August Referrals are in...

Well, it's another 2-day referral month. I try not to get too down on the number of days they referred this month as they were huge in terms of number of babies being matched, but it does get to you after a while. It sometimes seems like it's never going to happen. As soon as March referrals are over with I will hope for more days being matched. We shall see...

Here's the official notice:

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before August 31, 2007.

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before March 24, 2006.

Thought for the Day

Well, as the years have passed, I've tried to stay positive on this whole adoption, which hasn't been easy by any stretch of the imagination. I'd like to share this wonderful quote from one of the Harry Potter movies, said by the character Albus Dumbledore.

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.
Albus Dumbledore

If we could always find that light switch - even when we're at our deepest and darkest days, we'll always be able to find that glimmer of happiness. I just need to continue to find my "light" each and every day and remember that there is a wonderful little girl who is going to be my daughter one day.

Significance of 8s in Chinese Culture

Since today is 8/8, I thought I would do a little research into the significance of 8s in Chinese culture. This is what I've found on Wikipedia.

In Chinese culture, certain numbers are believed by some to be auspicious (吉利) or inauspicious (不利) based on the Chinese word that the number name sounds similar to. However some Chinese people regard these beliefs to be superstitions. Since the pronunciation and the vocabulary may be different in different Chinese dialects, the rules are generally not applicable for all cases.

Because of the supposed auspiciousness of certain numbers, some people will often choose, attempt to obtain, or pay large sums for numbers that are considered to be lucky for their phone numbers, street addresses, residence floor (in a multi-story building), driver's license number, vehicle license plate number, bank account number, etc.

Lucky numbers are based on Chinese words that sound similar to other Chinese words. The numbers 6, 8, and 9 are believed to have auspicious meanings because their names sound similar to words that have positive meanings.

Eight

The word for "eight" (八 Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (发 - short for "发财", Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects the words for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar, eg Cantonese "baat³" and "faat³".

There is also a visual resemblance between two digits, "88", and 囍, the "shuāng xĭ" ('double joy'), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters 喜 ("xĭ" meaning 'joy' or 'happiness').

A telephone number with all digits being eights was sold for USD$270,723 in Chengdu, China.

The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing began on 8/8/08 at 8 seconds and 8 minutes past 8 pm (local time)

A man in Hangzhou offered to sell his license plate reading A88888 for RMB 1.12 million (roughly $164,000 USD).

Dragon Fish Industry in Singapore, a breeder of rare Asian Arowanas (which are "lucky fish" themselves, and, being a rare species, are required to be microchipped), makes sure to use numbers with plenty of eights in their microchip tag numbers, and appears to reserve particular numbers especially rich in eights and sixes (e.g. 702088880006688) for particularly valuable specimens.

The value of eight could also be linked with buddhism and the meaning of Lotus flower (eight petals)

Bird in our backyard

If you saw this bird, what kind would you think he is?

We thought that what we had was some sort of an unusual and exotic bird. Turns out, after much research on Robert's part, that it's just an ordinary cardinal in the process of molting. Who knew?! He certainly looks odd, doesn't he.