CCAAage guidelines. This group of referrals began with the 12/20/05 through 12/27/05 log in dates. Congratulations to these families and all our China families who have moved up in line! Our agency's next log in date is 1/6/06.

Not just a holiday, A country wide migration

About 180 million people were expected to travel home for Lunar New Year in what is thought to be the largest annual human migration in the world.

"(The government) has less than five days left to safely send hundreds of millions home. At the same time, they will have to ensure timely delivery of coal to coal-starved power plants," a China Daily editorial said, summing up a key quandary facing authorities.
The government said it has pressed more than 1,000 additional trains into service to cope with the huge passenger demand and maintain shipments of coal -- the country's main energy source -- amid widespread power blackouts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSSP3801020080203?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0

Huge Snow Storm in China

Last week China was hit by a huge snow storm. Reports on the news show more than 500,000 people trying to get on the trains to go home for the Chinese New Year. Some people stood out in the cold for 3 days waiting to get on the train.

This is some of the worst weather that China has seen in almost 50 years. In some areas it has snowed for 10 days straight. Many rural villiages are suffering due to lack of food and electricity and running water and having warm enough clothing. Some areas could continue to see this cold and snow for another week.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSSP3801020080203

The biggest tragedy that doesn't seem to make the news is the children in the orphanages. Many of the nannies are having difficult time getting to work because the roads are closed. The orphanages are not prepaired; many have no running water, no heaters, no electricity, they need warm clothes for the children and diapers for the babies. They have mentioned frostbite on the children's feet and fingers. This is a horrible story that is not being told to the world.
Here is a site that is trying to help the orphanages and explains what each is going through.
http://www.halfthesky.org/work/littlemouse.php

Please keep the children in China in your prayers tonight.