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!