22 Days Away...

Well, I couldn't be more excited and nervous... how could I not be ready after 3 years of waiting?

We are now 22 LID days away from seeing our daughter for the first time. When will this be?

4 day average - July Referral travel in August
5 Day average - June Referral travel in July
6 Day average - May Referral travel in June

I am thinking we will be going to China this summer... Chris won't miss school and Jim & Chris might both miss Boy Scout Summer camp... But ME?? I won't be missing anything... My summer? CLEAR... to go to China and bring home our long awaited daughter.

Just a little giddy!

From our family to yours...Merry Christmas!

The Art of Procrastination

I have the best husband in the world... bar none!

He is dedicated to his family, works hard and a very hands on dad... so just like the rest of us some things have to fall through the cracks. Today, with the threat of 40 mile an hour winds with pressure from me, he decided to FINALLY move the patio furniture to the garage. Since we won't be needing it for Christmas dinner...

Snow Doggie Day

Having such a great day... Chris' last day of school was supposed to be today so he his off now for the year, Jim is working from home today and is also now home for the year. We are all just hanging out and enjoying our 'free' day.


Jim just read that the auto industry was granted 13 billion in loans and we can breath a sigh of relief that Jim should be employed now for at least a few more months and we can update our home study without fear.

Chris & Jim's birthdays are over... so I can focus more on Christmas. It is great to have them home with me to get things finished up this week-end.

I just found out yesterday that one of my dearest friends is going to have a baby, another is due on the 23rd and one is on the verge of adopting and my neighor's sister in-law just gave birth to twins! ... I am surrounded by babies... literally! ;)

I am feeling that giddy Christmas joy... off to bake some cookies!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Suspense is over...

China Progress:
Well I guess the suspense is over for referrals this month, except for the mystery of why so many people with 2/23 LID's didn't get their referrals. One person (from RQ forum) was told that the C**A made a 'mistake' and their LID is really 3/7... seriously??

Anyway we are now 27 LID days away from referral, and even though the LID average for the last 6-12 months has been 6 days, I am thinking the average will drop to 3-4 with the incredibly large requests in March. So I am hoping for June, yet thinking August. Isn't it crazy?

Another hitch:
I am asking for prayers for the auto industry and all those who will be affected if they are allowed to fall. My husband works for GM and we are bracing ourselves for the possibility he might lose his job. We need to update our home study for our I-171h in January and if he isn't employed? No job, no home study, no home study, no I-171h, no I-171h no daughter... Just another test of faith in this crazy roller coaster.

Living Life:
We are very much looking forward to Christmas, Sunday is Jim & Chris' family birthday party and tonight is Chris' 13th birthday party. Six teens, pizza, and Guitar Hero World Tour - the complete band. I am gearing up for lots of noise, something broken, something spilled and making an entire box of pancake mix after a night with no sleep! Loving it!

Once this week-end of 2 birthday parties, I can finally focus on Christmas...

Merry Christmas to all!

Pins & Needles

Now that we are getting closer to referral (subjective I know) each month is getting more and more exciting. We now have been LID for 32 months or 38 months since we began our adoption of Hope.

In the beginning of November China referred families with LID's (requests) through February 17, 2006. Just a mere 33 LID days away from our LID of March 22, 2006.

Waiting on pins and needles to see how much closer they get this week, I am going to guess that they refer up through February 23rd (6 days) putting us at 27 days more days to go.

I read a post recently about speculation on the massive slow down in Chinese adoptions or "paper ready" babies, that finally made sense to me. It talked about how when the Hague Treaty went into effect (can't seem to find the year right now) that it became very expensive and labor intensive to get babies ready for international adoption (IA)so more and more orphanage directors are choosing NOT to prepare their babies for IA.

I have believed all along, that there was not such a huge drop in abandoned children in China to account for the drop in IA. Especially when the amount of babies actually adopted out were a mere fraction of the abandoned children to begin with...

Pray for these forgotten children, THEY are the ones who suffer at the expense of this rules put into place to protect... whom?