Happy New Year

Wishing our family, friends, and readers around the world

a healthy, joyous 2016.

Wir wollen glauben
an ein langes Jahr,
das uns gegeben ist,
neu, unberührt, 

voll nie gewesener Dinge...

Rainer Maria Rilke

Let us believe

in a long year

which is given to us,

new, untouched,

full of things that have never been...

Rainer Maria Rilke

MOJ Bulgaria Referral Information

This information is based on the referrals issued in the last 40 IAC sessions (IAC 299 through IAC 340 with IAC 317 never published). The data does not include the referrals of 8 sibling groups whose ages fell into different categories nor the referrals of identified waiting children whose profiles were published on the MOJ website.  Referral waits are calculated from the month of dossier registration to the month of the referral being issued.

Healthy Children Aged 0-36 Months at the Time of Referral

Total referrals: 19
Average wait time: 53.8 months
Shortest wait time: 50 months
Longest wait time: 59 months
Trend: wait times are generally getting longer

Healthy Children Aged 37-72 Months at the Time of Referral

Total referrals: 22
Average wait time: 52.9 months
Shortest wait time: 45 months
Longest wait time: 61 months
Trend: wait times are generally getting longer

*Based on this data increasing age parameters to 72 months for a healthy child currently does not shorten average referral wait times.

Children with Special Needs Aged 0-36 Months at the Time of Referral

Total referrals: 86
Average wait time: 25.6 months
Shortest wait time: 0 months - referral issued the same month the dossier was registered
Longest wait time: 57 months
Trend: wait times greatly depend on special needs parameters

Children with Special Needs Aged 37-72 Months at the Time of Referral

Total referrals: 27
Average wait time: 34.4 months
Shortest wait time: 4 months
Longest wait time: 56 months
Trend: wait times greatly depend on special needs parameters

*Based on this data, wait times for children with a broad array of special needs vary widely based on a family's parameters in this area.  A child's age only seems to have a minor impact on wait times, shortening them an average of 9 months.

IAC 337, 338, 339, 340 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 337 which was held on November 5, 2015:

1) Dutch dossier from December 2010 referred a male child aged 2 years and 2 months

2) Spanish dossier from December 2010 referred a male child aged 3 years and 8 months

3) French dossier from March 2012 referred a male child aged 1 year and 4 months with a family history

4) Luxembourg dossier from September 20102 referred a male child aged 2 years and 8 months with features in health status

5) Italian dossier from August 2014 referred a male child aged 8 years and 10 months with features in health status

6) Italian dossier from December 2014 referred a brother and sister aged 10 years and 7 months & 9 years and 5 months

7) US dossier from August 2015 referred a waiting child (#3042) with a profile on the MOJ site

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 338 which was held on November 12, 2015:

1) French dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 4 years and 2 months

2) Spanish dossier from November 2010 referred a male child aged 3 years and 7 months

3) US dossier from December 2013 referred a male child aged 1 year and 4 months with a family history

4) French dossier from March 2015 referred a female child aged 9 years and 11 months with features in health status and a family history

5) US dossier from November 2015 referred three waiting children (#2919 & #2918 & #2917) with profiles on the MOJ site

6) US dossier from November 2015 referred a waiting child (#2825) with a profile on the MOJ site

7) US dossier from November 2015 referred a waiting child (#2500) with a profile on the MOJ site

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 339 which was held on November 19, 2015:

1) US dossier from July 2011 referred a female child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status

2) Italian dossier from August 2015 referred two brothers aged 10 years and 2 months & 7 years and 7 months

3) US dossier from November 2015 referred a brother and sister aged 7 years and 2 months & 10 years and 7 months with features in health status

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 340 which was held on November 26, 2015:

1) Irish dossier from October 2011 referred a male child aged 1 year and 11 months with features in health status and a family history

2) US dossier from September 2012 referred a female child aged 2 years and 3 months with features in health status

3) French dossier from July 2013 referred a female child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status

4) US dossier from September 2013 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status

5) Italian dossier from October 2013 referred a female child aged 7 years and 2 months with features in health status

6) US dossier from October 2014 referred a male child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status

7) Portuguese dossier from May 2015 referred a male child aged 2 years and 1 month with features in health status and a family history

8) US dossier from October 2015 referred a female child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status and a family history

Escrow For Eden Update #2

Our local cookie fundraiser to grow Eden's agency adoption grant has closed and we raised $466.  We baked and decorated 54 dozen cookies for families in our community.  We were also able to sell a few more things at consignment stores to bring the total money raised to $522.50.  Eden's grant now stands at $2605.

While my cousin Maria and I were hard at work for Eden, many other things were happening on her behalf as well.  First, SOAR has set up a Go Fund Me page to help bring Eden to the US for the spinal surgery she needs.  We are thrilled at the possibility of her receiving this life-saving treatment finally at 8 years old.  I will keep you posted on these plans as they unfold.

Secondly, a family committed to adopting Eden, but they are not using Hopscotch as their placing agency, so the grant money is not available to them.

Due to these developments, I am now putting my fundraising for Eden on hold until the dust settles and we can see what the future has in store for her.  If she is, indeed, adopted by the family who has committed or if the surgery opens other doors for her in Armenia, the money that has been donated toward her grant fund will be transferred into one or more agency grants for other friends of Ella's.  Stay tuned.

Christmas Eve Picnic

The Nutcracker

Today Craig and I took the girls to see The Nutcracker at our city's performing arts center.  The event was sensory-friendly and, therefore, perfect for our little Emilia.  Plus, Ella studied The Nutcracker in her music class at school this month and showed great interest in it.

After running into several old friends in the lobby, I was moved to tears when I sat down among an audience of so many special people and families.  We were surrounded by kids with noise-canceling headphones and face masks, kids navigating their way with blind canes, children and adults in wheelchairs, people holding fidgets and wearing hearing aids.  It warmed my heart to see many elderly folks with developmental special needs attending this event, too.

During the performance, people cheered and clapped, whistled and commented, danced and jumped.  It was lovely to behold the joy and the wonder in so many eyes, including those of my own daughter who pirouetted and otherwise moved her way through a performance that mesmerized her.  She animatedly expressed her observations and thoughts ("Bye-bye, chicken.  I want chicken") and during intermission emphatically and repeatedly declared, "Ballerina right back.  Hurry up, ballerina."

We are so thankful to the Cincinnati Ballet and its partners and donors for providing our children with the opportunity to experience music, dance and visual arts in a welcoming and supportive environment.  This was the first of its kind performance for our ballet and I hope that there will be many more.

P.S. The girls chose their own outfits yesterday and once I saw their selections, I decided to make their ensembles complete with sparkles in their hair and a dab of perfume on their wrists.

Picture Of The Day

Eggnog coffeecakes with streusel...

Don't they look scrumptious?

... one for Craig's Christmas lunch at work tomorrow

... and one for the Christmas lunch for the teachers and therapists at Rex's school