June

well it's june 2010 and the weeks are going by so slowly now. the last batch came out june7th and i can barely wait for the next. that should be around july 6th-ish. We are praying that this will be a good month with a good number of referrals, however, the rumors are that in the past they have always ended on the last day of the month. that would mean that they would only get to april 31 or may 1st. that's another 4-5 days of referrals, but a really small batch and most of the beginning of may is empty due to a holiday in 2006. so it's any ones guess how far they will get. Please pray with us that our baby is safe and loved, healthy and strong. we are praying that we get our referral on or before October 2010. It is so hard to get our hopes up again, we have been disappointed so many times in the past, but we believe that the Lord will provide continued patience and strength. we are so close, we are so close now!

Predictions

here are the most current predictions for referrals. here is how the chart works, the dates on the left are the months the referrals come out, june referrals got to april 26 and so we start with july. the columns across the top are kind of the size of the referrals, in 2006, there were 2 sizes. Good was probably 150-250 referrals or more. each year it has been going down in size, the spring 2010 is pretty much the smallest and it would include about 40-50 referrals each month (or about 4-5 days).

So to use this chart, you find the column across the top that you think is the size the next batch will be. i believe it is spring 2010 or smaller. Our lid is may 19th, and so using this chart we should get our referral by October2010! I think these predictions are a bit enthusiastic so it would probably be more like November 2010.

Any way, each month they come out and each month they change. we shall see what july brings, my predictions will be May 1.

june referrals--April 26

it's early june and we are waiting for this month's batch. it is rumored that they will get to april 26th. a little disappointing. we hoped they would get to the 27th or further. so they did 5 days. not sure now if they are doing 5 days consistantly or 40-50 referrals each month. it seems to have gone down to the mid 40's instead of the mid 50's just a few months ago.

we are praying that we will travel by Christmas. that would be wonderful to have our baby by then.

happy anniversary

tomorrow is our 17 year anniversary. we are looking forward to celebrating that, can't believe it's been that long. it feels like last week that we got married. it's been a wonderful 17 years! love ya babe.

4 years

well, this month is our 4 year anniversary, i can't believe we have been waiting that long. we just redid our paperwork and home study again, our fourth time! we got our fingerprints done this week. I think that is 5 times for the fingerprinting, they have even moved their offices to a larger facility since our last visit. this was our last time for doing our i600, if we don't travel by the time this expires we will have to go through the i800 process, which is longer and harder that what we have been through already. i pray we travel before next year.

currently they are up to April 17, 2006. they have been doing about 5-6 days a month, thank god! and they have been pretty consistent with the delivery of them. the predictions for this month are April 21 or 24th. we all pray 24th or more. the next referrals are due any day now.

we still are praying that oct or sooner to hear something. that would be so wonderful.

china in drought and sandstorms

China has warned Beijing residents to avoid going outside as a sandstorm sweeping down from the Gobi desert blankets the area in fine yellow powder.

Many young people are leaving their villages to find work in industrial areas for manual work. 50 million people are struggling to cope. Water is carted in by trucks every few days for drinking water. Crops have failed for almost 1 year. some areas have received 90% less rain fall for this time of year and no rainfall is expected for another 10 days.

still waiting

it's been about 6 months since my last entry and it feels like we are no closer to our baby. our life continues and we continue to wait. the referrals have slowed to a crawl, never thought it could get any slower, but it has. they are referring about 2-3 days at a time, and actually not even consistantly, they skipped several months last year. To date they are at April 5th 2006. the next few months should really tell us what to expect for our referral timing. It took them 1 full year to go through march 06 LIDs. there actually was a pattern to it, they did about 100 referrals or about 3-5 days at a time. the question now is, will they do 100 a month or just 3 days a month. It could be this fall or it could be next year 2011.
Time will tell....

Referral Days

1/22/09 - LID's 3/1 to 3/2/06 --2 days
2/09 - there were no referrals due to swine flu
3/2/09 - LID's 3/3 to 3/6/06 --4 days
4/3/09 - LID's 3/7 and 3/8/06 --2 days
5/21/09 - LID's 3/9 to 3/14/06 --6 days
6/22/09 - LID's 3/15 to3/20/06 --6 days
7/21/09 - LID's 3/21 and 3/22/06 --2 days
8/21/09 - LID's 3/23 and 3/24/06 --2 days

When we started this process they were referring 30 days of LIDs each month. Now the average is 3 days worth each month. It has taken them 8 months to refer 24 days of LIDs.

Shanxi birth defects

http://www.shanghai daily.com/ sp/article/ 2009/200907/ 20090713/ article_407257. htm
Shanxi has top birth-defect
Author:Li Xinran
THE northern Shanxi Province has the highest rate of birth defects of mainland provinces, state television said.Many infants born in the province had defects, such as cleft lips, spina bifida, fluid on the brain and heart deformities, which could be linked to environmental pollution or local residents' poor diet and vitamin intake, China Central Television reported over the weekend.

China's average rates of birth defects and neural tube defects were 99.62 per 10,000 and 23.96 per 10,000 respectively, but in Shanxi in 1997 the rates were 189.96 per 10,000 and 102.27 per 10,000.Shanxi Province contains about one-third of China's known coal deposits, has many coal-fired power stations and has much chemical and metal production.Agriculture in Shanxi is limited by its arid climate and lack of water so local residents mainly live on wheat, maize and potatoes, which are not rich in vitamins.

The report showed a 100-day infant with a cleft upper lip who cried because she couldn't breast-feed and instead had to be fed budget formula.A nine-month toddler was reported to have a lump under her scalp from fluid on the brain. The toddler's mother had never been to school as she suffered spina bifida - incomplete closure of the spinal column.In another village, a three-year-old boy's heart was growing on the wrong side. He also had a pigeon chest and malnutrition. In a hospital in Shanxi's Zuoquan County, ultrasound tests showed four of the 23 pregnant women registered between April and June were carrying babies with defects.But after more than a decade of efforts, Shanxi's rate of birth defects had dropped to 112.30 per 10,000 in 2008 while the neural tube defects rate was only 19.82 per 10,000, and the figures are still declining, according to the report. Peking University professor Pan Xiaochuan said there were no confirmed links between coal mine pollution and birth defects, but the health department is increasing its research in the field.Local authorities have shut down more than 10,000 small coal mines since 2005 and planned to close thousands more by next year.