STARTING ON THE NEXT STEP

. . . I've got time on my hands - plenty to do but no motivation to do anything unless it's related to my adoption!

I started preparing a care package in January. A care package is a box of goodies sent to the child after referral while the parents are waiting for permission to travel. Suggestions for things to include are - a disposable camera (to see the child in their pre-adoption living environment with their carers), a photo album (so the child can see me before referral, also for the carers to learn about the child's new home), a soft blanket (that carries the adoptive parents' smell for reassurance at hand-over), a hard toy and sweets or small gifts for the carers. There is no guarantee that the care package will arrive in time or be shown to the baby so nothing too expensive is included.

So once we were into 2007 I started by biding for 2 (1 to send and 1 to take) baby photo albums - I managed to buy 2 from the USA for the same price as 1 in the UK, however they took forever to arrive, they finally arrived last week. At one point I thought I may have referral before the albums arrived! I'm now in the process of planning which photos to include in the album and finding labels in Chinese online. I'm not going to print any yet - in case I find better photos or end up with a child from a Cantonese speaking area.

I've also bought a red book full of questions about my child's life in China - this will be given to the orphanage staff or foster parents to complete. It will allow us an insight into her first days and months as well as hopefully giving me some guidance as to her likes, dislikes, routines and experiences.

While we were at St Fagan's on Saturday I bought some bits for the thank you gifts that I will need for orphanage staff, foster parents, guides and drivers in China. The gifts to the Chinese are supposed to reflect my homeland and there are various customs and taboos, such as not to give watches. I don't know how many gifts I will need so I started by buying 6 of things. I bought lapel pins of the Welsh flag and wooden love spoons.