Rumors and More Rumors

October's referrals have not arrived yet. There has yet to be much news of WHEN they will arrive. However, there are rumors and speculation about when the cut off date will be. Last month's referrals went through dossiers logged in August 9, 2005. Rumors about this month's referrals cover a range of cut off dates from August 23 to August 31.

While I think few people believe that referrals will actually cover the rest of August (wouldn't that be lovely), the big question seems to really be will it be the 23rd or the 24th.

What difference can one day make?, you may ask. Well... for one thing, our agency doesn't have any dossiers logged in after last month's referrals until the 24th. There are several weeks' worth of dossiers that were all logged in on August 24th. So whether it's the 23rd or 24th could mean the difference between our large, China-only agency getting referrals or not. It would also be a positive sign as far as the number of referrals China has worked through this month, possibly meaning a slight increase in monthly numbers going foward.

BUT for now, we watch and wait to see what the cut off date will be in actuality. There are lots of people out there on pins and needles with an 8/24 LID. I really hope we hear something definite (and on the positive side) soon.

I can't imagine what it's going to be like when we get closer to our LID. Probably little sleep and not much food (though lots of chocolate).

Are We There Yet?

Who would have thought at this time last year that we'd still be a-waitin'? Certainly not me. Yes, it's been one year since China logged in our documents. Even though, as I write this, it's still the 18th here, it's the morning of the 19th in Beijing.

I don't know what to say. I guess I've learned patience...or learned that I can't stand learning to be patient.

Actually, I THINK I'm a little more laid back in general than I was a year ago. Maybe just more worn down. Kidding... I've taken the adoption attitude of "it's out of my hands" with a lot of things. When there's really nothing you can do about a situation, it's best to recognize it right away. If you don't, you get such a headache from smacking your head against the same wall over and over again.
Also, I'm really having to trust God on this. I keep thinking that God has known all along who our daughter is, and knows whether she's been born. I think God has known from the beginning when we will get our referral. I don't believe He "made" it take this long so that I'd learn valuable life lessons. I just think He knew how long it would take, and was just waiting around for me to turn to Him after getting that headache I mentioned above.

Of course, I'm also having those "what was I thinking" moments. Not because I'm regretting going the adoption route. I'm freaking out over being the mother of two. TWO?! They'll out-number me! Gang up on me! EEK. Those thoughts don't stay with me for long, but they do pop up every now and then. Sure the total number of children won't outnumber the total number of parents, but day in and day out... oh, I just don't want to think about it.

So, here we are. One year later. Last year, I was afraid that we'd be traveling to China on Phoebe's birthday last May. Now, I'm starting to wonder if we'll be traveling on her birthday NEXT May....

It continues....

Hey, It's October!

I figured that since the last post on my blog was dated last month, I should post something...anything...

Over this past weekend, we went to visit my parents. For those of you who don't know, my dad had bypass surgery at the end of June. It took us all by surprise, but couldn't be avoided and luckily he didn't have a heart attack before hand. Anyway, he's "feeling much better now". It was great to see him feeling so well. I think we all need to watch out now that everything is pumping the way it should be and the doctor has said he has the heart of an 18 year old.

While we were at my parents' house, my mom and I turned that crazy fabric into a crazy crib skirt and a crazy valance. It looks really cute. I have not taken pics of it yet, but I will and I'll post them soon.

This week I've actually had 2 custom jewelry orders! Oddly enough, both of them are for "Mother's Bracelets", even though I didn't have any examples of them on the website. Strange world. Someone ought to sell tickets. I'm going to post both of these bracelets on the website - maybe more people will want one for themselves.

Today being the Feast of St. Francis, Phoebe's school had a Blessing of the Animals before school today. Senna did well. Apparently she only goes into attack mode when someone comes to the front door. Out there on neutral turf, she's fine.

Tomorrow will be a bit of a sad day. A friend at our church died in her sleep on Sunday night. She was the wife of one of our retired priests. I'd gotten to know her this year, and was looking forward to knowing her better. She was very smart, no nonsense, and was hilarious! We're all going to miss you, Pat. A lot.

Dig That Crazy Fabric

I've been looking (and looking, and... oh, sorry) for fabric to make a crib skirt for the nursery. I tried to find something of the crib set variety that was already made, but out of all the things available on the web, nothing was doing it for me. So, the search began. I knew, or thought I knew, what I wanted. I was going for pink corduroy as the main part of the skirt with a cute stripe and/or border added. That's when I discovered that on the bolt, the cords of corduroy run horizontally and not vertically. Sure, it could still be done, but not nearly as easily as buying 45" wide fabric and cutting it down the middle for the 20" drop and sewing it to a sheet. So, I started looking for something else that could be done easily and still be cute.

Here is what I've bought. Since I surprised myself with the choice of the bunnies on the wallpaper, I guess it should make sense that I chose fabric that kind of surprised me too. Are you ready??

The first picture will be the main part of the skirt. The second will be a 4 or 5 inch stripe around it a few inches from the bottom.





Now, of course, the colors don't come across very well. Well, the pink does. But the, let's call it plaid, is actually brighter than it looks. And the bits that look like cat-sick-yellow are actually close to the color of a Wal-Mart price tag, but lighter and not quite as bright.

I think I bought enough fabric that I can also make a window valance. Because, if you're going to go, you have to go all the way!

The Jewelry Website Is Open

Well, after quite a steep learning curve on building a website, I am happy to announce that my jewelry website is now up and running. The address is littleshopofbaubles.com . I have high hopes that someone, somewhere out there on the world wide web will stumble into my little shop and find that perfect necklace that they didn't know they needed.

We shall see.

C

Referrals Are On Their Way!

After all that talk of being surprised by the arrival of referrals, our agency sent an email today saying that referrals are on their way. So, they did get a warning this time before just receiving them out of the blue. When I first read the email, I was REALLY depressed. Our agency is getting referrals for parents whose documents were logged in through July 29, 2005. Que? As you may or may not recall, last month's referrals were for documents that were logged in through July 22, 2005.

Now, what actually makes this slightly less depressing is the following information: The actual cut off date for this batch of referrals is August 9, 2005. So, China did do more than one week's worth of LIDs, it's just that our agency doesn't have any LIDs after July 29 until August 24.

So, congrats go out to all of those families who are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the referrals. I can't wait to see all the pictures.

Referrals Are On Their Way?

As it turns out, the surprise referrals last month were not the fluke they seemed to be. Apparently the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) informed our agency that they would no longer be giving any agencies the advanced notice that referrals were on their way. So from now on, it seems, we (parents and the agencies) are going to be surprised each month by the arrival of those packages of good news.

All of that being said, there is a rumor today that referrals were mailed today. I'm not sure what the usual travel time is once referrals are mailed, but if they were indeed mailed today, they should arrive some time next week. Of course, I'm sure lots of people will be watching for the CCAA website to be updated with the cut off date for this batch. Repeat it with me... "more than 9 days", "more than 9 days", "more than 9 days".....

Checking In

Well, the calendar on the wall says that I haven't posted in 2 weeks! Two weeks?! You'd think a lot would have happened in that time.

There hasn't been a whole lot going on.

Rumors are already swirling around about the next batch of referrals. Everything from "they'll only cover a few days" to "they'll go well into August LIDs. We'll see when we see.

Meanwhile, our fingerprints that we had to have taken to adopt expire today. We have received a letter allowing us to go get re-fingerprinted, and we will probably do that on Saturday. It kind of makes me laugh that we even have to be re-fingerprinted... As if I've become Jimmy Hoffa in the past 15 months. I understand that taking the fingerprints generates an FBI criminal check and that they are really just seeing if we've been naughty, but it seems like there should be a way to do that without taking the fingerprints again.

It's strange that each office of the USCIS (Immigration) has different procedures. I was expecting to have to pay the $70 per person fee for fingerprinting again, but apparently in Dallas, that is not the case. Thanks to a woman on one of the yahoo groups that I'm on, I was able to email our request to be re-fingerprinted on 9/7/06, and we received our letter on 9/9/06. Yes, that's a 2 day turnaround. That's the quickest action I've seen on any of the paperwork we've received during this entire process.

While I haven't been blogging, I have been working on getting a website up and running to sell handmade jewelry. I've become addicted to making jewelry over the past several months, and I have high hopes for others actually liking it, too. Blogging is much easier than e-commerce. I will post when it's actually up and running.

And finally, since I've been thinking about it all day, I have to make mention of today's date. I can't believe it's been 5 years since we were all glued to the TV in disbelief as those insane people took down the towers. Today, I watched a little bit (only a little bit) on CNN.com as they streamed the broadcast from 5 years ago. It was still unbelievable. It was very surreal watching the reporters talking about events as they unfolded, knowing that they didn't know what was coming. It was like knowing the future and watching as everyone else found out what I already knew. I remembered the disbelief, the confusion, the sadness. I remembered all of the flags that flew for days and months afterward. Then, I took a little drive to the grocery store and I was a little annoyed that I didn't see many houses with American flags out front. I didn't see flags at half staff in front of businesses. I know with all of the media coverage going on this weekend and today, that it's not possible that people have forgotten.

But, have they remembered?

And Yet... It's True

The CCAA (the China Center for Adoption Affairs) updated its webpage today to reflect the most recent referrals:

"The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before July 22, 2005."

These referrals surprised everyone, including our agency. The agency sent an email on Friday stating that they'd suddenly received referrals for families with a 7/20/05 LID. (The next LID for our agency is 7/27/05). Usually our agency receives word from the CCAA letting them know that the referral batch is on its way, and the referrals arrive a few days later.

Maybe this is a good sign that referrals actually arrived less than 30 days since the last batch, instead of the usual 31-35 days. Who knows?

This whole process has really taught me (although I slip daily) to enjoy every day and not just sit and wish the days away.

The living continues.....

Happy Birthday to ME

It's my birthday, and I'll cry if I want to....

Yep, today is my birthday. What will the day bring?

Rumors are bouncing around about referrals coming in. Apparently some people with 7/22/05 LIDs have received referral calls! How odd. There has been no indication that referrals are on their way. We haven't received any emails from our agency about referrals being on their way. What's up?!

The downside of the the rumors is that people are saying that the cut off date for this batch is, in fact, the above mentioned 7/22/05. Huh? That would mean that referrals cover 9 days' worth of LIDs. Mmmm, lovely flashbacks to April and May referrals. Whee, let's see...If referrals come once a month, and cover about a week's worth of LIDs, with an LID of 10/19/05, we'll get our referral....Hmmmmmm. It's like a word problem from 5th grade math made up by a sadist.

On a positive note, all of the above has yet to be confirmed and is currently only a rumor.

For the most part throughout this process, as rumors have swirled, they've pretty much bounced off of me. Some have turned out to be true, others have not. As I told a friend yesterday, if this one turns out to be true, I think I'll have to officially give up on meeting our baby this year.

There are certainly worse things going on in the world. And I was just thinking the other day that between me and my baby's birthmother, I definitely have the better part of this deal.

So, what will this birthday bring? Reminders of how much I love my friends and family? Reminders of how lucky I am? Reminders that no matter what day it is, my family still generates dirty laundry and dishes? Reminders that I have no control over our adoption process, no matter how much I may try?

I'm going to go with "Yes" to all of the above.

The Bunnies Have Landed

We put up the wallpaper this weekend. It looks great! It wasn't as difficult as I expected - especially since we borrowed my dad's self-leveling laser. We just set it up in the middle of the room on a tripod and, whee...., a lovely red line where we needed it. It makes such a difference! Next - painting the bathroom...

Phoebe's First Day of Kindergarten

Phoebe started Kindergarten today. She's returning to the Montessori school at our church where she's been going for the past 3 years. Otherwise Mom would have been a wreck!




Does she look ready to go?

We're STILL working on the nursery

We began working on the nursery at the beginning of the year. We've painted the walls and ceiling of the bedroom and primed the walls of the bathroom. Our next step is putting up the wall paper border.

The following 2 pictures are of the room before we started. It looks a little on the yellow side of green, but it's actually a dark olive green:





The next picture is of the walls primed, and the picture following it is of the walls painted (but not the ceiling yet). The lower half of the wall is light green and the upper half is light blue:

HERE WE GO!!!

And we're off....
We've been in the process of adopting our daughter from China since February 2005. We are getting closer to our referral, so we decided it was time to start a blog. As we get nearer to meeting our daughter, our family and friends can follow our journey....