What Will We Be Doing in China?

Glad you asked.

Aside from meeting our baby J, we will be doing a few other things. When we arrive in Beijing, we will be staying at the Poly Plaza Hotel. While there, we will visit:

The Great Wall of China
Tian An Men Square

AND The Forbidden City
Did I mention we'll be doing all of this in one day?

After this whirlwind, we're off to Guangzhou. While there, we'll be staying at the White Swan. Other than meeting Josie and official appointments, we are also scheduled to visit:

The Chen Family Temple
Six Banyan Trees Temple

Zhong Shan Memorial Hall

Yun Tai Garden

AND the zoo! Sorry no pics.

I think we'll be busy. No, this is not all in one day like Beijing. But, it IS all after we get Josie. Factoring that in, I'm not sure we'll make it to all of these destinations. Certainly we'll try, but she comes first and if she needs to stay in and nap or play, that's what we'll do.

All of these tours start at 9 am. I'm sure some are longer than others, but I do hope that a great part of our afternoons are open for baby naps. We shall see.

More Blogs With New Referrals

Baby Bella
Ava’s Timeline
Chey’s
Gray Family Adventure
leahmeili
To China and Back
Our Journey to Aimee
The Butterfly Chronicles
Two and a high chair
Journey to Annie
The Pucketts
Dempsey
Waiting for Olivia
Snickerdoodle
Maya Tuckman
Lucy
My Child of China

Sorry if there are any duplicates from the post a few days ago, but there may be something new.

So Close, I Just Can't Stand It

6 days until we leave! SIX!! I can count them on one hand!

OK, that's supposed to be funny.

We still have a ton to do, and I really shouldn't be sitting in front of the computer, but here I am. I can't believe that at this time next week we'll be in China.

I'm starting to get a little nervous. I'm not (yet) nervous about having a ten month old. That is still a little unreal. That nervousness will kick in when we get her. I'm just jittery. I'm anxious about leaving my sweet P for so long, though I know she'll be fine. I'm really going to miss the little spaz.

It's just so hard to believe that this trip is finally here, I don't know what to do with myself. I think that I've kept my emotions about this process in check for SO LONG that they are just bubbling out when I least expect them. And they are always at the surface. Luckily, none of them are bad temper-type emotions, because those being near the surface wouldn't be good for anyone.

I'm so scattered and having trouble focusing, it's almost a little funny - as long as I'm not driving at the time.

I'm still trying to keep the excitement down a little, just to be able to get those things done that I need to get done. And like I said, it's still a little unreal. As much as I stare at Josie's face on my computer screen, it's still just a picture. Actually holding her? It's just something my brain can't comprehend right now.

Go See...

Here are the some of the latest referrals:

Journey to Anna Grace
Abbey's Road Home
China Ladybug
Journey to Courtney
Journey to Ms. Hannah
Much Ado
Our Chinese Adoption Journey
Our Journey to Molly
The Panda Chronicles
Journey to Katy Linda
Journey to Annie
Sarah Joy
Journey to Jazmine
Journey to My Daughter
Journey to Rowan

I will post more as I come across them. Enjoy!

Oh, and um... 8 days!!

Referrals Are In

Today is the day. More families are seeing their babies' pictures for the first time. The rumored cut off date is November 1st. Last month, referrals went through October 26, so 6 days were covered this month.

I will post pictures and info as it comes in. I love referral day! All the joy the new parents are feeling. It's just great to be a part of it.

PS We're leaving in 9 days! Whee.

Serious Nesting

So, here we are. 11 days out from leaving for China. 11 days!

It's Sunday. I was bad and didn't go to church today. We got into a serious cleaning mode and didn't want to interrupt the momentum. Sorry God.

What cleaning you ask? I mopped under the couch. And what that means is we moved furniture all over the place to clean the floor. We had enough dog hair under the couch to make another dog! Oh, and never, ever, look under your rug on your hardwood floors. Ever. Really. The rug is not going back into the living room.

I'm still not actually finished even though I've been doing this for about 3 hours. P went around a put plug covers on all of the outlets, and Allen is trimming hedges and overgrown stuff outside.

This place is going to be ready to welcome home our newest family member. If it can stay in this state of clean!

Showering

Over the weekend, my friends threw me a baby shower. It was great. We had a lot of fun.

At least I think everyone else did. I know I did. But, of course, I got to open presents! And we had potato salad and mimosas. And cake. And those little quiches. And cake. And mimosas. And potato salad.

I realized throughout this that most of my friends are from church. In fact, I think everyone there besides family and one friend (who's basically family) were church friends. A lot of them from DOK.

I will post pics of the loot soon. But suffice it to say, Josie is going to be comfy when she gets here.

Allen's mom was there of course. I had invited his aunt and cousin, but they were unable to make it. They did send gifts, though. It was very thoughtful of them, but we missed them. After the shower, Allen's mom offered to run some of the loot to our house. She left it at our front door and my mother and I took it in when we got home.

As we were carrying everything in, I noticed a box that didn't contain shower presents. It was full of books and software about China. Language software, instruction books, informational books, "The Art of War" in Chinese and English, several other books in Chinese and English. I thought, "Oh, I guess MIL has been collecting China stuff and left that as well. That was nice of her."

About 3 hours later, Allen noticed he had a voice mail from his mom. She had just called to let us know about the box of Chinese things. It was a collection sent by Allen's aunt that had belonged to his Uncle J. Uncle J who was so excited about our going to China to get our girl. He missed seeing her picture by one week.

When Allen told me what his mom said on the message, my eyes started tearing up. I went to the box to look more closely at its contents. These books contain notes and info written by Uncle J. They are books that he used when he needed to learn Chinese and become more familiar with the country. I can't believe we have them now. I'll make sure Josie knows where they came from, and how much Uncle J loved her homeland.

Blessings

I am part of a group at church called the Daughters of the King. Our group is an incredible group of women of all ages. They are just indescribably wonderful.

All of them are so excited about our adoption and have been waiting these past 2 years right along with us. They have been so supportive. I have been told more that once that this child's feet will never touch the ground at church. It's just such an amazing feeling to feel the love of all of these women.

Last night at our meeting, I told them we'd chosen a name. They all loved it. I also took the quilt along to show them.

In the past, our group has made prayer blankets for friends and parishioners that are ill. As we are making them, each person says a little prayer for the recipient. It's very moving as a participant, and the recipients really feel the love.

After I explained the original intent of this quilt being a 100 good wishes quilt, I asked if they would pray over it as well, as a friend had suggested. It was so moving to hear these women pray for Josephine, and for us. I felt like I should speak up and say a prayer of thanksgiving for all of them, but I couldn't find my voice.

I hope they know how much it meant to me. I really treasure this group of women.

One of them suggested that they all be the Godmothers. She was only half joking - if at all. It sounded like a wonderful idea to me. Now, if I could just convince Fr. D of that.

Deliveries

Last week, when I posted that we had received our visas and that the same FedEx man that delivered the info on Jiayin delivered them, MB left a comment that we really needed a picture of that FedEx man since he'd played such a role in all of this.

That comment prompted me to realize that I never did post that picture that I took when he delivered Jiayin to us. So, without further ado, the FedEx man:

I figure since he's wearing sunglasses, I don't need to put a black bar across his eyes to protect his identity. I still have no idea what his name is.

Another comment to the visa post was from Elastigirl asking if the FedEx man could also deliver a NAME!! Well alas, the FedEx man has not delivered a name.

Allen and I, however, have finally settled on a name. Our beautiful baby girl will be called Josephine Jiayin Lineberry. It is, as Allen points out, a lot of letters, but that's ok. We will probably be calling her Josie, unless she seems more like a Josephine when we meet her. Phoebe would like to call her Jojo.

So, one less thing to stress about. The girl has a name. And I love it!

We Have Our Itinerary

We received our itinerary today from our agency.

There are a lot of sight seeing trips listed on it. While in Beijing, we'll see the Great Wall, Tian An Men Square, and the Forbidden City. All things I wanted to see. All in one day, May 12.

On the morning of May 13, we fly to Guangzhou and arrive there around 11:30am. Then we have 28 1/2 hours to kill before we get our babies. Maybe after arriving in Beijing at 9pm and spending the whole next day sightseeing, then getting on a plane the next morning to Guangzhou, it will be a good thing to have that much time to attempt to rest. Maybe I'll actually be able to rest. I hope I can. Otherwise, it will be a long day of waiting for the babies until 4pm on the 14th.

Then there are more sight seeing trips and official appointments to fill the next 10 days until we have our consulate appointment on the 24th. On the 25th, we get her visa and promise to take care of her. Then we head home on the 26th.

Wow, when we arrive home, she will have been with us for almost 2 weeks already.

It seems so simple when you put it on paper.

Go See...

A couple of families are currently in China and have just gotten their babies. Go see Clara Beth and Mia with their new Mamas and Babas.

There are more, of course, and I just couldn't help going in search of them:
Andrew
Ava
Faith

Enjoy.

Oh, and can I say THREE WEEKS!!!!

Suddenly Surreal

My daughter is inside this building. A woman on one of the yahoo groups took this picture of Jiayin's orphanage on April 5. She also took pictures inside, but none of them appear to be our girl.

I've seen other pictures of this building, so I knew that it looked pretty nice. But those pictures were taken at some unknown time, likely before our daughter was born.

But THIS picture. She's there.

She's going about her day to day life with no idea how her world is about to change. If I could only see through the walls and find her. Would I recognize her from the pictures we have? The pictures that I think were taken in December?

How can I not recognize her? I've looked at her little face in those pictures for hours and memorized every detail. Her eyes, nose, earlobes. I think I can spot them a mile off.

So, she's there. We're here. But we're almost there. Just a little bit longer.

Almost there.

The Quilt is Finished

I think I mentioned a little while back that I had decided to take the quilt top that my mother and I put together to a professional for actual quilting. And by "actual quilting", I mean everything that goes into making a quilt besides putting the pieces together for the top. I received a call last week that it was finished, so off I went to get it.

And here it is:


I'm so excited. It looks great! The quilting pattern she used has fans and flowers.

The lady also made a pillowcase for Phoebe using the material on the back:

It's just too cute!

Ponderings

If you find yourself with a lot of time on your hands, this website is chock full of people who are at different stages of the adoption process. There are people who are in China now, people who will be going to China soon, people who are back, and people who are still waiting, and waiting, and....

I've moved things around over in the right hand column. I've kind of collected, over the past few days, the sites of those people who are with our agency and are traveling at the same time we are. Some of them will be going to the same province that we are. Some are people I've gotten to know, in a cyber kind of way, over the last 2 years. Some I've only just met, again in a cyber kind of way.

It is just mind blowing that we are going to the other side of the planet to bring home our child, as each of these families are, and we will be taking part in such a intense experience with these families. I feel like I know them. But I've never actually met them. I will be sharing in this experience with them and it will bond us for life. Our lives will always be connected.

Our Visas Have Arrived

We received an email from our agency this morning saying that we should be receiving our visas today or tomorrow and that we needed to be home to sign for them.

Ours came about 2:00. It was the same FedEx man that delivered our baby. I said, "hey, you delivered my baby. Now you're delivering visas so I can go get her." He kind of laughed like "yeah, I remember you, nut job." But he said, "Congratulations. Have a safe trip."

So, now we really, really can go to China.

It's A Small World, Afterall

As you know, yesterday we received our confirmed consulate appointment. We have purchased tickets (using credit card points! yea!) for our trip. Can I say that again?! We HAVE PURCHASED TICKETS TO CHINA! OK, I'm better now.

We will be leaving on May 10th and returning on May 26th. Yes, that's a repeat from yesterday, but today it's a sure thing. I think we land back at DFW around 4 the afternoon of the 26th. P will be staying home with her Grandmothers taking turns staying with her and the dog.

Yesterday, our social worker sent me the email address of another client also in the greater metro area, who is with our agency and is also going to China on the 10th. I told her she could also send our email address to that family. This morning I received an email from the Nelsons and it looks like we may be on the same flight to China. She also sent my info to a friend of hers who is ALSO with our agency, also lives in the greater metro area, AND whose daughter is in the same province as Jiayin. So, we'll probably be spending lots of time with them.

Now to add a little more to this, the Nelsons' daughter is in Hunan. My friend K, up in Washington State who is also with the same agency, is going to Hunan. So, I passed along info since they will be traveling the whole time together.

I love the connections that are possible with "the Internets".

Sing it with me. "It's a small world, afterall...."

More Referrals Posted

A few more people have posted pictures and referral info on their blogs. Too cute!!

Courtney Mei & Her Guinness
Heut-n-Holler
Our Journey to Ali

!!!! CA !!!

We received confirmation of our consulate appointment today. Our appointment is on May 24. We will leave on May 10, and have a strong possibility of getting our daughter on Mother's Day. If not Mother's Day, then it will be Monday, May 14.

We will likely leave China May 26, depending on what flight Allen gets, and be home Memorial Day weekend. That will be determined later today.

So we WILL be back before the end of May, if just barely.

Referrals Starting to Roll In

Here are a few sites to go check out.

The Story of Us
Three Ps In a Pod
Stargate to China
Seeking Baby Sister
Our Journey to Maeve
Our Two Pearls
The Slippery Slope
Our Journey to Ali
Olivia O'Donnell


More to come...

Craziness

I can't believe it. Referrals are here for April. Some came on Friday, and our agency is receiving them today.

Here's the crazy part. Remember (maybe) that last month referrals covered dossiers logged in in China through October 24, 2005? Well, this month's referrals cover dossiers logged in through...are you ready?...October 26, 2005. Yep. Two days. I feel horrible for those families who felt, understandably, that they were next with a log in date of, say, October 31. This hasn't been confirmed on the CCAA website yet, but our agency has a group logged in October 26 (getting referrals) and a group logged in October 28 (not getting referrals). Up until now, the shortest time period I'd seen covered in one month was 5 days. That was last summer during "the dark times" we all thought we'd never get through.

I can't imagine what on Earth could have happened for only two days' worth of log ins to be referred. Could this be the batch that is more directly affected by Chinese New Year? I don't know why, but I guess it could be.

I will post blogs with referrals as soon as I see them.

Meanwhile, we are waiting on confirmation of our CA which will tell us our definite travel dates and we can acquire our plane tickets. Are you kidding me? Actual tickets to China??? Whew!

Surprise Referrals!

What an odd day. I checked the yahoo group this afternoon and some people were posting referrals. Strangely, our agency did not receive their referrals today and, from what people have said, don't seem to know when they will get them.

One person who should have received her referral last month and was skipped DID get her referral today. You can see all of the information here. What a cutie! These people have truly been through a lot and it's so exciting to see them finally get their referral.

I'm not sure what the official cut-off date for referrals is, but there are horrible rumors that it is 2 days later than the date last month's referrals went through.

I will post more referrals soon.

TA!!

We received an email from our agency this afternoon that they have received our travel approval!

I've told multiple people today that it would probably be next week before we heard anything.

The next step will be confirmation of our consulate appointment (CA). The agency has requested our CA for the week of May 21, giving us a tentative departure date of May 10. Could "Gotcha Day" be Mother's Day? If not, it will be close.

All of these travel estimates mean, of course, that we will be in China on P's birthday. I figured that would be the case, but I'm still a little sad about it. After all, I've been with her on all of her birthdays. She'll be fine. We'll be fine. Everything will be OK.

We're almost there! I can't believe it!

What Will The Day Bring?

The latest batch of referrals should be coming out any day now. The families who are waiting are on pins and needles, as we were last month, waiting for any word that the stork is on its way. I wouldn't be surprised if they came on Monday, but hey, there is hope that they could come this week. If I were waiting, I wouldn't give up on that hope.

As someone who received my referral last month, not only am I ready to see the cute faces of this month's referrals, but I also know that when referrals arrive, TAs are not far behind.

Some families who received their referral when we did have already received TA, but they are few and far between. Last month our agency's TAs came a few days after referrals arrived, so I'm just going to go with that expectation this month. One family who has received TA will be traveling May 10, another will be traveling May 3 with Gotcha Day on the 7th. I'm pretty much hoping for this time table, personally. Go figure.

There is a government holiday the first week of May, but the first 3 or so days we are in China, we won't have any government appointments, so maybe we can be there waiting when government offices reopen. Just a thought. Of course, the best scenario would be getting the 21 or 28 day advance notice we need to be able to use our air miles or credit card points. I've really been working very hard to rack up those credit card points. I'd hate to not use them :)

More New Families

I went looking for a few more blogs with families being united right now in China, and managed to find some:

KB8WFH's Harmonics
Jessica Faith
...And Autumn Makes Six
Bringing Home Baby Hannah
Frostography

This one should have something soon. "Gotcha Day" was today: Journey to Ella

And if that isn't enough for you, go here. Grab the tissue.

Enjoy!

Must Sees Today

More cyber friends are in China getting their babies. Go check out Sera at the Kaffee Klatsch for the cutest smile ever. And go check out Kambry with her new mommy and daddy. What a beauty!

I love blogs. It's fantastic to get to share these moments from the other side of the planet.

As an update, we are still waiting for TA. We should hear something this week or next week.

AND we're closing in on a name.

Well, We Can Go Now

Yep. I'm ready. I know, I haven't been feeling ready or prepared for anything, but all is well. Today I purchased Gerber finger foods to take to China and use to win the heart of my daughter. Yes, small star-shaped puffed rice something is now in my kitchen and I'm ready for China.

AND I registered at Babies R Us today. Of course, when I try to go look at it online, I have to look by the registry number. If I put in our last name and TX, it comes back with nothing. If I put in the first 2 letters of our last name, my first name and TX, it actually comes up. I know what you're thinking, but the last name is spelled correctly on the registry. So, it's a darn good thing those shower invitations haven't gone out yet. Ha. Gotta get that address list to my wonderful friends throwing this shower. (By the way, S, the stork WILL get used again AFTER MY shower! It will not go missing. HeeHee)

But for now, I need to pack for NYC where I'll be spending a wonderful weekend away with my hubby. One last hurrah. Who knows when we'll make it there again.

Where Are We Now?

Just a brief summary of all that is going on now.

We are awaiting travel approval (TA) from the Chinese government. Our agency sent back our acceptance of our referral on March 13, so that means that we've been waiting 2 weeks. The average wait for TA is 3-5 weeks. Last month TAs arrived at our agency a few days after referrals arrived. About a week after we receive our TA, we will have confirmation of our consulate appointment (CA). When we get that confirmation, we will know our travel dates for certain.

We sent our passports with our visa applications to our agency today. To obtain a visa from the Chinese consulate, one must deliver the application in person or hire a courier to deliver the application in person. Since, I'm not driving or flying to Houston, that means hiring a courier. Conveniently, our agency can act as our courier through an arrangement with the Houston consulate. It's that or find a courier that we have not dealt with previously who is local to Houston ourselves. So, off to the agency the visa applications went today.

We also sent a request for our agency to send a care package to Jiayin at her orphanage. Again, this is something we could do ourselves. However, rather than go shipping something to China ourselves that may or may not be delivered to the orphanage, our agency will send a little goody box from their Beijing office that actually will make it to the orphanage. We can include a picture and a message, which we are doing. I wasn't planning on shipping anything near and dear to me anyway, so the blanket and teddy bear in the agency goody box is good for me. The box also includes a camera for the orphanage to take pics of our girl until we go get her. This is the main thing I wanted to send, anyway.

So, now we continue to wait and prepare. And prepare and wait.

I think I'm going to go this week and actually register at Babies R Us. Seeing all of my fellow October LIDers in China now or in the next few days is really getting me excited. To say "we'll be traveling in May" seems like a long way off. But considering that it will hopefully be the beginning of May and it is now the end of March, it's really just over a month away!

Wow. Now, if we could just CHOOSE A NAME!!!

Judy and Don Have Marlee!

It is just so amazing that all of these people I've "met" online, who I feel like I know, are finally in China getting their babies.

Judy and Don, who have grown children - one of whom is in Iraq, but will be on his way home soon, are in China right now and finally have their dear Marlee. She's adorable!

Click on their names and see for yourself.

You May Need Kleenex

Go read this blog. It's over in the list on the right, but they are in China now and just got their baby. The mom couldn't travel, so it's the dad and one of their sons. The dad's post is awesome.

Did I just say awesome?

And Just Because...

You know, the pics I posted on referral day have gone off of the first page of the blog, so...

The Things You Forget

I'm starting to realize a few things. Did you know that just because you had a baby almost six years ago doesn't mean that you have any clue what to do when faced with bringing home a ten month old?

We were at lunch with friends yesterday who have a baby girl that is 2 1/2 weeks younger than Jiayin. Every time I look at her I just can't believe that's how big our baby is like right now. When my friend took out the baby food to feed her (oranges and what?) I suddenly thought, can't I just feed her table food?

I was talking to A last night about it after he had just made P a peanut butter sandwich. I guess we can't just make 2 peanut butter sandwiches to feed the girls dinner, huh? We just started laughing the idea of all the things we've kind of forgotten about that P can do on her own. All at once I'm thinking, "what was I thinking?!" and "I can't wait!"

So, I'm off to Gerber.com to find out what it is babies are eating these days.

Nursery Pictures...Finally

The nursery is pretty close to done. We need to take those things in the pictures that don't belong out of the room. We need to put a few baby toys in. Oh, and we need the baby!

Better Left to the Professionals

Way back in the summer of 2005, I sent an email around to several friends asking them to contribute a square of fabric to make a quilt for the baby. The quilt is called a "100 Good Wishes Quilt." There is a Chinese tradition to welcome a new baby where a quilt was made out of the clothes of friends and family to wrap the baby in good wishes.

I received a few pieces, then joined a quilt square exchange on one of the adoption yahoo groups I belong to. Allen's mom brought a treasure trove of pieces of clothing from several relatives on Allen's side of the family. Add to that several quilt squares that my mom had that were fabric from clothes that she'd made me in childhood, and getting 100 squares was no problem.

Summer 2006 arrived and my mother and I finally got together and sewed together the quilt topper. Now, it's March 2007. The quilt topper is in danger of being a wedding present to our newly referred daughter. Last weekend, a friend of mine told me about a local store where I could take the topper and they would magically turn it into a quilt. A friend's mom, well also a friend, had offered to sit down with me and help me turn this topper into a full-fledged quilt. While I'd still love to sit down with her and learn to quilt, I just didn't see it happening anytime soon.

So, I left the topper in the hands of an able professional, picked out fabric for the back and will go back in about a month to get it. A month may seem like a while, but really, I still have a blanket I started crocheting for P WHEN I WAS PREGNANT WITH HER IN 2000 that I haven't finished yet. A month is nothing.

In other news, our agency sent our acceptance to China today. Now another countdown begins - waiting for travel approval.

Also, go check out this blog. These people are in China now getting their precious girl.

One More Step

Today, we sent our acceptance letter to our agency. There were two documents to sign, actually. One for the agency, and one for the CCAA . We actually had to check a box saying that we accept the child assigned to us.

We spoke last night to a doctor in Denton that knows a thing or two about international adoption. He had reviewed a copy of the medical records that our agency sent to us. He confirmed that all of Jiayin's medical info looks great. He said that her weight at 5 months was in the 75th percentile on the Chinese girl growth charts. That's a first for us. We were happy that P was finally up to the 50th percentile at her 5th birthday.

We had a little party over the weekend to celebrate the referral. We had a few friends over to pop open the bottle of Dom sent to us by some out of state friends a year or two ago. So, it was like they were here, too. It was a nice celebration.

So, our next stept in this process is....waiting. We are now waiting for travel approval (TA) from the Chinese government. Others from our agency who received their referrals at the beginning of February had about a 4 week wait for TA's, so I'm assuming ours will be something similar. Then we wait a little bit longer for a Consulate appointment, THEN we'll know when we are actually to China to bring home our baby!

More Referrals

More cute little faces:

Journey to Baby Lexi - Lexi, 9 mos, Guangdong
Our Heart's Desire - Fu Baohong, 9 mos, Fuling SWI, Chongqing
A Child Born in the East - Fu Fang Qi, 17 mos, Hunan
Sophie Elizabeth - Feng Xiao Jia, 8 mos,
2 Cranky Cats - Jin Chun Xiao, 11 mos, Jiangxi
Sophie May Qian - Wu Huiqian, 14 mos, Gansu
Meili - You Fu Lai, 14 mos, Sichuan
Our Journey to Jae Lyn Feng Xiao Jie, 7 mos, Feng Cheng SWI, Jiangxi
Lovin' Cora-li Lian Bao Lu, 11 mos, Lianjiang SWI, Guangdong
Journey to Alexis Fu Baofan, 10 mos, Fuling SWI, Chongqing
Journey to Faith Yangxi Zi Zi, 6 mos, Yangxi, Guangdong province
Baby Makes 3 Lian Zhi Hui, 9 mos, Lianjiang SWI, Guangdong

Where Is Jiayin?

Where, oh where, is my Yin Yin? Below is a map of China. At the bottom right, sorry Southeast, edge of the country is a purple colored province. That is Guangdong. The province where she is waiting.



The next picture is of Guangdong Province only. Well, mostly. If you look a little to the Northwest of Macau, you will see Jiangmen. That is the city where her orphanage is.

She's already a southern girl! Living near several rivers that run to the South China Sea. I can't wait to see it.

More Referrals!!

OK, I guess Miss Jiayin can share the spotlight with a few other babies. It only seems fair.

Shania - Fu Bao Jun, 14 mos, Fuling SWI Chongqing
Waiting for Melina - Lian Ai Ning, 7 mos, Guangdong
Journey to Lindsey - Lindsey Jean Zhi-bin, 10 mos, Guangdong
Journey to Jaiden - Ling Qian Huhan, 10 mos, Jiangxi province
For Zoey - Jin Chun Hua, 11 mos, Jiangxi
Meaghan Grace - Zhu Min Zhu, 14 mos, Guangdong
Table for 6 - Xi Zhen Rong, 7 mos, Kunming SWi, Yunnan
Ainsley's MeiMei - Yue Meng Ru, 7 mos, Jiangxi
Christiana - Fu Bao Fang, 9 mos, Fuling SWI, Chongqing
Countdown to Caroline! - Ling Cha Jian, 8 mos, Jiangxi
Have Yet to Decide Her Name - Baohong Fu, 10 mos, Fuling SWI, Chongqing
Journey to Caty - Huang Wang Cui, 7 mos, Hubei
Emily & Rachel's Dad - daughter, 12 mos, Gunagdong
Our Magical Mystery Tour - Fu Hao Huang, 21 mos, Hubei
Bringing Home Peanut - Feng Xiaojiong, 7 mos, Fengcheng SWI, Jiangxi
Here's Isabelle! - Isabelle, 14 mos, Chongqing
Journey to Maya Lily - Lian Bao Yan, 11 mos, Guangdong
And Mia Makes 3 - Feng Xiao Lei, 8 mos, Jiangxi

Here She Is!!

I just can't believe it.

It's a Girl!

The call came at 2:00!

Here's what we know:

She is 7 1/2 months old! Her name is Xin, Jia Yin (nickname Yin Yin). In December, at 5 months, she weighed 15 pounds! She is in Guangdong province. She has chubby cheeks and no hair. We haven't seen a picture yet, but will receive one later today.

TODAY'S THE DAY!!

We received word from our agency this morning that referrals are on their way and should arrive in their office today. Once received the agency will call all families this afternoon with the good news. We will also receive a picture via email.

I will post everything when we receive it. It could be late this afternoon.

I can't believe it's finally here! I can't breathe.

I am happy to say that the LID group right after us is also included in this batch of referrals. Their documents actually went to China the week before ours, but were logged in the week after ours. Last week it looked like they would not be included.

Do The Crazy Dance With Me

Oh, come on. Don't act like you don't know the steps.

I haven't heard anything from our agency so far today. Two people on a yahoo group with Oct. 27, 05 LIDs said they've been told they're not in. They did not say how their agencies knew that. They did say that their agencies didn't know the official cut off date.

What this says to me is that there IS a cut off date. Which means they are wrapping up matching. WHICH MEANS next week is looking better and better for referrals. That's what I've been assuming, but I have seen a few rumors that it could be 2 weeks before referrals arrive. I'm choosing to stick with past experience with our agency and hoping that common sense will somehow factor in.

Whenever I hear something like referrals could not be here for 2 more weeks, my first thought is "there's no reason for that." Then I remember that several times throughout this process, there has been no rhyme or reason for all kinds of things.

To quote the late Uncle J, "It is what it is."

I will post any updates if I get any.

Almost Through Another Week

So, here it is late on Thursday night. It has been a long and tiring week.

Uncle J's funeral was today. It was a lovely service. That sounds cliche, but it was nice hearing what a strong, brave, and faith-filled person he was all the way to the end.

There are no more adoption rumors to report from today. It's probably a good thing that most of my day was otherwise occupied, or I would have been glued to my computer hitting refresh on my email and my yahoo groups.

Our agency sent an email saying they are trying to get any and all information that they can on referrals and hope to have an update tomorrow. If we hear anything, I will definitely post it.

I'm going on a women's retreat this weekend. The timing couldn't be better. I didn't decide to go until a couple of weeks ago, and boy am I glad I did. Hopefully it will recharge my reserves for the anticipated joyous news next week.

It's The Last Day of February...

...do you know where the children are?

OK, I'm just a bit anxious. No, not anxious. Flipping out? Yeah, that's more like it.

I still have no ideas of when referrals will arrive. Phoebe assures me that we'll see her sister's picture tomorrow. I don't know if she has an inside track, but I'm not holding my breath.

I haven't seen any rumors about when referrals will arrive. I really miss the Rumor Queen, but hey, what are you gonna do? Rumors are starting to swirl about where she actually is.

I emailed our agency yesterday asking if there was any reason to hope that there would be a batch of referrals this week. They don't know, but are staying in contact with the Beijing office awaiting any word.

UPDATE: We received an email from our agency at about 9:30 this morning that the next batch should include our LID. We assumed that, but it's nice to see it in writing. The email seemed to indicate that there were no LIDs after ours, which makes me a bit sad. Allen pointed out that when they've sent similar emails in the past, referrals usually arrive the next week.

I will post when I have heard anything new, rumor or otherwise.

So close...

Emotional Rollercoaster

As you know, we are getting nearer and nearer to our referral. It's so amazing that we are finally here. I'm not holding my breath that they will be here this week, but I'll probably go a bit nutty if they don't come next week. I'm getting so excited and can't wait to see our baby!

At the other end of the emotion spectrum, I'm very sad to say that A's uncle passed away this morning. He's been fighting cancer and had beaten it, only to have it come back and spread. Aside from the loss of a loved one, there are a couple of things that make this particularly difficult.

First, he was so excited about our adoption. He had been to China for work several years ago and spent an extended amount of time there. He couldn't wait to see us go and to see our baby. I so wanted him to see her. We talked about it whenever we saw him over the past couple of years. I really enjoyed talking to him about China.

The other thing that makes this particularly hard is Phoebe. Last year at Uncle J's 60th birthday party, P just latched on to him like nobody's business. She told everyone "he's my GREAT uncle!" Then she announced that she wanted to sit beside him at dinner. She did sit beside him and talked to him ALL NIGHT! She was so well behaved, even when other kids got bored waiting for food. She was thrilled to be able to sit right next to him and talk and talk.

Last night, we told P that Uncle J was very sick. She asked if he was going to die. When we told her that he might, she started sobbing. She said she wanted to see him again and that she didn't want him going anywhere! She cried again last night when we put her to bed and prayed for Jesus to make him well.

My poor girl. This is her first experience with death. I know she'll come through it. I know she'll probably run and play with her cousins after the funeral. It's just going to be a rollercoaster for her.

One Week Down

So, I've managed to make it through the week. The CCAA was closed all week for Chinese New Year. Happy New Year, by the way. The month of March starts next week. We may have "March Madness" that has nothing to do with basketball.

I'm not convinced referrals will come next week, though I'd be thrilled. Will they or won't they? Do-do-do-do-do. Hmmmmm

The website that I (and the rest of my fellow October LIDers) have been relying on for rumors, has been quiet. The "Rumor Queen" has been on hiatus, supposedly out of town for work. I'm wondering if she's out of the country being united with her baby girl. I don't know if families go to China during Chinese New Year, but it's just too coincidental. How dare she go anywhere when I'M desperate for rumors?! The gall of some people! :)

So, I may not be able to post about any rumors this time around. You never know. Maybe the "Rumor Queen" will return from her business trip this weekend just in time for referrals.

Sigh. Someone knock me over the head!

Oh, and I do actually have pics of the mostly finished baby's room. I just need to get them posted. I will do it soon.

OK, Referrals Can Come Now

Back in December, we filed for the renewal of our 171H. This is the form from our government that allows us to bring an orphan into the country. We initially filed for this in May 2005 and received our 171H in August 2005. It expired last week.

When we refiled in December, we were told it would take about 60 days to process. It took just under that, so I'm excited. They even needed an addendum from our social worker at the end of January, and still did it in less than 60 days.

I think this could be a big reason why it's been OK in my mind that referrals haven't come. I had a fear that there would be a big delay in getting this form which could delay our travel once our referral arrives. Now that this little bit of worry has been taken care of, let the referrals start pouring in!!!!

I'm Feeling Much Better Now

Well, I'm on my way to being excited. Thanks in large part to my friend Sarah, who called last night to share the seemingly simple fact that February is already half way over. She was so excited upon having this realization that she had to call to get me excited. As she said, it does in fact seem like I JUST posted those referrals that came February 1st and two weeks have passed. Only 2 or 3 weeks to go for us.

That's just crazy. Without Chinese New Year thrown in, I'd say for sure it would only be 2 weeks. I don't know how Chinese New Year is going to effect the timing. Last year, CNY was January 29. There were referrals January 4, January 25 and February 25. From that, it looks entirely possible that the next batch won't be effected by CNY and will come in just 2 weeks. With CCAA closed for a week, it seems like there would be a delay. Hmmm.

Jeez. Now's the time when I start babbling incoherently.

Has it Really Almost Been a Week?

What can I say? There just isn't a whole lot going on right now.

I'm still feeling a bit unprepared. I'm actually kind of trying to psych myself up for this whole "here's your baby" thing. I guess after 2 years of being in this process, I have just tried to keep the excitement down. AND my excitement has been quashed by the length of time and life in general happening.

I need to start repeating daily "We'll get her picture in less than a month" or "She'll be home by summer". Is it anxiety about having 2? Is the anxiety winning over and keeping the excitement down? After so many months of trying not to think about it, here I am less than a month away and I can't manage to finish the nursery or go to Babies R Us to register. NO, I'm actually not registered anywhere for anything.

Would it help if we had a name picked out? Would that help me think of her in more concrete terms? Does God have a surprise boy picked out for us, and that's why I'm not in love with any names?

This weekend, I walked around holding my 6 month old (where has the time gone?) god-daughter. She is just a beautiful, sweet child that I love to hold and kiss the top of her head. As I walked around, I thought (aside from all the sweet, loving thoughts) "My back hurts. Heaven help me, how I'm I going to do this all the time?"

Is this the down before the extreme high? I think maybe I ought to ramp up so that the high is easier to maintain. The referral pics from the last batch didn't really help me get excited. I love seeing those beautiful pictures. They bring tears to my eyes to think of all the happy families.

It wasn't even that we weren't in that batch. I didn't expect to be, and that was really all right with me.

I know that when it is our turn in a few weeks, I will be extremely happy and excited. But it's not happening just yet.

Somebody send me some baby love excitement.

I Don't Want to Brag, but...

No, I'm not going to brag.

This morning, we had our family interview at the school Phoebe WILL be going to next year. We found out how she did on the test she took a couple of weeks ago. She did very well. We are extremely proud of her, because she did her best and it showed. If you want to know the details of how she scored, email me and I'll be more than happy to spill everything.

We are excited about the new school. They have a great curriculum and philosophy. I'm a little anxious about the homeschool aspect of it, but I know we can do anything we put our minds to. It's such a fantastic opportunity for Phoebe and for me. After A & I went to the informational meetings in December, we both left thinking "I wish my school had been like that. I wish I'd been taught like that."

I'm going to miss the school P goes to now...well, until little sister enrolls in a year or so. It's a fantastic school and she has learned so much there. But beyond that, she has been so loved and nurtured there. Each year, her teachers have been so loving and caring. Beyond school subjects, P has learned to be loving and caring as well.

Can You Say Calm AFTER the Storm?

Last week was a wonderful week. I love the anticipation right before referrals arrive and the frenzy that occurs when they DO arrive.

Now we have about a month to get ourselves ready for the next round. Fasten your seatbelts.

Today I had a conference with P's Kindergarten teacher. She used words like "passion", "enthusiasm", "animated", "free spirit". No surprises. I was happy to find out that P is getting better at focusing on, and finishing her work in a timely manner in class. Her teacher did tell me that sometimes for work, P has to be separated away from the others. Apparently, even if P sits next to a child who isn't a "talker", that child becomes a talker. It's like magic.

I'm also finding that P has a pretty firm grasp of sarcasm for a 5 year old. I have no idea where she gets that. Yesterday, I put a "My Little Pony" band-aid on her foot and she asked me which Pony it was. They have names? Anyway, I told her I didn't know, but I'd look to see if it was on the band-aid. I leaned over and looked at the band-aid and said "Nope. Not there." She said with a smile,"Her name's 'nope not there?" That's my girl.

P's teacher told me today that last week, the teacher had left the room for a second and another teacher came in. She and P had a conversation about something, then the other teacher asked P if she was Mrs. W (her teacher). P's response was "Do I look like Mrs. W?" Alrighty then.

Other Things Happened This Week, Too

Just to make sure you're caught up.

This was P Monday morning, well part of her anyway:




Notice the second row of teeth?





Turns out the girl has a bit of shark in her. Must come from her dad's side. He is an attorney after all (love you, honey). OK, there are only 2 extra teeth. Her two bottom middle permanent teeth decided they were going to come on out, but were nice enough not to push the babies out. Hence, my shark girl. She had an appointment on Monday for a cleaning anyway, so while we were there...P got her first taste of nitrous. I'll spare you the "after" pics because not only are they close ups of the inside of a 5 year old's mouth, they feature bloody pits where the baby teeth were. P went through the whole thing just fine. She wasn't bothered at all. And there was the added bonus of the visit from the Tooth Fairy Monday night.

On a more serene note, we woke up this morning to this:

An actual blanket of snow fell overnight. We rarely get actual snow here, so it was a really nice change. We usually get ice that makes the roads a bit dangerous and people a bit nutty. But this...this "snow"... it made everything really pretty and "Winter Wonderland-y" AND the roads were clear. Apparently, even on the dry roads, some people felt the need to drive slowly because of all the snow on the grass, but for the most part things are running smoothly.

While I was out taking pics this morning, I came across this:

I'm ready for my close up.
I'm not fat, I'm just poofy.

Ah, It's been a good week.

More New Arrivals

Belzma
Journey to Jaci
Bottles and Bones
The Stephensons
Bringing Libby Home
It’s time to fly….
Jonna & Joelle
Karenca
The Silk Road to Siena

The official cut-off date for these referrals has been posted on the CCAAs website. Referrals went thourgh 10/13/05, so they did about 2 weeks' worth of referrals. Let's hope they at least finish off October in the next batch.

*The picture above is from a card from Love Without Boundaries .

Parents Who Are Expecting In This Batch

Our Journey to Marlee
Kaffee Klatsch
kb8wfh's Harmonics
Katiebugs Journey
Natalie
A China Journey
Jessica Faith
Bringing Home Hua Feng
Thomas Blog
and Autumn makes six
Three Peanuts
China Stork
Love Internationale
Born in our Hearts
Bringing home Hannah
Granola Girl
Frostography

Referrals Have Arrived!

I'm happy to say that referrals have finally arrived. No one is sure of the cut-off date, though it is somewhere between Oct. 13th and Oct. 16th. It's such an exciting day to see the joy from all of the yahoo group friends I've made. I can't wait to see pictures.

I will post links to websites of those "expecting" this time around as soon as I can. People with our agency should receive pics via email today, others may take a day or two.

I LOVE referral day! Next batch, I'll be a basket case.

Packages and more packages

Our agency emailed again today to let everyone know that "the package" I mentioned in yesterday's post was, in fact, not full of referrals. They apologized for getting everyone's hopes up, although they never said they were sure the package contained referrals. They said that they "hoped" it did. I know, not being in this batch it is probably easier for me to not be annoyed. There may be others who are annoyed, but I hope that doesn't last long.

The agency email went on to say that the CCAA had mailed another package yesterday and one more today and, again, they REALLY hope that one of these contains referrals. These packages should arrive this week, so hopefully that means referrals will arrive this week.

Folks, I don't know what I'm going to be like next month. I may need assistance completing my daily errands, etc. Hopefully I'll be able to drive from point A to point B without taking out pedestrians or other cars due to my distracted state of mind. Carrying on a meaningful conversation may be right out.

The Referrals MAY Be On Their Way

No one is quite sure when referrals will arrive. There are rumors that they have already been sent, but the CCAA is not confirming this.

Our agency sent an email this morning saying that the CCAA would not say whether referrals had been mailed (remember that policy change from a couple of months ago?). Our agency did say that there was a package on the way to them from the CCAA, but they receive a package from the CCAA every week. The are cautiously optimistic that this package contains referrals, but they can neither confirm nor disconfirm this.

Hopefully, the package does contain referrals. If so, they should arrive tomorrow or Thursday. Hopefully we'll be seeing pics of babies soon.

What Will the Day Bring?

There are no rumors yet on when referrals will be sent. All hope is that they will arrive this week. It's possible they won't be mailed until Friday, which would have them arriving next week. (By the way, next month at this time, the above sentences will look something like this: slosd' ifl ijhweljlskdj hblah jjd dsijflj *#&@ oiej ejrlje duh, drool)

There still isn't a firm cut-off date. Still just speculation. It isn't looking good for referrals going through 10/17/05 LIDs, but they should go through sometime in the teens.

When I know something I'll post it.

Meanwhile, P went for testing on Friday at the school she's going to attend next year. She was there for 2 hours and did fine, I'm sure. Personally, I was nervous the whole time. We'll go for a family interview on Wednesday of next week at which point we'll see how she did. As I said, I'm sure she did fine. It's not the SATs and she's pretty smart if I do say so myself.

Over the weekend, the cleaning continued - in a "it gets messier before it gets better" kind of way. We totally rearranged and cleaned out the office - cause that's where the new baby will be spending sooo much time. I know, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it feels so much better in there now.

On the red tape front, we received a notice from USCIS asking for an addendum to our home study update. The upside of this is that they are actually processing our documents. The downside is our social worker apparently didn't indicate HOW she got the updated information from us. It seems odd to me, and a little picky, but hey. She's on the case and will get that sent off to them in the next day or two. Hopefully they will be satisfied and we'll receive our renewed I171H shortly. Last time around, they asked for an addendum 2 1/2 months after receiving our application. This time, it was only a month. So that makes me feel a little better. Not as good as not needing an addendum, but good.

So, how you doin'?

For Your Entertainment

Rumors and Expectations

Well the rumors are starting to swirl. The referrals are expected next week. They are expected to go up to LIDs somewhere between October 13, 2005 and October 17, 2005.

Our agency sent an email this morning saying that their next batch of referrals should include the 2 LIDs before ours. I don't know when the official cut-off date will be, but for our agency the batch of referrals that arrives at the beginning of February will go through October 11, 2005.

Yes, we're next .... Weeee're so next! Our referral should arrive in March. Chinese New Year begins February 18 and usually the CCAA is closed for a week. I don't know how this will affect "our" batch of referrals. Last year, the CCAA actually sent 2 batches in January - one at the beginning of the month, and one around the 25th; then one around the end of February. There is speculation that there could be another batch before Chinese New Year, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Either way, I'll probably be a babbling idiot around this time next month, just wondering when, when, WHEN??

No News Is...Uh, No News

Well, it's that time of the month. That quiet time right smack in the middle of referral batches where no one has heard anything.

This week has really been an odd one. Monday, P didn't have school because of the holiday (not to mention hazardous roads conditions). She went to school Tuesday. Then, no school again Wednesday, this time JUST for the ice on the roads. Today is Thursday. P went to school. I was going to IKEA with S. After doing carline at P's school, I called S - she and her chilluns are sick. No IKEA. So, home again home again. What shall I do with all this alone time?

Nothing. P's teacher called around 10:15 and said P wasn't her usual self. So, P's at home. Again. Today. She's disappointed because she was supposed to go to a friend's house after school and now that isn't going to happen. I'm trying to force her to rest. She really doesn't seem that bad.

Anyhoo, there is nothing to report on the referral front - although I DID have a dream the other night that Homeland Security asked us for a monthly income sheet in order to process our documents. That's not actually something they need in the real world. I guess I just need a little worry. The thing is that I keep thinking we really will be in the March referral batch. That will make everything a little less stressful on the form processing front. If we're in the February batch, I may stress about when our new form will arrive. See, the US Consulate in China is now requiring agencies to verify parents' expiration dates for their I171H AND their fingerprints. We won't have that information until we receive the new form. I just don't even want to worry about whether we'll have that info when needed by the Consulate.

Here's an idea: I just won't worry. (HA) What has worrying gotten me in the past? Nowhere.

NO Worries Here... That's me!

Let the Cleaning Begin!

Last night we FINALLY got the Christmas decorations out of the baby's room and put back into the attic. Heaven help us, I don't know where we are going to put the storage boxes, etc. during Christmas next year. We'll figure that out when we get there.

Today, I cleaned up the rest of her room....Mostly. I have maternity clothes that I loaned to a friend's daughter that I need to go through and sort. Some will go to a friend and the rest I will bag up for the local charity. Apparently, I won't be wearing those again. But, that's ok.

I made a short list of things that I need to do to get the room presentable. Kind of a first round of cleaning/decorating. Then we'll see what needs to be done from there. Maybe I'll finally get some pictures up of an almost completed nursery.

I keep eyeing the refrigerator, the pantry, and the junk drawers (still haven't gotten to those) as things that need to be cleaned out. Why the sudden need to go through and toss expired medicine? It's not something I've set aside time to do before. P's closet, the playroom, MY closet, the OFFICE (yes dear, I know)...the list goes on and on.

And it must all be done now.

OK, I Hadn't Thought of That!

I've been cruising along with no expectations (really!) of getting a referral in the next batch.

Now some smarty pants on one of my Yahoo groups had to go and remind everyone that in October 2005, as with every October, the CCAA was closed for a the first week for a national holiday. Here I am thinking, "Oh there are 3 weeks' worth of LIDs until they get to ours. There's no way we'll be in the next batch." Now you take the first week of October out of the equation and it gets the mind wondering (and wandering).

Again, September 29 last year was a big day, so that will affect things, but is it possible....

Let's not fully go there. I'm still keeping my sights on the batch after the next one, but this does raise some questions for me.

Say a Prayer

I'd like to ask anyone who regularly reads this blog to say a little prayer for the Holland family. Fr. David is our priest. His wife, Gina, passed away Saturday evening after a short fight with pancreatic cancer.

She was such a wonderful person with a laugh that filled a room. She successfully battled breast cancer about a year and a half ago. She faced it and came through it with grace. She also faced this battle with grace and strength facing what she knew were tough odds.

We will all miss Gina and her laugh, her strength, her courage, her giving spirit.

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Magi at Kaffe-Klatch, so I thought I'd play along. She probably thought I wasn't playing, but I've just been a bit under the weather.

A - Available or Taken: Taken
B - Best Friend: Sue
C - Cake or Pie: Pie - Something chocolate and gooey
D - Drink of Choice: Water, Bailey's, Guinness
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday: Computer
F - Favorite Color: Purple
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Gummy Lifesavers!
H - Hometown: Grew up in Longview, Now Highland Village
I - Indulgence: Shoes & Purses
J - January or February: January - wedding anniversary!!
K - Kids and Names: Phoebe, 5 & Little sister TBD
L - Life Incomplete Without: Family and Friends
M - Marriage Date: 1/7/89
N - Number of Siblings: 1 brother
O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P - Phobias or Fears: Small spaces
Q - Favorite Quote: Sometimes destiny doesn't give us what we ask for so that it can give us more than what we ask for.
R - Reason to Smile: My Phoebe girl
S - Season: Fall
T - Tag 5 People: Heather, Judy, Terri, Krista, and Erin
U - Unknown Fact About Me: I'd love to get paid for painting pictures.
V - Veggie You Don't Like: Lima beans
W - Worst Habit: Not taking chances
X - X-rays: ?
Y - Your Favorite Food: Snickers, Pasta
Z - Zodiac: Virgo

You Just Keep Thinking That

Only a slight annoyance?

Since I didn't get a response from CIS about whether we really needed to go get fingerprinted for a third time, I decided that I wasn't going to slow down this process by waiting on them for a response. This morning, we went down to the same fingerprint location where we've gone the last 2 times.

The first time, in June 2005, I seem to remember taking a while. The last time, in September 2006, was quick. It lulled me into a false sense of .... something. Anyway, today we got there just before 11am. They are open on Saturdays 8-2. We were given our numbers. Allen was 611, & I was 612. 11am - They're on 595. That doesn't seem too bad. 12 noon, they're on 610. Not bad, not bad.... 1 pm - They're on 610. Bad. Very bad. Apparently, and I can't necessarily prove this, at 12 noon, everyone in back that was doing the fingerprinting went to lunch. Sure when their lunch hour was over at 1, there was only another hour that the office was open, but darn if they didn't enjoy that full lunch hour anyway!

Like I said, I can't prove they all went to lunch, but they didn't call a single person back during that hour. We, of course, were not allowed any food or drink while waiting. 1pm comes around, they start calling numbers again. Nobody in the chairs waiting in the back for printing. They call enough numbers to fill up the chairs. There were 2 people working/waiting to start taking prints. Allen mentioned to his guy the seeming lunch break and of course his guy said nobody took a lunch break. Of course over the course of the 15 minutes we were getting printed, 4 or 5 employees came in with to go cups looking like they'd gone to lunch and a few of them went "back" to work.

I know people gotta eat. Heck, I was pretty hungry myself! It would have been nice if they had just come out and said, "Hey look, we're not going to work for an hour. If you want to walk next door and grab a bag of chips and eat it outside, you're not going to get skipped." But for some reason, I guess they thought we wouldn't notice.

So we finished there around 1:30. Somehow.

Then, we went to eat. I could have eaten our table, and almost thought I was going to have to. For about 10 or 15 minutes we thought we were eating at an establishment where everyone was taking a lunch break. Long story short, we ended up with a floor manager and 2 waiters looking after us. Low blood sugar makes me, uh, assertive.

Anyhoo, what a day. Now there can be no delay with CIS processing our documents - unless of course they happen to be reading this.

Overall, It's Only a Slight Annoyance

We received a letter from Homeland Security today. Hmm. What could it be? I know they haven't already processed our paperwork. We've already received a letter acknowledging receipt of our paperwork. Surely, it's not....

It is. It's a fingerprint appointment letter. Huh? OK, so maybe I haven't been paying attention. Maybe I've been ignoring things said on various yahoo groups. Apparently, even though we had our fingerprints renewed in September, and they expire in December 2007, they are acting like we need to have them done again. SURELY, we don't really have to go have a fingerprints taken a 3rd time (3 months after the last time). Surely not. Hey, don't call me Shirley (sorry, I couldn't resist)

I sent an email to the Dallas adoptions person at the CIS and hope to get a response tomorrow. Our agency told us to send a copy of our old I171H with our renewed fingerprint date on it, so that they would know that we have valid, current fingerprints. We did that. Hopefully, this letter gets automatically generated and we don't really need to be re-re-printed.

We shall see. It's not a lot to get worked up about. It's just spending Saturday morning at the immigration office, maybe grab some tasty Mexican food afterward.

It's Official

The CCAA has updated its website. The official cutoff was indeed September 27, 2005. So, that leaves about 3 weeks worth of LIDs until ours! I'm NOT, NOT, NOT getting my hopes up for our referral to be in the next batch. I'm NOT. I AM hoping for the batch after the next one and will probably be very disappointed if it doesn't come by then. What can I say, I don't want to set myself up, but REALLY it shouldn't take them more than 2 months to get through 3 weeks of LIDs. REALLY.

OK, breathe. We really are getting close.

Here are some more pics of babies with new families.
On our way to China
The Story of Gracie
Gleason Journal
A Daughter
McFees Girl
Journey for Maggie
Journey to Zoe
(Music) We Cross our Heart

Baby Pictures Are Arriving

Referrals are coming in for this month's referrals. The official cut-off date is still not clear. September 27, 2005 LIDs are included, but September 29 LIDs are not. Not sure about September 28.

A lot of people are upset that the CCAA didn't cover more LIDs, but hey, I'm just excited they made it almost to the end of September. The covered about 20 days. It seems like it's been a while since they covered that much time.

Here are some links to people "expecting" in the current batch of referrrals:

Sink or Swim
My baby Ava
An Invisible Thread
Waiting for Emma
Our Journey to Margaret
Miah Miah Miah
Our Family Journal
Our Journey to Marlee
Adopting Mia
Goliath Family
Margaux
Our Journey to Mylia
Journey to Grace
Journey to Elizabeth

Here We Are - In 2007

Happy New Year everyone. It will be an interesting year.

As we near the 2 year mark of starting the adoption process, we are so close to actually receiving our referral! The rumor update today is that European agencies are receiving referrals for LIDs at least through September 27, 2005. The only LID our agency has in September is September 12. The next LID at our agency after that is October 10. Hopefully, we'll find out an official cut-off date soon. But maybe they'll make it all the way through September. The 27th is pretty darn close!

I still don't expect our referral at least until the March batch, if not after because October is so big. But, Good Lord, we're getting close.

2 kids....what was I thinking?!

Some Things Are Fast and Others Aren't

Today in the mail, we received a receipt from the Department of Homeland Security stating that they had received our new I600A application. This came as a little bit of a surprise.

December 20, our social worker sent an email saying that our agency told her that they had sent our criminal background check clearance to her on that day. I haven't heard anything from her since. I was assuming that she had gone out of town for the holidays, etc. and that the USCIS would be closed various days and had decided that they would probably get it sometime after the first of the year. So, today, whatever today is, we received this piece of mail. And, truthfully, it could have come yesterday because I don't think we ever went out and got the mail. Let's say it arrived today - the 30th (ok, I looked). They say they received the application on December 27 and the envelope is post marked December 28. Could this year's Christmas miracle be a speed up at the CIS? The receipt states that processing takes approximately 60 days. They may have said that last time when it took 90, but they requested additional documents. Either way, we should have our renewed I171H by March-ish. Which sadly, should not have any effect on our travel to China.

Which brings me to the seemingly slow things. Everyone is on pins and needles waiting for word on this month's batch of referrals. It's about that time of the month, and people are getting anxious. Clearly, we won't be hearing from our agencies before January, but there is the possibility that the referrals could have gone out yesterday. Hopefully we'll hear something next week AND they will cover at least a couple of weeks' worth of LIDs.

Home Again, Home Again

Well, we survived the cruise. Next...Christmas.

We had a great time on our trip. I managed to relax, so I'm not really overly stressed...right now.

Tomorrow's Christmas Eve, and I'm so excited. It will be a busy day greening the church and all, but I'm looking forward to it.

I can't wait for Christmas morning - to see P's reaction to whatever Santa may bring. It's going to be a fun time.

I've been totally out of the loop on the adoption front. Our agency is closed until Wednesday. The next batch of referrals should be due out shortly. I'll poke my head in on some of the rumors and report back and the goings-on.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. I thought this last year, but I think I'm pretty safe saying that we'll have our new daughter next Christmas.

It's Cruise Time

Well, we're off. I won't be posting for about a week. I'm looking forward to lying on a beach, lying in a deck chair, lying on a massage table, lying.... OK, you get the idea. I ain't doin' nuthin'. OK, I'm going to do as little as possible. I suppose I will have to transport myself from our room to the aforementioned relaxation spots.

We haven't packed anything yet, but hey, no chance of overthinking it at this point, huh?

Oy, My Child

When I picked P up from school today, her teacher asked me to have a chat with P about focusing on her work and listening. Oy. Like she'll listen to ME.

So, I asked P what was up with not listening in class. She, of course, said she didn't know. I told her to ask her brain why it couldn't listen in class. So, she paused, asked her brain and paused again.

Then she said that her brain wasn't where it was supposed to be when she was in class. I asked her where her brain was. She said that it was supposed to be in the middle, but during class it was over on the right. (Isn't the right brain the "artsy" side?). I asked her why her brain was on the right and what it was doing there. She asked her brain, then said that it went over to the right because it wanted to watch TV, have something to drink and eat a sandwich.

Oy.

This evening, I asked P what she thought we could do to keep her brain in the middle during class. She suggested "brain medicine" that "tastes really icky". I suggested maybe we could remind her brain every morning that while she's in class, her brain has to stay in the middle. She thought this was a good idea.

Oy.

Christmas Is Almost Here

So, I haven't posted much in the last week because I thought I was going to lose my mind last week. Let's review:

Phoebe and Allen were both in a community theatre production of "The Littlest Angel". While neither of them was actually the Littlest Angel, we did all have to be at the theatre every night last week. Phoebe had to be there 6:30-8-ish each night, and Allen stayed later. As soon as I get a copy of the pics my mom took, I'll post them. Phoebe had a great time. She was a little star. Literally, her role was as one of the little stars. She basically ran out at appropriate times and raced around other characters or sat on the edge of the stage listening to songs. The rehearsals stressed me out for the week. It just seemed like we didn't have a lot of together time. While I have several things to do this week, at least my family is home for dinner every night.

I've started working with a trainer at the gym. Yesterday we worked on my legs for 30 minutes. Who knew they were so weak? I use them daily. I'm a bit sore, and walking funny today, but it's a good pain, right? Tomorrow I'll meet with her again. We'll work on my chest or back. As long as it's not legs, I don't care.

Phoebe's class Christmas party, sorry "luncheon", is Thursday. ("It's a luncheon mom, not a party"). Then Friday, I'm one of the drivers for her class to go to Casa Manana in Ft. Worth to see "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."

Saturday we leave for a cruise with Allen's family. It should be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to lying on a beach and doing nothing at all. That should be just the thing to really enjoy the holidays when we return. I have major plans for relaxation!

Hopefully, within a few days of Christmas, the next batch of referrals will come out and we'll see what progress China has made. We'll be a little bit closer.

Time Is Ticking

I really do feel like we're getting closer. I mean, obviously, we've been getting closer the entire time we've been waiting. It just didn't feel like it.

I do have a feeling in the back of my mind, a fear if you will, that once the CCAA starts matching October LIDs things are going to slow down to a few days at a time again. Who can say? Certainly not me.

But, I think it's safe to say that I ought to finish up the nursery and all those prep type things that I haven't even thought about. Probably ought to read the documents that our agency sent us so long ago about the referral phase of this process.

Last year at this time, the slow down was just beginning, and I don't think anyone expected to still be waiting now. But at the same time, I think we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.