Slight change of plan... Thursday 10th May will be our first appointment.

Wheeeeee!!!!!

Gosh it's been an up and down week. May 4th is our first social worker interview!

Mind you, the expected wait time now from when your file goes to China to when you are allocated is about 3 years. Can you all stick with me that long?

We are just going to do what we can and get on with our lives. As Max Ehrmann says in "Desiderata":

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

My mum died yesterday morning, some time around 5am. She had been very sick for some time with Motor Neurone Disease (AKA Lou Gehrig's Disease, AKA ALS)and was seriously not having fun any more. My sister Jen and I went and saw her today. She wasn't there, of course, only a sort of wax doll that looked a lot like her, but peaceful and beautiful. I felt a bit silly talking to her when it was so obvious that she wasn't in that shell anymore, but heck, I couldn't see a better option. The funeral is Monday.

Finally... received a letter yesterday saying that we have been assigned a social worker and our assessment period starts 26 April. That means that the social worker has 3 months from that date to have our assessment ready for submission to the department (I think.) We should hear from her shortly to organise our first interview.

Apparently some people clean their house from top to bottom and spend hours baking elaborate Chinese-style snacks for their first interview. That won't be happening here. I might ask Scott to shave though.

Grrrr....
Had a call on my answering machine this afternoon from Adoption Services saying that we were asked on 19 Feb to send our $2000 assessment fee and they are still waiting on it. I called back but of course they were closed, and left them the details of the RECEIPT they sent me dated 22 Feb for the fee. I am so annoyed. I wonder how much time has been wasted by this error?

A lovely couple who we met a few months back had put their EoI in one month before us, and they have already finished their assessment and been batched and here we are still waiting for Adoption Services to find our cheque that I sent them the very same day they asked for it.

Cranky cranky cranky. (mental note - delete this post if Adoption Services ever start reading my blog.)

Today we went to a function put on by the FCC (Families with Children from China) support group. It was great that it was the week after Chinese New Year so it didn't clash with other commitments. They had someone come in from the Cathay Club to speak to us about what Chinese New Year means and the children could paint a lantern or a pig mask, and some of them painted lion heads so they could all do a Lion dance. The little Chinese children are so gorgeous! It mad me so clucky except that I confess the idea of going back to nappies and whatnot is a little intimidating. Gemma & Ben are so easy to look after these days! Oh well, I remember feeling the same way when I had Ben because Gemma was 5 by then, but you get past it.

It was great to speak to people who have been through what we are going through, and many of them are very happy to help us out by answering our numerous questions. It was also fantastic to meet some people who are at the exactly the same stage us, so hopefully in the future will be our batch buddies.

I asked Gemma & Ben what their favourite part of the morning was and they both replied "The food."

Yesterday I got a phone call from the Dept of Child Safety to say that our file looks all fine and we should send $2000 to cover our assessment fee. I have that ready to send today, and apparently we should start our social worker interviews in the next few weeks.