HOLIDAY WISHES

This is from Lisa Eaves newsletter the mind-body workshop:
"May your winter holidays be peaceful. May you stay healthy and warm. May you create the kind of celebration that you hope for. The holidays can be a mixed bag: exciting, chaotic, peaceful, soulful, melancholy, inspirational, spontaneous, restful, exhausting - What would you like for them to be? Give yourself some quiet, contemplative time over the holidays. Take care not to over-commit your time, your energy, your strength. The path that you are on demands much of you already. Quiet time will help you to tap into the wise woman within. Let yourself hear her voice amongst all the others, of family, spouse, friends, colleagues, acquaintances. Let your wise woman, your inner guide, help you to create a special time for you and your loved ones. If you can imagine how it can be, you have the power to make it so. Just imagine."

Will Our Referral Arrive Before Christmas?

[SLC: ] RQ is reporting today (Wednesday) that rumors are flying about this batch of referrals (which will surely include us!) being here this week. However, some agencies are still saying next week, i.e, right after Christmas. Catherine has done a great job tracking down all sorts of physicians who may be available during the holidays to do the necessary review of our daughter's medical condition before we can accept the referral.

Agencies: China tightens adoption rules
New restrictions said to bar single, obese, over-50 parents from adopting The changes include the following (taken directly from notes provided by our China coordinator, Anli Ma):
Marriage- it should last 2 years if its the first marriage for both parties; if either party had divorce (no more than 2 times) the current marriage should last 5 years.
Age- 30-50 for normal healthy child; 55 years old for Special Needs child
Healthy- BMI not to exceed 40 for both parties THE DETAILED REQUIREMENT ON HEALTHY STATUS WILL BE SENT TO AGENCY SOON.
Finance- net worth is US$80,000; each member in the family should have US $10,000 annually including the adopted child.
Children at home-no more than 5 children under 18 years old. The youngest child is already 1 year old.

BEIJING - China is imposing new restrictions on foreign adoptions, barring applicants who are unmarried, obese, over 50 or who take antidepressants, according to U.S. adoption agencies. Well you might not agree with it but you have to respect it said one spokesperson from an agency. These rules will apply to new applications although there is still some window of time to get those dossiers in. China wants their children to go to parents who the cream of the crop and will demand such through the CCCA-Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs.