1 More group down, 1 more to go....

I can't believe it. It's so exciting to report that the next group from my agency has received referrals. Group 120 was logged in March 2006 and have just seen their babies' faces for the first time. We have 1 more group ahead of ours, Group 121 (LID April 14, 2006) and then it's our turn! We are Group 122, logged in on May 15, 2006. I really hope they finish all of March by October 2009 so we can stay on track.

I'm guestimating (guess + estimate) March-April 2010 we'll see our baby's face and then travel to pick her up in May or June 2010. I hope it's sooner but I'm still guarding my heart.

July Updates

Oh boy this has been a fun month. My cousin Chari and her 2 boys visited from Georgia. We spent the weekend in the keys with them and had a great time playing with the kids.

July 4th was nice and quiet at home and with friends. Just this past week we rented at the beach with friends and family and had 3 days of side splitting laughter and tons of fun. WOW! That's all I can say.

July 21st, we celebrated my parents 25th Anniversary. It was so nice to share so many years of love and dedication with our family and friends. I'll post pictures later. Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad! Chris and I also celebrated 8 years since we met. Yes, we met on my parent's anniversary! How cool is that?!

And now on to China news! Referrals came out on July 21st for 2 dates in March. Families with a LID date of March 21-22 will be seeing their babies' for the first time this week! I know this process has been slow but I have faith that once March 2006 has been completed we will see an increase in the number of days referred.

We have 54 days of LIDs ahead of ours. Our LID is 05/15/06. It all depends if China increases/decrease the number of LIDs per month. See the chart below to see how we determine when we will receive our referral.

- 2 days per month/27 more months
- 3 days per month/18 more months
- 4 days per month/13.5 more months
- 5 days per month/10.8 more months
- 6 days per month/9 more months <--- This is the most likely
- 7 days per month/7.7 more months
- 8 days per month/6.75 more months
- 9 days per month/6 more months
-10 days per month/5.4 more months

Just to give you an idea what is taking so long. China used to send out referrals for 30 days of LIDs. Once the program became so popular, China couldn't keep up with the demand for babies and domestic adoptions became very popular too. China decreased the number of referral days from 30 to 15 to 10 to 6 to 2. There have even been months that only 1 LID gets referrals. Those have been very frustrating.

We look forward to that day when we can post our baby's photo! Thank you for sharing our journey with us.

The Oxen and the Tiger

I was born the year of the Ox and if the baby was born after January 26, 2009, she will be an OX like her mommy! Daddy on the other hand is a Tiger. Sounds just like us!

You are a Ox
Born leaders who will work hard to achieve their aims. Dependable, good organisers and not easily influenced by others. Patient, loyal to their friends and expect loyalty in return. Tend to have lasting relationships.

You are a Tiger
Sensitive, emotional and adventurous. Confident, risk takers and dislike taking orders. Good at seeing problems, but less able to see the solutions. Often seek a shoulder to cry on when feeling down. Warm and generous to the people they love.

June 2009 Referral Update

We just found out that the next batch of referrals included families logged-in through March 20th. That was 6 more days off the calendar. That means May 15 - March 20 = 56 more days of families ahead of us. It's getting closer.

My mom swears she knows it's going to happen this year. I estimate another 7-9 months. Boy I hope I'm wrong and she's right. But that would mean China would have to do a minimum of 10 day referrals the entire rest of this year to receive our referral by December. That hasn't happened in the last 2 years so I'm not counting on it. But I can say that I think it will be sometime in February or March of next year. We'll keep couting down and praying that China speeds up so we can see our baby's face soon.

Heaven sent...

I was at the airport today attending a meeting for work and as I was leaving my boss and I decided to pop-in to the Brighton store. I have a cute Brighton bracelet my very dear friend Mayelin gave me so I thought let's see what else they have. I shopped around for a few minutes and although they had cute stuff nothing caught my eye. Then all of sudden as I was giving up, this necklace appears. Its a silver chain with a gold fortune cookie on it and it has a silver fortune sticking out of it that said "Lucky". I showed it to my boss, who knows my secret (at work it is) and she said "Oh that's cute you have to get it." As I rummage through the few that were left, I find another that says... are your ready for this..."Mom". I flipped! So I make my purchase all excited and leave the store. I take it out in the car one more time to look at my sign from above and notice that I hadn't gotten a different necklace at all, I just had missed the complete fortune. It says "Lucky" on one side and "Mom" on the other. "Lucky Mom" By now I'm in tears. Was this the sign from God that I've been waiting for every day when I say "God please give me just a little more patience"...I think He just answered me.

Where is she now or where will she be in China?

When we started this journey it always came to mind that although our daughter was not with us now, she was in existence somewhere out there. Since referrals slowed down, that notion seemed to fade away. Recently, since our 3 year LID anniversary (May 15th), those feelings have resurfaced and I have this internal excitement over our daughter, that I can't quite explain. Being that we may be just shy of a year to meeting her, she already exists, that just amazes and saddens me. She may already be born or close to it. If she's still growing inside her biological mother then she's experiencing the warmth yet confusion and stress of her mother's impending difficult decision to let her go.

It makes me sad to think that by the time our daughter meets us, she will have had two major losses in her life. She will lose the love of the mother who she grew inside of and her caretaker whom she'd grown to love. This will be a difficult transition for our daughter. We have educated ourselves on helping her to cope with these feelings that she may not be able to articulate until she's much older. Don't worry baby, we'll be here for you the rest of our lives, God willing.

--Although you didn't grow under my heart, you grew in it.

5 Year Wedding Anniversary and other news

I'm trying to stay current on this blog, but really it's not much fun without news from China. The good thing is this week referrals went out to families that were logged in March 14, 2006. Our Log-In Date (LID) is May 15, 2006. So we have 62 days of LIDs before us. The next group from my agency will hopefully get their referrals by June or July and then we're down to 1 more group ahead of us! Things are getting a little more exciting, although sometimes I feel like hurry up and wait.

I estimate it could be another 6-9 months depending on China. We have the crib and dresser now. I guess we'll be getting some more little things each month. We are still debating the name but hopefully we'll be ready to share it once we see our daughter's little face.

On other new... we just got back from a beautiful weekend getaway in Key West. It was ultra romantic and relaxing. We celebrated 5 years of marriage. I am truly blessed to have the most wonderful husband in the world.

Another year, another goal!

I've been in HR over 8 years. One of my career goals has always been to become a certified Professional of Human Resources. To do this I have to sit for an exam. After a few months of studying and tons of stress I have achieved this goal on Saturday. I am so ecstatic! Now we can move on to the even bigger things.

My agency thinks that 3 -4 groups may be traveling this year. If that happens, we should be in the 4th group! I really hope things speed up this year. On another note, we have to redo our homestudy and get our immigration paperwork approved again. Hopefully this long wait will soon be over. 32 months and counting!!!