The World's Ugliest Rainbow Cake

Those of you who read here often know that I love to bake and experiment in the kitchen.  So after Ella made this cute play dough cake for me, I wanted to reciprocate with a rainbow cake for her.

The whole experience of making a rainbow cake was frustrating from beginning to end. I hate food coloring in the first place, so working with multiple colors was not really my thing. Plus the dough would not come out of the pans after baking and crumbled into pieces which made the icing process a real challenge.  I completed the cake, but accepted defeat.

When Ella saw my cake, she said, "Don't worry about your crazy ugly cake, Mama, it's still pretty. I'm still gonna eat it."

Surprisingly, when we did cut the cake for dessert on Saturday night, it was truly pretty inside with lovely colors.  And the flavor... well, you can't go wrong with homemade buttercream icing.

Picture Of The Day

Rex during cranio-sacral therapy.  Even though his eyes are open, he is asleep.  He was so mellow and happy after the session.

IA Bulgaria: Healthy Girls & Boys Under Three

My friend "K" and her husband have been waiting for the referral of a healthy girl up to 36 months of age from Bulgaria.  "K" has been diligent in tracking the wait times and the kinds of referrals that are being issued by MOJ.  Her placing agency has been doing the same.  "K" shared with me her findings that she recently discussed with her placing agency and she gave me permission to publish them here.  Below is "K's" research.

"I compared my tracking sheets with [our program manager's] and we matched across the board. I have been tracking all IAC session referrals since September 2012 of children under the age of 36 months (boys and girls; "healthy" and not). Here's what I have found through my own tracking (all confirmed by our program manager):

• Average wait time for girls under the age of 36 months (regardless of health or family history) has remained static at 32 months.
• Average wait time for "healthy" girls under 36 months has steadily increased each year from 42 months in 2012 to 47 months in 2014.
• The total number of referrals for children under 36 months has stayed consistent (even increased ever so slightly), however, the percentage of referrals of "healthy" children has sharply declined and is on track to further decline in 2015.

                                2013        2014        2015YTD*

Total referrals        109        119            10

# healthy                   41           33             2

% healthy                  38%       28%         20%

*2015 Year to Date through 2/19/15

Healthy children are considered any who do not have a note of "Features: Health Status" and/or "Family History" in the IAC session results. Also does not include children referred from profiles on the MOJ website (i.e. waiting children).

The above stats are consistent with what our program manager has heard from [our Bulgarian NGO]--the MOJ is referring more children categorized with having special needs. The problem with that is how the categories are understood, defined and applied. Some children are deemed "healthy", but do in fact have needs. Some children are labeled with needs that don't exist. The discrimination of Roma children continues to be a problem, and makes it hard to understand these labels."

Thank you, "K", for your efforts in compiling this information.

Braggity-Brag

May I take a minute and brag on my son?  He's been doing absolutely fantastic since the start of this calendar year, despite the move and transfer to a new school.  I am working on a longer update about Rex's progress, but right this moment I just want to say that most days now his therapy notes come home looking like this:

Nappies For Nork Diaper Drive

Nork Orphanage in Yerevan where Rex used to live is in dire need of disposable diapers and while it should be the responsibility of the Armenian government to supply those basic necessities, we all know the reality. 

Rex at his favorite perch at Nork
beneath the diaper changing table
in November 2010

Let’s do a little quick math.  In the US, you can purchase a brand-name diaper for between 15 and 30 cents each.  In Armenia, they are a bit more expensive, so for ease of calculating, let’s say it’s 25 to 50 cents, depending on the size and brand.  That means that for $1.50 to $3.00 a child at Nork can be clean and comfortable for an entire day.  For around $70 a child has diapers for an entire month.  Approximately $135 will keep every child at Nork in fresh diapers for a 24 hour period.

The Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief, SOAR, has already set up a diaper fund (http://soar-us.org/diaper_fund.html) and you can make a tax deductible donation here: http://soar-us.org/donate.html.  Please earmark your donation specifically for diapers for Nork.  If you make a contribution in any amount between now and Easter Sunday and let me know (viviane 8 at yahoo dot com), I will enter you into a drawing for a variety of items including:

*A CD of Armenian Christmas hymns

*An original photo print of an image taken in Armenia by a fellow adoptive mom and photographer

*4 Starbucks gift cards worth $25 each

*2 new scarves

Thanks for supporting the little ones at Nork!

IAC Results 308 & 309

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 308 which was held on February 12, 2015:

1) Italian dossier from June 2013 referred biological sisters aged 9 years and 5 months & 6 years

2) Italian dossier from June 2013 referred a female child aged 9 years and 4 months with features in health status and a family history

3) Italian dossier from February 2014 referred biological brothers aged  6 years and 10 months & 8 years and 8 months

4) US dossier from March 2014 referred a male child aged 9 years and 4 months

5) US dossier from June 2014 referred two waiting children (#2567 & #2565) with profiles on the MOJ site

6) Italian dossier from July 2014 referred a waiting child (#2747) with a profile on the MOJ site

7) Italian dossier from July 2014 referred a male child aged 9 years and 6 months with features in health status

8) Italian dossier from September 2014 referred a female child aged 9 years and 11 months

9) US dossier from January 2015 referred a waiting child (#2684) with a profile on the MOJ site

10) US dossier from February 2015 referred a waiting child (#2434) with a profile on the MOJ site

11) US dossier from February 2015 referred a waiting child (#1169) with a profile on the MOJ site

12) US dossier from February 2015 referred a waiting child (#2413) with a profile on the MOJ site

_____________________________________________

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 309 which was held on February 19, 2015:

1) Spanish dossier from October 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 5 months

2) Spanish dossier from April 2011 referred a female child aged 6 years and 3 months

3) Italian dossier from April 2011 referred a male child aged 6 years and 3 months with features in health status

4) French dossier from July 2011 referred a female child aged 4 years and 4 months with a family history

5) US dossier from August 2011 referred a female child aged 1 year and 11 months with features in health status and a family history

6) Italian dossier from January 2013 referred a male child aged 4 years and 3 months with features in health status and a family history

7) Italian dossier from April 2013 referred a male child aged 8 years and 4 months

8) US dossier from September 2013 referred a male child aged 2 years and 5 months with features in health status and a family history

9) US dossier from May 2014 referred a female child aged 2 years and 9 months with features in health status and a family history

10) US dossier from February 2015 referred a waiting child (#2575) with a profile on the MOJ site

11) US dossier from February 2015 referred a waiting child (#2448) with a profile on the MOJ site

12) US dossier from February 2015 referred two waiting children (#27 & #305) with profiles on the MOJ site

Picture Of The Day

Ella got into some big trouble yesterday with her daddy for disobedience.  We've talked about it and things are good now.  However, after nap this afternoon, Ella decided that she wanted to apologize one more time and she made this card for Craig.  She had no help and created this masterpiece all on her own.  The creature with the massive arms is her daddy, by the way.