IAC 478-481

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 478 which was held on November 7, 2019:

1) Spanish dossier from September 2012 referred a male child aged 2 years and 1 month

2) French dossier from August 2014 referred a male child aged 3 years and 3 months with a family history

3) Canadian dossier from October 2018 referred a male child aged 2 years and 5 months with features in health status

4) US dossier from October 2019 referred a waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 479 which was held on November 14, 2019:

1) Spanish dossier from August 2012 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months

2) Spanish dossier from September 2012 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months

3) Spanish dossier from March 2013 referred a male child aged 5 years and 4 months

4) German dossier from October 2014 referred a female child aged 8 years and 8 months

5) Italian dossier from March 2019 referred two brothers aged  9 years and 10 months & 7 years and 5 months

6) US dossier from July 2019 referred a waiting child

7) US dossier from November 2019 referred a male child aged 2 years and 6 months with features in health status
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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 480 which was held on November 21, 2019:

1) Spanish dossier from October 2012 referred a male child aged 1 year and 7 months with features in health status

2) Italian dossier from April 2014 referred a male child aged 7 years and 4 months with features in health status

3) Luxembourg dossier from November 2014 referred a male child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status

4) German dossier from January 2015 referred a male child aged 6 years and 11 months and a female child aged  4 years and 9 months

5) Italian dossier from April 2015 referred a female child aged 9 years and 6 months

5) US dossier from September 2018 referred a waiting child

6) US dossier from December 2018 referred a female child aged 2 years with features in health status and a family history

7) US dossier from November 2019 referred a waiting child
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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 481 which was held on November 28, 2019:

1) Spanish dossier from October 2012 referred a male child aged 3 years and 10 months

2) Spanish dossier from February 2013 referred a male child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status

3) Spanish dossier from March 2013 referred a male child aged 4 years and 7 months

4) Italian dossier from November 2015 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status

5) US dossier from December 2016 referred a male child aged 3 years and 7 months with features in health status

6) US dossier from November 2019 referred a waiting child

7) US dossier from November 2019 referred a waiting child

8) US dossier from November 2019 referred a waiting child

Christmas Season 2019

Beginning in mid-fall life became quite trying for our family due to a few continuing challenges that are out of our control to a large degree.  Everyone at home is healthy and doing well, but some of those who are supposed to support us externally have turned into tremendous stressors.

With this pressure taking physical and emotional tolls, we wanted to keep our 2019 holidays even smaller than usual and decided to follow only our most favorite traditions this month: the Christmas party at CCHMC, St. Nick's Day, the Festival of Lights at the zoo, our Christmas Eve picnic, and two family gatherings.  We didn't decorate gingerbread houses, sent no Christmas packages and fewer cards, didn't have a big cookie baking day, and we didn't wrap any of the presents. The single thing we did more of this year was decorating because Emilia absolutely adores the sparkle of this season, so we let her take the lead and choose for all of us how to deck our halls.  Among other things, she selected this sign and asked that lots of lights be put up.

Every time there were suitable clearance flowers at my grocery store, I updated this bouquet in the dining room:

CCHMC Holiday Party

Christmas Day at home with just the five of us was much more challenging than expected for each of our kids in their own way.  It was a struggle to get from waking up to bedtime, but we got through it together and were able to follow with a much more peaceful Boxing Day.  

Christmas Eve Picnic

"Wrapped" and ready to go

Post-Holiday brunch with cousins - the only event we hosted

And after all of this excitement plus a Christmas dinner at Grandpa's house, we just needed to take a day to breathe and rest and reset which, regretfully, meant skipping out on Cousin James' birthday party.  Being the super sweet boy that he is we know he understands.

And now that's a wrap for Christmas 2019.

IAC 476 and 477 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 476 which was held on October 25, 2019:

Five US dossier submitted between August and October 2019 referred waiting children with profiles on the MOJ website.  No additional information provided.

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 477 which was held on October 31, 2019:

1) Spanish dossier from November 2012 referred a male child aged 3 years and 5 months

2) French dossier from February 2013 referred a male child aged 4 years and 10 months with features in health status

3) US dossier from July 2015 referred a male child aged 8 years and 11 months with features in health status

4) US dossier from April 2017 referred two brothers aged 5 years and 4 months & 6 years and 7 months with a family history

5) German dossier from October 2018 referred a female child aged 2 years and 6 months with features in health status

6) US dossier from October 2019 referred an identified waiting child

Autism Treatment Center in Rural Armenia

Family preservation is the absolute best way to address the worldwide orphan crisis, but often families find themselves forced into placing their children into state care because they have no support to raise them.  A group of moms in Artashat, which is in rural Armenia, decided to be the change.  They have opened an Autism Therapy Center in hopes that their children with developmental special needs will receive some level of education and social participation rather than having to be hidden away at home.  

When I learned about these brave families and their mission, I knew immediately that I had to get involved.  With the help of several adoptive moms of Armenian-born children and other friends, we were able to collect over $800 worth of therapy equipment which will ship to Armenia in January.  We simply cannot wait to see the students there use all of these items.

If anyone reading this post is interested in helping as well, you can do so via GoFundMe here.

Therapy in progress at the center

Finally...

... a topic of interest to Littlest One and, of course, she excels.  #keepitalltheyear