The rollercoaster ride continues...

CCAA sent referrals out to those families that had LIDS (Log in Dates) of March 23rd and March 24th of 2006. So this was another small batch in terms of calendar days and a lot of disappointment out there among those families still waiting. The wait is currently 41 months and still growing. We hit our 40th month anniversary of our wait yesterday.

Yesterday, we spoke to both of our agencies (Lifelink--Illinois/Adoption Advocates--Michigan) regarding the need to update more paperwork. We will begin the process to request fingerprint renewal (fourth time) with Immigration in late September. Because we aren't sure of our referral date, both caseworkers recommend that we hold off on renewing a second document until January. There are some side items we can begin to work on while waiting for January to come along (complete physicals, letters of employment, background checks with the state of Michigan -- second time).

As we explained to both of our caseworkers, we have grown numb to the wait--it doesn't surprise us anymore---the maddening part of all of this is the fact that we have to keep renewing all of these documents and paying the fees because that wait has grown far beyond what anyone would have predicted 40 months ago. The form in January (that may or may not have to be pursued for the fourth time) requires a homestudy update. That homestudy update will verify that "yep, they are a year older and yep, they still don't have any children in their home" AND it doesn't even get sent to China to be attached to our dossier.

Both caseworkers have expressed that they have been getting nothing but "screamed at" by their waiting families. We aren't one of those families as this isn't something they can control. We simply explained to both of them that we would appreciate an update now and then, a phone call, an email, etc. Something that shows us that they know we are still waiting. After the fact that our file went (still is) missing, no contact from them makes us nervous.

We are inching closer...31 days ahead of us. Average days referred per month is currently four. We think they will finish March 2006 in October and then it will be on to our month, finally. If you take 31 and divide that by four, that's, roughly eight months... which means that we should get our referral toward the end of April 2010. We are still hopeful that the referral will be before then as April is not as large of a "batch" as March is.

referrals, referrals...

Another round of referrals came out this past week. While they only referred children to adoptive parents with LIDs 3/21-3/22, it seems to have been a large batch.

March 2006 had a lot of families waiting for children. Once CCAA matches families with LIDs of April 5, we should see a slight speed-up (fingers crossed).

We are still hopeful for a December 2009 referral. In the meantime, let's celebrate those that received their referrals in this batch:

Waiting for Hope
Patiently Waiting for You
About One Year
Waiting on Emma
Anna Grace
Step by Step, Blog by Blog
Journey of Hope
Mission Safari
Meet the Harriss

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...

Could it be true?

There's a rumor out there saying there's a very, very, very, very slight chance CCAA will get to March 24 in matching. The rumor is based on the near doubling of the orphanage fee. We should know, hopefully, by the end of this week if it's actually true.

Happy New Year... will 2009 be the one?

We think so. Emphasis on the word "think."

Not too much is really new on our end. We had a nice visit with Kevin's family in Springfield, MO over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Christmas and New Year's were both quiet and enjoyable without any travel. We spent the time in Michigan with colds. That's what we got for the holidays!

We both have decided to have a healthier lifestyle in 2009. So, we've been eating much better and exercising. In fact, we purchased the Wii Fit; now we just need the Wii! They've told us it's harder to find the Wii Fit than it is to find the Wii, so we bought it one day walking into Best Buy as they were unpacking. Of course, we have been on the hunt for a Wii without much luck.

There has not been much movement on the adoption; however, it seems as though we should get our referral this year. If you notice to the left of the site, we've added two calendars, March and April of 2006. CCAA has referred children to those families that were logged in through February 28, 2006. Our LID is April 24, 2006 (notice the yellow background with the ladybug on it.)

There are now 55 days until CCAA matches our LID. That's good news!

They are averaging six days of referrals every month. If you take 55 days and divide that by the average of six, we are looking at 9.2 months until we receive our referral. We are hopeful that our referral will come in September/October 2009. So, that's good news!

We've begun talking about starting the room as it seems like it's getting closer... and nine months isn't too far away. I'm sure it will fly by.

Our next steps are to continue saving for the referral. The orphanage fees have nearly doubled among other fees.

Not sure if you remember, but our file was lost between Illinois and Michigan. That has since been resolved. Honestly, we still don't understand how and why, but we were able to recreate a new file in Michigan; therefore, our original file is still MIA. While we're not happy about it, there's nothing we can do about it.

Please check back more often than you have, now, as we will be updating more frequently this year than last.

Here's hoping to a healthy and prosperous New Year!