As you know, our referral is getting closer and closer every day.
There are only 20 days until we THINK we'll get our referral. So, as we mentioned, we're getting prepared.
Last Friday we looked at a daycare facility in Lansing, EC3. We LOVED it. We felt a connection with the director very quickly. We loved their programs, way of teaching, security and, well, we just loved it. Oh, and did I mention, it's located in the school that Magic Johnson attended?
Tomorrow, we're going to look at another center. Next week, the final one. It's been fun and scary at the same time.
Below is a list of blogs that received their referrals this month. Check out the pictures. I'm hopeful that we'll be sharing our baby next month.
* Boutin Adoption
* Waiting 4 Baby Rock
* Polar Bear in China
* Blessed by Aimelyn
* Jersey to China
* ak_teacher
* Journey to Mia
* Our Many Blessings
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Holy crap... is it really time?
We started our paper chase in October 2005.
Our official log-in date with CCAA was April 2006.
From 2006 to 2010, we've done nothing but wait and update forms and wait and update
our finger prints and wait and moved to a new state and wait.
It is now April 2010 and we will, hopefully, receive our referral next month. NEXT MONTH! Our assumption will be Monday, May 3, to be exact. Recently, referrals have come out on the first Monday of the new month.
HOLY CRAP!
It's just odd that four years of waiting is about to come to an end. I mean really!!! I look back over the last six months or so and ask "where did the time go?" Am I serious? WHERE DID THE TIME GO? It's been FOUR FREAKING YEARS! How can I even ask that question?
From the beginning, I wondered what I would feel once we were a few short weeks away from our referral. Well, now I know: I feel excited. I feel scared. I feel anxious. I feel responsible. I feel nervous. I feel sick. I feel happiness. I feel fun. I feel [fill in the blank]. Yes, I have a lot of feelings right now.
So, what have we been doing to keep these feelings under control?
We've been researching... What's the best car seat to buy? What's the best stroller to buy? What's the best crib mattress to buy? What's the best high chair to buy? Of course, we've purchased all those things (except for the high chair... back to square one.)
Now we're focused on the best daycare facility. Should we hire a nanny? Should we send our child to a facility? Should we send our child to an in-home daycare? Well, we really don't know that answer yet. BUT, we are interviewing a place later this week. We hear wonderful things about it... so we'll see!!!
In the meantime... we'll probably be posting a bit more often now that it's getting closer. So, stay tuned...
Our official log-in date with CCAA was April 2006.
From 2006 to 2010, we've done nothing but wait and update forms and wait and update
our finger prints and wait and moved to a new state and wait.
It is now April 2010 and we will, hopefully, receive our referral next month. NEXT MONTH! Our assumption will be Monday, May 3, to be exact. Recently, referrals have come out on the first Monday of the new month.
HOLY CRAP!
It's just odd that four years of waiting is about to come to an end. I mean really!!! I look back over the last six months or so and ask "where did the time go?" Am I serious? WHERE DID THE TIME GO? It's been FOUR FREAKING YEARS! How can I even ask that question?
From the beginning, I wondered what I would feel once we were a few short weeks away from our referral. Well, now I know: I feel excited. I feel scared. I feel anxious. I feel responsible. I feel nervous. I feel sick. I feel happiness. I feel fun. I feel [fill in the blank]. Yes, I have a lot of feelings right now.
So, what have we been doing to keep these feelings under control?
We've been researching... What's the best car seat to buy? What's the best stroller to buy? What's the best crib mattress to buy? What's the best high chair to buy? Of course, we've purchased all those things (except for the high chair... back to square one.)
Now we're focused on the best daycare facility. Should we hire a nanny? Should we send our child to a facility? Should we send our child to an in-home daycare? Well, we really don't know that answer yet. BUT, we are interviewing a place later this week. We hear wonderful things about it... so we'll see!!!
In the meantime... we'll probably be posting a bit more often now that it's getting closer. So, stay tuned...
Saturday, March 06, 2010
CCAA referrals... our time is coming
CCAA has released it's latest round of referrals on March 1, 2010. We are pleased to tell you that CCAA has matched children with adoptive parents through April 11, 2006.
Our date is April 24, 2006, which means there are only 13 days between now and our date. We are hopeful we will receive our referral in June or July -- just four or five short months. Projections show that the next date of referrals (early April) will be matched through April 20. If that's the case, our referral would come as early as May.
It seems as though we will be parents this year. WOW!
Here are some links to those children who have been matched:
- Julie Jadyn (Password: juliesblog )
- FantasticFam4
- scandwaiting
- Lots of Love for Little Sister
- Sakana no ko
- Thomas Tales 3
- Cjhau
Stay tuned.
Our date is April 24, 2006, which means there are only 13 days between now and our date. We are hopeful we will receive our referral in June or July -- just four or five short months. Projections show that the next date of referrals (early April) will be matched through April 20. If that's the case, our referral would come as early as May.
It seems as though we will be parents this year. WOW!
Here are some links to those children who have been matched:
- Julie Jadyn (Password: juliesblog )
- FantasticFam4
- scandwaiting
- Lots of Love for Little Sister
- Sakana no ko
- Thomas Tales 3
- Cjhau
Stay tuned.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
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
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
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