Balloons ... are mine.

Spencer and his security balloons. Two weeks after his birthday party and he is still carrying his balloons everywhere--up and down stairs, as he colors, as he eats, as he plays with trucks, as he sits in my lap to read books (making it quite difficult to see the words). Occasionally he will ask mama or daddy to hold them while he climbs or plays bc he is concerned that the ceiling fans will get them if the balloons "fly away". but for the most part of three days he carried them for hours at a time. As you can see in the pictures the helium is almost gone, there's no chance they can fly away and yet he still totes them with love. Ms. Anna saw him doing this and reminded me that he did this for days in February when we had a Valentine's balloon. sad or funny? Thank you GrandDuncans for giving him his birthday balloons.

Hide and Seek

Hide and Seek
Video sent by jandmduncan

Spencer is quickly counting to ten so he can search for Daddy. And then finding Daddy in the pantry.

China Update and Why we should be next

Hello all,

June 22: I couldn't sleep so watched some tv and fell asleep on couch. Woke up at 2:20 am and checked the CCAA website before heading upstairs just in case China had updated its referral info. And I had the exciting experience of being one of the first people in the world to see that China sent referrals for June 16-June 28th families. China updated its site around 2:01.

So for all those of you who have asked and asked let me explain the process so you too can share in the joy bc this means we SHOULD get our referral in July.

1. A giant stack of paperwork (dossier) left our hands in early June 2005.
2. US Consulate in Houston sealed the dossier with USA approvals.
3. Dossier goes to our adoption agency in Georgia, then to facilitator in Canada.
4. Facilitator, Adam, translates it and ships it to China.
5. JUNE 27th, 2005 our dossier arrives at the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs)
6. JULY 5, 2005 our dossier is Logged-in at CCAA and Duncans are on the waiting list for a child. And July 5th is our LID (logged in date).
7. Our dossier goes to Review Room where China checks to see if we are good parents.
8. Our dossier goes to Matching Room where God shows China which daughter is ours.

1-8 have already happened for us. We are in the Matching Room now.

9. We get a REFERRAL that has all the info about our daughter with three photos. First I will know when the referral is coming bc i daily watch online boards for China to post that referrals have been maied. CCAA's website is here:
http://www.china-ccaa.org/frames/index_unlogin_en.jsp
The referral news is always on the right hand side in a little box. Second our agency will call as soon as they receive the Referral. That's likely when we call all of you. Then our agency will email us all the Referral info and the photos. Then FedEx will deliver the referral to us.

10. We accept the referral and send notice back to agency, Adam, then China.

11. We apply for visas so we may travel to China.

12. China sends us Travel Approval that allows us to travel to China. Approval may take a month or so.

13. After receiving Travel Approval, Adam gets us a US Consulate appointment in Guangzhou, China and thus we know our travel dates. The trip will likely be two weeks. (Some families using Adam have had only 36 hours notice between knowing travel dates and when their flight leaves so we will start packing soon after getting our referral.)

14. We book our flights. Typically travel is 8-10 weeks after referral. (But I've known of families traveling within four weeks and some traveling in three months.)

15. While in China you may follow our posts at Aidyn's website: http://www.adoptionvoyages.com/Aidyn.htm


So now that you understand the process, I can tell you why we should get our referral in July. This am CCAA updated its site to say referrals have been sent for families with LIDs of June 16-June 28th. Only leaving three days of LIDs ahead of us (June 29th, June 30th and July 4th).

It is still possible that something happens in China like CCAA moves offices or lots of employees are on holiday and that they only match three days. That happened in March. But in looking at online polls there are not many families ahead of us on those three days so most likely we will get our referral sometime in July. Usually referrals come out in the later part of each month.

So I will be jittery for the next month and Jeremy will still be waiting to see pigs fly and our landscaping project completed.

Marsha

Video clip of Spencer's birthday dance with Brennan

Spencer's birthday dance with Brennan
Video sent by jandmduncan

More Birthday Pics

Spencer Turns Two!

The Birthday Boy: Spencer















The Birthday Boy: Spencer




















Spencer And Buddy Maggie




















Spencer Van Gogh painting "happy little trees"
















Ava Carey Donning Her Construction Hat (“Does this come in pink?”)















Spencer’s Cool Birthday Cake
















Spencer Blowing Out His Birthday Candles (All Two!)















Spencer Opening Birthday Gifts















The Motley Crew (Kylie Shaw, Ryan Ashton Fletcher, Ava Carey)
















The Motley Crew (Kylie Shaw, Ryan Ashton Fletcher, Ava Carey)















Ryan Ashton and His Ladies
















Ryan Ashton Fletcher and His Momma Anna















Hey everyone! My friend, Shelly, just created this blog page for us today. I tried for months in summer 2005 and could never get past the profile page. She created the blog, added pictures from Spencer's party and below are her comments. Thanks Shelly!!!!!!

Spencer's birthday party was held on Saturday, June 10th.

The theme for Spencer's birthday party was "construction". Each child was supplied with a festive hardhat. Spencer walked around wearing his manly tool belt. Marsha made a really cool strawberry cake with strawberry frosting. The frosting was tinted to look like dirt / pavement, oreos were crushed to look like a road meandering along the top of the cake, and candy corn was used to look like construction cones... Too cute! A great time seemed to be had by all.

At the party, Ryan Ashton Fletcher (born in November), Kylie Reese Shaw (born early in January but due at the end of March) and Ava Carey (born at the end of March) all posed for the camera together. Ryan Ashton was a big flirt with the girls... You should've seen the parents making a fuss over these little ones, trying to keep kiddos propped-up on the couch all while preventing any baby-mauling from occurring.

Good times!

Shelly