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January
2007
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The Gansel Family, TN (China)
It’s great to be home with Gabrielle. She’s sleeping in her own crib and enjoying all the toys and cloths our family and friends have lavished on her. We’re looking forward to our first Christmas together.
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This time of
year will always make me think of you and the staff of CHI as we enter
the holiday season and reflect on our many blessings. Ella is an amazing
little girl and we are so lucky to have her and so thankful that CHI
guided our journey to bring her home.
Ella celebrated her third birthday and we just wanted to send you a
updated picture of her and remind you how special all the staff at CHI
is to us.
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The Drake Family, GA (China)
We are really glad to be home. Jud is doing great adjusting. His understanding of English is doing very well. He is very healthy and all boy, which is an adjustment for us since we are used to dealing with our little girl. She was a lifesaver in China with Jud. She went right to him and gave him a toy and it was virtually smooth sailing from there. Thank you for all your assistance.
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The Shafer Family, TN (China)
We are all just great.
Kate-Lin is an amazing child. She is very loving and at the same time
also very independent. It is uncanny just how well she fits into our
family. We have had people tell us she looks like Sam. Everyday we see
more and more of her personality emerging and she is like a little
sponge, the way she absorbs everything. The best part is when she comes
up to us and gives us kisses, it just melts your heart.
Can't wait for you guys to see our beautiful daughter that you helped being into our family.
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The Dudley Family, GA
(China)
Lauren
is one precious girl!
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The Dunnewold Family, TN (China)
Here's a picture of Jenna
meeting
her big brothers! What a beautiful baby!
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The Gray Family, TN (Russia)
Things have been a
little different around this house if you know what I mean.
Colt Sergey has been a great addition to the family, and he can't wait
to meet you all.
He is doing very well and is a great joy to have in our lives. We don't
know what we ever did without our little guy.
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The Bush Family, GA (Russia)
The Language Arts teacher had all the kids type a short essay in class about their family changes, and this is written by her cousin......
1. Write about a major change that has occurred in your family recently--such as a move, a divorce or a new member. Explain what effect that change has had on you and on your family.
*Answer: The change in my family is that my aunt and uncle adopted a little girl from Russia and her name is now Amelia Olga Bush. Her real name was Olga-something, so my aunt and uncle decided to keep her first real name as her middle name. She is very cute and has very black eye lashes. I think she is the prettiest child in the world. She is full of drama and has an adorable personality. My aunt has sent me a lot of photos of her. She was a fairy princess for Halloween and she just loved her little pony tails when she looked in the mirror. She kept trying to see the back of them, but she couldn't. I know that my aunt and uncle's lives have had changes ever since they got her and I know that she is a blessing from God. They had been in the adoption program for 2 years, I think. Amelia is so special to everyone in this family.
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The Bass Family, TN (Russia)
Merry Christmas to
everyone at CHI! Rick and I can not believe that December 19th marks our
one-year anniversary of being a family! We are truly blessed to have
such wonderful little boys. Alek and Caelen are so excited to be
celebrating their first American Christmas. They wrote a letter to Santa
Claus and met with him for the first time! Alek is also in the Christmas
program at church this Sunday. It is amazing to see how far they have
advanced in just a year!
Thank you to each and every member of the CHI family in Brentwood,
Moscow and Novosibirsk. Without you, this first anniversary would not
exist.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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The Rowlett Family, TN (Russia)
We are so glad to be home and he has changed so much in the weeks we have been here. This will be the greatest holiday for all of us. Thank you for everything.
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The Gill Family, LA (Russia)
Merry Christmas to all of you! Alic is so Awesome!!! you can see he is really growing and developing very well!!!
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The Sanderson Family, TN (China)
Here's a few pix of
the boys - they are the best of buddies! It is in their relationship
that I truly see
God's hand at work.
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The Outland Family, TN (China)
Hello everyone!
Well, I actually made it all the way to China. I picked up Ella at the
Adoption Affairs office yesterday morning at about 10 am. She was
SUPER sad all day.
She definitely is grieving and has cried a million alligator
tears. They must have taken good care of her at the orphanage. By days
end though, we had made great strides. We stopped crying, ate well and
have been sleeping all night. She has smiled only once so far - at a
Chinese kids show on TV. She seems to really like her toys!
Ella has a head full of black curly hair - curly like Chris' (I don't
know how he pulled that off) :). She has to suck on the corner of a
blanket to go to sleep - glad we figured that out quickly. She still
takes a bottle with milk powder and rice cereal and also eats some
regular food. She is a SUPER wild sleeper. We have a king size
bed in our room and she has been on every square inch of it last night
while sleeping. I will bet that the bed feels like heaven to her - the
comforter is down and the sheets are so soft and nice.
When I got her they had her dressed in 8 - count them - 8 wintertime,
thick items of clothing- not including her diaper and socks and shoes.
They "bundle" the babies here and she was CERTAINLY bundled!
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The Campbell Family, TN (Guatemala)
December 9th is Lily's "Gotcha Day" :) ...so hard to believe it's been almost 4 years since she came home...
We invite you to celebrate the blessing of adoption with our family on this special day by joining us as we give thanks to Him for this precious little girl.
Hugs & Kisses from Lily's family to you!
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The Miller Family, TN (Russia)
God bless our son!
Russ and Anita
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It's "the most wonderful time of
the year!" And you are invited to get into the holiday spirit by
visiting our website and seeing many of the beautiful faces of children
who have come home to their forever families through Children's Hope
International.
You'll also see a link on our "Latest News" page to a November USA Today
article written by one of our families, just home in September,
describing their experience adopting from Russia.
With our warmest wishes for the holiday season... just click below....
and enjoy!
www.childrenshopeint.org/newyork/Region.htm
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China Updates
China has recently changed many of their
adoption requirements for parents.
The CCAA held its annual meeting with agencies on 12/8/06. They
announced many new requirements and changes. The following is from our
Beijing office's notes taken during the meeting and additional
information obtained from the CCAA after the meeting. Here is a summary of the announced
changes:
- Wait time for China referrals - the number of dossiers is 2 times the
number of children they have to place. The wait time from LID to
referral will not shorten at this time and it may get longer. The CCAA
did not define longer.
- Effective with any China dossier submitted to the CCAA on or after May
1, 2007, the following new requirements MUST be met. Dossiers do not
have to be logged in by May 1, 2007; they must be submitted to the CCAA
before May 1, 2007. CHI is requesting that all families who no longer
meet the new requirements have their dossier submitted to the St. Louis
office by April 1, 2007 or we will not submit their dossier to the CCAA.
The April 1, 2007 deadline is to allow time to mail, translate and
submit the dossier to the CCAA by April 30, 2007. .
NEW CCAA REQUIREMENTS:
1. MARRIAGE: Married couples only. The present marriage must be over 2
years if no previous marriages. No more than 2 previous marriages per
parent will be allowed. If the family has previous marriages, then the
present marriage must be over 5 years.
No singles. Agencies may continue to submit single's dossiers prior to
May 1, 2007, but agencies must stay within the 8% of their total
dossiers submitted each month until 5/1/07. No single's dossier may be
submitted after May 1, 2007. This includes the China waiting children's
program also.
The CCAA did state that in the future, singles could submit dossiers but
their dossier would be put aside and only processed if there were more
children available than approved married couples.
2. AGE: Each parent must be 30 to 50. No parent can be under 30 or over
50. The CCAA will not accept any parent outside of this range. Dossiers
must be logged in before the parent turns 50 to qualify. If the family
selects a waiting child, the upper limit for age can be 55.
3. MEDICAL: The CCAA wants parents to be healthy. They will not accept
any infectious disease, mental disease, blindness, or serious disease or
disability. The CCAA will be providing more details in their formal
notice.
The CCAA clarified they will not accept any mental disease. They said
pre adoptive parents must not have any anxiety or depression including
mild depression with a low dosage of medication. The CCAA will not
accept any mental disease. The CCAA further clarified they would accept
a parent with anxiety or mild depression that has been successfully
treated and now the parent no longer undergoes treatment if the parent
has been treatment and medication free for 2 years ago or longer.
4. WEIGHT: Both parents must have body mass indexes (BMI) under 40. Here
is a web site with the BMI indexes - http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/bmi_tbl.htm
5. FINANCIAL: At least one parent must have a stable job. They will no
longer accept a family whose main source of income is from "alms" (the
CCAA used this word and our interpretation is disability income or
income from the government). The income requirement is over $10,000 per
family member including the child to be adopted. The family's net assets
must be over $80,000.
6. EDUCATION: Each parent must have a high school education or higher.
7. FAMILY SIZE: No more than 5 children in the home, including the child
to be adopted. The youngest child currently in the home must be over 1
year old. They will consider exceptions to the 5 children in the home
rule for the waiting children's program.
8. CRIMINAL: No criminal record. The CCAA will address this in more
detail in their formal notice.
NEW CCAA FEES EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2007: NSN dossier fee will increase
from $410 to $620, the $100 fee for Bridges of Love (translation
service) will remain at $100. Dossier fees for the waiting children's
program (dossiers submitted after submitting the letter of intent) will
increase from $410 to $540. The $100 fee for Bridges of Love will
continue to be waived for waiting children dossiers.
The China team submitted the last dossiers with the current $510 dossier
fee. Beginning December 15, 2006, all dossiers must include the new $720
dossier fee. It takes approximately 2 to 3 weeks to check, mail,
translate and submit a dossier to the CCAA once the dossier arrives in
our St. Louis office.
WAITING CHILDREN'S PROGRAM:
1. The CCAA will begin assigning low birth weight and developmentally
delayed children to agencies as part of their waiting children's
program. The CCAA will not give their waiting child discount for these
children though. The CCAA fees will be the same as for the NSN program.
However, the CCAA process will be shorter for these children similar to
the waiting children's program.
2. The CCAA will be launching their internet waiting children project in
February of 2007. We will be receiving more details as they become
available. The CCAA is still working on this project.
The CCAA is launching a new email communication tool between the CCAA
and agencies that want to pay a fee to participate. CHI will
participate. We will be receiving more information.
2007 CHI and China Fees - The only change in the China fees for 2007
will be an increase from $300 to $700 for the agency fee. This increase
includes the $100 to cover the Hague compliant training materials and
the cost of living increase. We are working on changes to the All Guide,
the China guide, CHI Family Net and the web site.
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Friday, January 12, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the CHI office - Russian New Year Party.
Please Help Us Celebrate Russian New Year!
Friday, January 12, 2007
4 p.m – 6 p.m.
CHI Brentwood Office
229 Ward Circle, Suite C-22
Please bring a dish to share and have your child’s photo made with Grandfather Frost.
We look forward to seeing your family!
Please RSVP by January 5, 2007 to be sure that Grandfather Frost has enough gifts for the children: Vonda Hunter at Children’s Hope International at 615.309.8109 or Vonda.hunter@childrenshope.net.
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Vietnamese New Year Celebration!
The Vietnamese families will be celebrating Tet, watch for more info in February!
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China New Year
at CHI
Mark your calendars! February 18, 2007 is
Chinese New Year, and we'll be celebrating again at Canton Chinese
Restaurant in Cool Springs on Saturday, February 17 from 10:30 - 12:30.
More details to follow!
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While you are waiting for your child...
While you are waiting, you can give hope to another child who also
waits far away. You can begin TODAY to provide a child with food,
clothing, and education.
Visit
http://orphan.childrenshope.net/
to see
how YOU can sponsor and orphan child.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
January 13, 2007 ~ Dossier Class ~ 8:30 AM ~ Children's Hope
January 13, 2007 ~ Travel Class ~ 10:00 AM ~ Children's Hope
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A MESSAGE FROM BRENDA BARKER
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope that this new year is a wonderful one for you and your family! And, of course there is no better time to start your adoption! Please let us know how we can help make your dreams of a child a reality!
Brenda
Southeastern U.S.
Brenda Barker,
Director
229 Ward Circle, Suite C-22
Brentwood, TN 37027
615-309-8109 Fax: 615-309-8483
brenda.barker@childrenshope.net
Also serving the following
states:
TN, KY, GA, AL, AR, MS, VA,
LA & SC
Click on the logos to read more
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Click here to request an
information packet regarding
international adoption with Children's Hope
International:
send info, please. . .
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