It's really going to happen...

Last week, CCAA matched families through March 20, 2006. That was six days since the last period, which is their average these days.

Here are links to blogs with photos of their new babies:

The Red Thread Journey
Alliegrace
Side of Fries
Our Journey to Hailey
Mommy Moon
Father Mother Sister Brother
Mix with Love
Little Sister Williams
At Last

Since there are 35 days between March 20 and April 24 (our LID), and CCAA is averaging six days every month, we are now anticipating our referral to come in six months... which is, roughly, the end of December.

If you look at the calendar and count six days for every month (and include weekends), it could work out something like this:

July = March 26
August = April 2
September = April 9
October = April 16
November = April 23
December = April 30***

So, we are hopeful to have our referral in December. It would really be neat to receive our referral between Dec. 18-25 since that is around my birthday, my moms birthday and my grandma's birthday.

We did receive news this week... we have yet another new caseworker. Lifelink (our Illinois agency) continues to redefine their responsibilities. Since we began this journey, we have had Meegan, Michelle, Laura, Michelle, Laura, Diane, and now Ann. We are hopeful our new social worker, Ann, will keep in communication with us as much as Laura did.

Our attitude toward the wait has now turned into one of "Oh my gosh, time is really ticking."

It's really becoming (or seeming like) a reality. We had the room painted last month. We cleared out the room to make room for the crib. Cleaned the carpet. Next step is really going to be setting up the crib, which is something I really can't wait to do. However, it still seems too early.

We do need to start thinking of purchases... crib mattress, stroller, car seat, etc. Those are the big things left to buy, I think. Any suggestions or ideas are certainly welcome!

Just an update

CCAA has sent out referrals today confirming that they have matched children to parents logged in through March 14, 2006. Today we get to mark 6 days off of the calendar. On Sunday, we have officially waited 37 months...unbelievable.

Average days per month is 5 days, so at this point, we are anticipating our referral January/February of 2010. Rumor has it that another batch of referrals will come out in the next 2 weeks or so. The batch today was late because of the H1N1 Virus--just another delay to add to our list (Earthquake, Olympics are coming, Earthquake, Olympics are here, H1N1).

We are really hoping for one batch of more than 6 days between now and November. It can mean the difference of receiving a referral in December rather than January or January rather than February. The closer we get to the end of the year brings new forms to renew (one for the third time and one would be for the fourth time).

Have a great Memorial Day weekend. It is supposed to be beautiful here in mid-Michigan. Kevin and I are going to research ways to get rid of the ground bees that are living in our backyard...we have located one of the holes (there are many). If anyone has any suggestions, please let us know...but getting a dog isn't one of them.

Yet another year of waiting...

Three years ago today...

We got in a line for adoption with China. The wait at the time was expected to be six to eight months long. Two years ago the wait was 17 months long and a year ago was updated to be 27 months long. Today the wait is 37 months long and growing with each passing month.

This is what we know today
1. Referral and travel dates are still a mystery
2. There are only 47 days ahead of us in line. (Progress is being made considering a year ago there were 104 days ahead of us)
3. The name
4. We will probably have another Christmas without being a family of three.
5. We are anticipating our 4th fingerprint renewal by the end of 2009 because as we have said before, they change...WHATEVER.
6. Our original file is still somewhere between Chicago and Detroit, but we were allowed to recreate our file for Michigan in order to get fingerprinted for the third time--Good times!
7. We will probably have to renew another form for the fourth time if we haven't traveled and returned to the US by 4/24/10.
8. We finally spoke to someone with our placing agency (Rockford, IL) after 5 months of no contact and learned that the other 2 couples in our original group are still in the group.
9. We had the room painted to the color we have been carrying around for 3 years-- Ralph Lauren--Duchess Lilac.
10. We are still the only home on our block that does not have a child.

Early rumors for the next round of referrals indicate they might reach 3/14/06 which would be a SIX day referral month. Won't know for sure until later next week. We can only hope.

There is a site those that are involved in China Adoption often refer to known as Rumor Queen...we remember a few years back reading one of her projections when the slow down began. The projection on her site at that time indicated that based on our LID (Log In Date-4/24/06) our referral would come February of 2010...and we thought that was crazy...only to be sitting here now, facing the reality that it actually might come true.

Not much else to say. We have now waited the same amount of time that we spent trying to have children via IVF...who would have thought International adoption would have taken longer. We didn't.

We just updated our calendar to the left as CCAA finally updated theirs. It's been more than a month since they've updated their records showing the dates of families who have been matched. It is still hovering around two-to-four days per month of matching. So, with 49 days ahead of us (including the two we think they matched from this past month), at an average of three days per month of matches, our referral would come in 16 months or June 2010. Jenn will turn 40 at that time.

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Nothing overly new is going on with us in this beautiful Spring. Both of us have been working a TON. Jenn's down a body at work and I'm, well, down several bodies with some furloughs mixed in. BUT, we still have our jobs and continue to ask for more responsibility to ensure some type of security (does that even exist any more?)

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Our beloved Spartans are Motown Bound today for the Final Four... and YES, I do know what that means! GO SPARTANS! We will be watching the game... and not just for the commercials. :)

It wasn't true!

The matches have come out and CCAA matched referrals for two days in March. But, now we have only 53 calendar days left!

Notice the calendar to the left has been updated...