Dear Friends:
Today is New Years Eve. It is a time to look to the future and to look back at the year that has gone by. 2004 has been a good year for this friend house as Malcolm and I have been busy preparing for the new arrival to our family, our darling daughter.
This past Christmas marked our 1-year anniversary of the signing of our adoption agency application. By that stroke of the pen and with the ringing in of 2004 started us in the whirlwind of paperwork, letters of references, social worker visits, more paperwork, police clearances from the US and the UK, FBI checks, more paperwork, fingerprints, medicals, state clearances, more paperwork, a visit to the state capital of Pennsylvania, multiple phone calls to our agency, more paperwork, a very late night call to New Scotland yard, 3 visits to the British Embassy in DC, 4 visits to the State department, 3 visits to the Chinese Consulate in DC and more paperwork. All of this “Paperchasing” came to a finish where I made one visit to the Kinko's/FedEx and copied the completed documents required and sent the originals off to our agency in Colorado. Where they the agency translated all of the paperwork into Mandarin and sent it of to the offices of the CCAA in China. We heard officially that on August 30 we were officially logged into their system and so now we wait. The wait we were warned that it would be the most painful part of the adoption journey. Truthfully I did not believe them but they were right.
How the system works is that the CCAA works by months. In September they sent out the referrals out to those that had their paperwork logged in by March, October. April and so on. Sometimes things have happened which either doubles up the Months and sometimes things out of anyone's control like SARS can happen which can cause months of delay. No one really knows when they are going to send out the referrals next, not even the agencies. It is all down to China and of course Divine Providence. As one seasoned adoptive parents said to another perspective parent who was complaining during the wait, “Just wait till you meet your child you will be glad that you waited because you would not be matched with her if you didn't.” Awe, Divine Providence.
So as you ring in the New Year say a little prayer for our daughter waiting for us in China. We hope to get there as soon as we can.
We wish you ALL a Very Happy New Year.
God Bless.
Taney & Malcolm
LONDON CHIMES by Malcolm Friend. An expat Brit from London who now lives near Philadelphia.
Friday, December 31, 2004
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Tsunami
My heart reaches out to everyone touched by the tragedy surrounding the underwater earthquakes that caused the tsunami's that have taken lives, homes and livelyhoods of millions across 10 countries.
The amateur video footage from the hotels in Thailand is captavating, yet the power of mother nature at her furious worst is not easily captured with a camcorder.
My concerns are for the areas that we have not yet seen images from. An ITV news crew have footage from a plane at some altitude that shows low lying ground that has been simply destroyed as if trees are matchsticks and buildings are boxes made of paper. Even this does not guage the breadth of the tragedy that unfolds on the hour through the 24 hour news programs.
The help being offered by the Americans ($35 Million) and many other countries including Britain ($1.3Million) including the practical help being put in place right now is essential. Yet history will show this as the event that reshaped the crisis procedures for multi-national aid.
It has been reported that France has offered $136,000 in help. In comparison with other first-world countries who are providing assistance calculated in millions, this is a highly inappropriate response. Time may modify there level of help.
I do not profess to being a geologist, but I do understand that the plates surrounding the earth can trigger quakes caused from disturbances elsewhere. Without any evidence to back up a link, I find it something of a coincidence that this earthquake follows another major earthquake only days before that is not widely reported.
The following is from the BBC News dated December 24, 2004
Penguins escape huge earthquake
An earthquake on a remote Antarctic archipelago home to 850,000 King Penguins was the strongest on earth in four years, seismologists say.
The quake hit 400km (250 miles) off the Macquarie Islands on Friday, measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale.
Penguins appear to have escaped a major disaster as the quake occurred deep under the sea, far from inhabited land.
There were no tsunamis, or large tidal waves, because the quake moved horizontally rather than vertically.
The tremors were felt in Tasmania, 1000km (600 miles) away, but because the epicentre was 10km underground, few observers noticed the initial quake.
10 BIGGEST QUAKES SINCE 1900 (December 24, 2004)
Chile, 1960: 9.5
Alaska, 1964: 9.2
Alaska, 1957: 9.1
Kamchatka, 1952: 9.0
Near Ecuador, 1906: 8.8
Alaska, 1965: 8.7
Tibet, 1950: 8.6
Kamchatka, 1923: 8.5
Indonesia, 1938: 8.5
Kuril Islands, 1963: 8.5
Source: US Geological Survey
Buildings on the islands shook for 15 seconds, seismologist Cvetan Sinadinovski said.
"If this had happened underneath a population centre it would probably have destroyed a whole city," he said.
The quake was the biggest anywhere on earth since an 8.4-magnitude tremor off the coast of Peru in June 2001. That killed 74 people.
Friday's earthquake was caused by the collision of two of the major tectonic plates which make up the earth's crust layer, the Indo-Australian and the Pacific plates.
The last quake of a similar magnitude in the Macquarie region was in 1924, Mr Sinadinovski said.
Despite its size, 22 staff of the Australian Antarctic Division slept through the tremors.
"Nobody felt anything," a spokesman said.
Attention must be given to the threat of disease in those areas affected by the tsunamis. The rising waters may have taken the lives of thousands, the effects of disease have the opportunity to do as much if not more again.
The aid agencies are unable to react with speed to everyone concerned, I fear we must pray for those in these areas that help arrives in time to prevent more lives lost.
A couple of days ago, with a little time on my hands I was considering to write a review on the news stories of the year. Yet somehow the news of today overshadows the news of the yesterdays in the past year.
The amateur video footage from the hotels in Thailand is captavating, yet the power of mother nature at her furious worst is not easily captured with a camcorder.
My concerns are for the areas that we have not yet seen images from. An ITV news crew have footage from a plane at some altitude that shows low lying ground that has been simply destroyed as if trees are matchsticks and buildings are boxes made of paper. Even this does not guage the breadth of the tragedy that unfolds on the hour through the 24 hour news programs.
The help being offered by the Americans ($35 Million) and many other countries including Britain ($1.3Million) including the practical help being put in place right now is essential. Yet history will show this as the event that reshaped the crisis procedures for multi-national aid.
It has been reported that France has offered $136,000 in help. In comparison with other first-world countries who are providing assistance calculated in millions, this is a highly inappropriate response. Time may modify there level of help.
I do not profess to being a geologist, but I do understand that the plates surrounding the earth can trigger quakes caused from disturbances elsewhere. Without any evidence to back up a link, I find it something of a coincidence that this earthquake follows another major earthquake only days before that is not widely reported.
The following is from the BBC News dated December 24, 2004
Penguins escape huge earthquake
An earthquake on a remote Antarctic archipelago home to 850,000 King Penguins was the strongest on earth in four years, seismologists say.
The quake hit 400km (250 miles) off the Macquarie Islands on Friday, measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale.
Penguins appear to have escaped a major disaster as the quake occurred deep under the sea, far from inhabited land.
There were no tsunamis, or large tidal waves, because the quake moved horizontally rather than vertically.
The tremors were felt in Tasmania, 1000km (600 miles) away, but because the epicentre was 10km underground, few observers noticed the initial quake.
10 BIGGEST QUAKES SINCE 1900 (December 24, 2004)
Chile, 1960: 9.5
Alaska, 1964: 9.2
Alaska, 1957: 9.1
Kamchatka, 1952: 9.0
Near Ecuador, 1906: 8.8
Alaska, 1965: 8.7
Tibet, 1950: 8.6
Kamchatka, 1923: 8.5
Indonesia, 1938: 8.5
Kuril Islands, 1963: 8.5
Source: US Geological Survey
Buildings on the islands shook for 15 seconds, seismologist Cvetan Sinadinovski said.
"If this had happened underneath a population centre it would probably have destroyed a whole city," he said.
The quake was the biggest anywhere on earth since an 8.4-magnitude tremor off the coast of Peru in June 2001. That killed 74 people.
Friday's earthquake was caused by the collision of two of the major tectonic plates which make up the earth's crust layer, the Indo-Australian and the Pacific plates.
The last quake of a similar magnitude in the Macquarie region was in 1924, Mr Sinadinovski said.
Despite its size, 22 staff of the Australian Antarctic Division slept through the tremors.
"Nobody felt anything," a spokesman said.
Attention must be given to the threat of disease in those areas affected by the tsunamis. The rising waters may have taken the lives of thousands, the effects of disease have the opportunity to do as much if not more again.
The aid agencies are unable to react with speed to everyone concerned, I fear we must pray for those in these areas that help arrives in time to prevent more lives lost.
A couple of days ago, with a little time on my hands I was considering to write a review on the news stories of the year. Yet somehow the news of today overshadows the news of the yesterdays in the past year.
Monday, December 20, 2004
First Snow
December 19, we had the first snow of winter decend in these here parts followed by an artic freeze that continues today with temps hovering at arounf 9F (-13C) before windchill is factored in what is a windy day! BRRRRR!!
The snow has left a thin white covering to remind us that the first day of winter officially starts tomorrow.
The last week has seen much merriment in the Friend family household with the tree in the house and decorated, the last of the lights adorning the outside of the property and I have lost count the number of holiday festivities that have been attended, not least Tableaux, the Childrens Holiday Concert, full of good traditional Christmas carols the society sing, complete with the annual pastoral skit loosely based around "its a wonderful life (in Bryn Athyn) and the MSAA holiday party to name but a couple.
This is a wonderful time of the year, while both Taney & I long for the news of our adoption referral in early 2005, this will be our last christmas without our daughter . Yesterday I noted the silence in the house before heading out only to remind myself that the silence will be anything but soon.
The snow has left a thin white covering to remind us that the first day of winter officially starts tomorrow.
The last week has seen much merriment in the Friend family household with the tree in the house and decorated, the last of the lights adorning the outside of the property and I have lost count the number of holiday festivities that have been attended, not least Tableaux, the Childrens Holiday Concert, full of good traditional Christmas carols the society sing, complete with the annual pastoral skit loosely based around "its a wonderful life (in Bryn Athyn) and the MSAA holiday party to name but a couple.
This is a wonderful time of the year, while both Taney & I long for the news of our adoption referral in early 2005, this will be our last christmas without our daughter . Yesterday I noted the silence in the house before heading out only to remind myself that the silence will be anything but soon.
Friday, December 10, 2004
December 10
The holiday season is here. I seem to have done little but eat and drink since Thanksgiving!
Last week I had the opportunity to meet Michael Smerconish www.mastalk.com and a copy of his book flying blind signed. To be honest I have not done this at a book store since I met Dr. Who (Tom Baker) years ago in North Finchley where I got three books signed, one for my brother and one each for my cousins Anthony and Elizabeth as Christmas gifts. I could not have been more than about 12 at the time.
Standing in line I felt somewhat foolish, but meeting Michael was a pleasure he is a genuine nice chap and is already part of my morning routine as I listen to him on 1210am the big talker talk radio station in the Philly area.
Waiting for him I scanned the weather in the farmers almanac for this area to read a deeper than average snowfall expected this winter. First snow due next week perhaps I have set the snow counter to 0.
Last weekend I surprised my wife with a "Taney Day" that in the end involved a day out in Philly China Town, lunch in Chinatown and returning home, a trip to see National Treasure the new hit film with Nicholas Cage. They filmed much of this in Philadelphia in the summer of 03 so this has taken a while to hit the silver screen. It is a MUST SEE film and I rate this a strong 10/10 worthy of the DVD eventually find itself into the Friend film collection.
This weekend includes the 12th, the anniversary of my Gran's Birthday and the traditional date the christmas tree is brought in and put up for the twelve days leading up to Christmas. This is a great tradition enhance further this year by selecting the tree from a tree farm, having the pick of the crop literally and with the help of my brothers-in-law bringing this home tied to the top of a Jeep.
Now where did I store the snow shovel and the tree lights?
Last week I had the opportunity to meet Michael Smerconish www.mastalk.com and a copy of his book flying blind signed. To be honest I have not done this at a book store since I met Dr. Who (Tom Baker) years ago in North Finchley where I got three books signed, one for my brother and one each for my cousins Anthony and Elizabeth as Christmas gifts. I could not have been more than about 12 at the time.
Standing in line I felt somewhat foolish, but meeting Michael was a pleasure he is a genuine nice chap and is already part of my morning routine as I listen to him on 1210am the big talker talk radio station in the Philly area.
Waiting for him I scanned the weather in the farmers almanac for this area to read a deeper than average snowfall expected this winter. First snow due next week perhaps I have set the snow counter to 0.
Last weekend I surprised my wife with a "Taney Day" that in the end involved a day out in Philly China Town, lunch in Chinatown and returning home, a trip to see National Treasure the new hit film with Nicholas Cage. They filmed much of this in Philadelphia in the summer of 03 so this has taken a while to hit the silver screen. It is a MUST SEE film and I rate this a strong 10/10 worthy of the DVD eventually find itself into the Friend film collection.
This weekend includes the 12th, the anniversary of my Gran's Birthday and the traditional date the christmas tree is brought in and put up for the twelve days leading up to Christmas. This is a great tradition enhance further this year by selecting the tree from a tree farm, having the pick of the crop literally and with the help of my brothers-in-law bringing this home tied to the top of a Jeep.
Now where did I store the snow shovel and the tree lights?
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