The ball is officially rolling!

The First Call is very much like the gun shot that starts a sprinter in a race. So we are now officially sprinting.

USAA is working with us to start the travel paperwork...including travel visas. We found out today that our passports must not expire for 6 months in order to receive travel visas. Well, guess what...it's always one trouble maker in the group...Zach's passport will expire in about 5.5 months! So we are in a mad rush to renew!

In the meantime, Amy bought Caelyn 4 little outfits from our favorite exclusive club...the Costco Club. And a learning toy as well.

First Call!!!!

We got our first call this morning!

We were told that we are scheduled to leave for China early to mid May. We will receive our referrals (pictures and information about Caelyn) within the next week or two. That will be our 2nd call. Third call will come about 2 weeks before we leave with the exact itinerary.

Yeah!!!

What is the cause for such delay?

USAA, our agency, informed us that they expect us (G115) to receive our first call the end of March or the beginning of April. They are estimating that we would travel in May. This process has just about perfected in us a great virtue: PATIENCE!!!

Really, we are generally doing well. We do get frustrated every so often but since it is out of our control...we just enjoy life as it currently is. Every moment in ones life is a gift, we didn't want to wish it away for the future to come sooner. It'll be here when it is good and ready!

OK, so why is the wait for China adoption taking longer than in the recent past? Here are some of the reasons we were told and also heard from rumor mills:

• In 2006, China officially opened up domestic adoption. The building in Beijing that used to process only International adoptions are now expanded to include domestic adoption processing.
  Chinese culture traditionally does not warm up to the idea of adoption. Bloodline is everything. However, hello to modern globalization! Couples are waiting longer to start families (thus sometimes have a difficult time) and culture in large cities are more westernized...thus perceptions have changed. Chinese families are now adopting quite a bit (I know it's still a relative term and I don't have the actual statistics...but I know it's enough to delay us and a portion of the Beijing office is being dedicated to doing just that!)
  
• Significant increase in International applicants.
  
• 2008 Olympics! This happened to Korea when they hosted the Olympics. When a country is standing in front of the world, it is hard to admit that it can not care for all its citizens. Letting go of all these babies is not an image the country necessarily want to advertise.
  
• Not enough paper-ready babies to meet the demand of increased applicants. What the heck does that mean? Well, there are lots of orphans in China but many of them reside in orphanages so remote and poor that the kids don't make it into the system to be adopted. It takes trained workers to fill out paperwork in order for the babies to be included in the system to be matched with a family.

Anyway, we hope to have more exciting news next time we post. Stay tuned...

Where in China is Caelyn Salzmann?

A little game to keep us entertained while we wait. The rules are below and in order to read it you will have to double click on the image and enlarge (for those of you who have not discovered this little trick). The map will help you select one province for your answer. Feel free to post your answer in the comment section or e-mail Zach or Amy directly. Have fun!

If you already entered your name at the shower...well, one entry per person only please! :-)

Baby Shower

You got me at hello.

The stack of thoughtfulness, kindness, generosity, support, and love...

Perhaps we were biased but we think we just attended the greatest party ever. Ok, small details...it happens to be our very own baby shower. But we laughed so much that day our cheeks hurt. More importantly, we felt so loved and supported. We are so excited to bring a child into this family and network of friends. We've just been so blessed to have each and everyone of you in our life...whether you happen to be at the party or not. You are in our hearts...always.

Slideshow of the Shower!

1st Call is being delayed

Well, such is the story of our adoption journey. USAA has indicated that China is still processing Group 115 and have not done a match (referral) yet so the wait continues. We won't be waiting by the phone anymore for a little while. The delay may be weeks but no one knows.

What is in the name?

Most people who know us knows we have had A LOT of time to prepare for this baby. That included selecting a name. We went through a ton of names over the years and we couldn't find one we both love (Zach was selecting all these weird Russian names). So the decision was Amy gets to name the first child and Zach gets to name the second (and Zach already has a name...but you'll have to wait to find that out much later).

So after flipping through many baby-name books and combing through the internet, Amy finally found one that even Zach likes. The name is unusual, sounds pretty, and the meaning is so very appropriate.

CAELYN
Orgin: Unknown
Meaning: Loved Forever

Where are we in the process TODAY?

We are waiting for our 1st call. It could happen any minute....

As far as preparation goes, we're moving right along. As you see (previous post), we have completed the nursery. We have found the pediatrician (we wanted someone with some experience with Chinese adopted babies so she can be our advisor before and during our trip and an initial evaluation upon our return. Of course, that's in addition to on-going care). We also wanted a pediatrician who has reputable medical training, located near home, good bedside manner, and an accessible office team. Well, yes, we are choosy. But we think we found her!

We are also looking into Child development centers when Amy goes back to work. By the way, Amy already got 4-month leave approved starting from whenever she leaves to China. After 4 tours of various centers, Amy is a little discouraged. The wait list is a mile long and a couple of them have priority lists if you have certain affliations like working for certain employors or alumni of a certain university. Well, needless to say, we are not priority on any lists. Putting your name on the list costs $50-$100 per location...so it is wise to be selective where you put your name. So the search for care continues....

We just got our travel shots recently and completed our "Infant Care" class with another couple in Group 115. We have never changed a diaper or even babysat; we flipped burgers and worked in retail instead...we are clueless! So we enjoyed the class. We have "Infant CPR" next week...

Nesting Time

Immediately following 2007 New Year celebration, for two weeks we slaved over turning this guest/office/storage room into the nursery. We purged about half of the items in this room. It was quite a liberating experience. The closet was re-configured, sanded, primed, and painted Swiss Coffee (another name for white). A color that is used throughout the home for trimming any "white" surfaces.

Once the room was in order, Zach set up the crib.

Amy dusted off her paint brushes and was surprised to find her acrylic paint was still usable. It's been more than 5 years since she painted. A grassland meadow was in order.

Nesting completed! Well, just the nursery anyway.

China Adoption process...how does it work?

This is probably the most frequently asked question after, "Congratulations, how exciting!"
So here it goes....

• In July 2005 we selected two agencies to help us with the adoption process
• Vista Del Mar (1st agency) is responsible the handling the U.S. related paperwork:
  1. Social Worker interviews, autobiographies, medical evaluation, birth and marriage certificate, employment verification, tax returns, police clearance and so on...
  2. The agency, after gathering all the above data, produces a "Home Study" packet that we can use to submit to the second agency
• U.S. Asian Affairs (2nd Agency) is responsible for gathering all the paperwork required by China and facilitate the adoption process in China:
  1. Translate the "Home Study" packet into Chinese
  2. Collect more information from us and translate those
  3. Compile the above translated data into a family profile known as our "Dossier."
• In Octber 2005 our "Dossier" was sent to China and officially logged into the their government system. Our agency assigned all family "Dossiers" for that month Group 115. There are 14 families in this group
• The Chinese government systematically goes through each "Dossier" and process chronologically...because there are so many applicants, our "Dossier" is just getting process around January 2007
• The Chinese orphanages are filing a profile for each baby (or as many as they can) and the babies profiles are logged into the Chinese government system also
• The Chinese government literally reviews the prospective parents "Dossier" and the babies profiles so they can find a good MATCH.
• Once a MATCH (known as the "Referral") is made, our agency will give us 3 calls and then we travel to pick her up!
• 1st Call - "A MATCH has been made! You'll travel to China in approximately 2 months."
• 2nd Call - Usually a week or two after 1st call. "We will fedex your "Referral" tomorrow." "Referral" usually includes a couple pictures of our baby, a medical sheet, and other personality data
• 3rd Call - this happens a few weeks after 2nd call. Our travel itinenary is provided. The agency arranges for flights, hotel, governemental appointments and just about everything else while we're in China. We are required to stay in China for approximately 2 weeks.
• We will be flying out of LAX with most of the families in Group 115. We already met 7 of those families over dinners, BBQ, Dim Sum and lots of e-mail chats!! Although the wait has been long, but it certainly has not been lonely.