China plans {help me pack my suitcase}!

As many of you know, I am leaving for China in less than 2 weeks!  I am headed there on a crazy whirl wind 10 day trip that includes the following:

 

1. Visit to Kunming, Yunnan to see the finalized playground that Yunnan Kids International built at my daughters foster village.

  

I am so lucky to be a small part of this non-profit! The playground is amazing – here are a few sneak peak pictures.  It is like an Aveda Salon for kids! I am super excited because Emma gets to come with to see where she spent the first 15 months of her life.    She was there about 1.5 years ago (when we adopted Luke) and talks about it a lot so hoping to cement more memories for her on this trip.  Here is a sneak peak!

 

 

 

Yunnan Kids - http://www.yunnankidsinternational.org

2. To consult with a Chinese Bank on their mobile strategy (this is the official reason for the trip).

 

On the work side, I was designated as the contact from our digital team to provide strategic consulting to a Chinese bank we partner with.  It’s a fun task and  I am super excited to talk about opportunities in China.  Our amazing family friend and nanny, Catie Holmes, and my mom and sister are coming with me too.  Pretty cool, right?!  Also, as a side bonus, I was given a 10 year, multi entry visa for China.  I am hoping this will be a HUGE help for me in the future as visa’s can be very expensive and a pain to get. 

 

3. To visit a few of the US run non-profits that care for orphans in Beijing.   These non profits do amazing work caring for sick and SN orphans that otherwise would be getting less than ideal care in an orphanage  I am hoping to bring a ton of donations (see below) and love on some of these amazing kiddos as they wait for their family to come and get them!  We hope to visit New Hope, New Day, and Little Flower and bring a roller bag full of donations for each non-profit. 

 

Can you help us by showering these babies with love?

Make it fun, involve your kids in the shopping or have your kids make cards for the kids/babies!  I will be bringing back something from each non profit for anyone who donates items!

Wish list!!

https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3A9SJCTM0GCDF/ref=cm_sw_r_ip_wl_o_fv4rvb14WY2MM

Check out with Amazon and it will ship directly to my home. Or feel free to drop items off baby items on my doorstep all the way through May 12th and I'll hand deliver them to these babies!

Here are pics of a few of the babies at Little Flower, thanks to pink cloud photography in Beijing for the adorable pics!  

New Hope - http://www.hopefosterhome.com

Little Flower- http://chunmiaolittleflower.org

New Day - 

https://newdaycreations.com

China Adoption Agency Cost Comparison

I have had so many requests for my agency spreadsheet comparison I decided to put it out there. 

Detailed Cost Analysis (updated as of 1/2/2014) for China adoption agencies found at this LINK.

 Highlights
 

** Tax footnote - check here to see if you can use the adoption tax credit.

Takeaway message - if you find your kiddo on the shared list, go with CAWLI and save yourself a boatload of $$!!

Caveat -- I tried to make these apple to apple comparison, meaning I generically put the following costs for all agencies. Obviously these costs will vary depending on your Homestudy agency, when you travel, etc.

• $2200 as the HS costs
• $870 for USCIS
• $6600 for in country fees (SWI Donation + Provincial fees)
• $7,000 for travel (2 parents at 3500 pp).
• I did not include actual costs for post placements but did include post placement retainers.  I also included fees related to post placement mgmt. (some agencies have them, others do not).

The above can vary but are not usually that widely different from agency to agency.

ENJOY!!

~Christy

FOOTNOTES -- All costs taken directly from these links...

CAWLI Fee Chart
FTIA Fee Chart
Lifeline Fee Chart
WACAP Fee Chart
Madison Fee Chart
AAC Fee Chart
CCAI Fee Chart