the wait

i was recently thinking about how our lives have changed OR have not changed in the last 4 years since we started waiting. what were YOU doing differently in 2006? it seems like this waiting has become a part of our lives and is somehow hard to believe it will not be there in a few more months. all the paperwork, the slow downs, the Olympics, the slow downs, H1N1, rumors, theories, more paperwork, skipped months, quotas, fingerprinting, and counting down the days to our log in date of May 19th. waiting is hard to do and our wait has been long but it made us stronger and made us focus on what is important.

we still live in the same house and have the same cars. i've had two jobs but now i no longer work outside the home. p has changed departments 2-3 times and has moved from building 1 to building 2 to building 3 and is now back to building 1 again. we have done a ton of traveling and we even went to the west coast, a place i swore i would never go. We have had several close friends and family die. We went to vietnam and met the most amazing little boy ever. We have a beautiful son!

the wait is almost over. a new chapter will finally begin.

August referrals--May 15th

this month they got to May 15th! that's 5 more days! there were rumors that they could maybe get to the 16th. that day is really huge (so many agencies sent in dossiers that week and got logged in) and we were is shock that it was a possibility/rumor, unfortunately they didn't get that far.

For Sept we toggle back and forth as to "will this be our month"? they will probably only get to may 17th but man, just a little bigger of a month and they could get to the 19th. We are counting the days to Oct referrals. we believe that is our month!

we haven't done much in getting ready yet. we do have so much to do, it is a little overwhelming. sometimes it just doesn't seem real that it's around the corner. We are so close yet we have been so close for 4 years it's hard to wrap your brain around it this time. it took them an entire year to get through March 2006 and this year they may just get through 2 months. i still remember the days when they did 30 days of referrals EVERY month, now they do 2-5 days a month.

i'm pretty sure that both our baby registries have expired. i stopped pushing the "due date" back on them a couple of years ago. i kept getting notices that the items i picked were no longer available or there was a recall on them. i will have to go do that soon, it's just so hard since i don't know how old she will be yet. i will let you know when i get that done, that's another thing that will make it feel "real". We are slowly getting the house ready, moving furniture around and all that goes with that.

Pray that there are no delays for the next few months. all our paperwork is just fine, and that we will hear some good news in October!
kare

Day Dreaming

this is a poem a may lid'er wrote at the beginning of the wait. little did she/we know that it would take 4 years for her to get "the call".

Day Dreaming
i stepped into her room today
knowing she's not there
this waiting for referral
is more that one can bear

but taking in the moment
i sit down on the floor
and dream of her here with me
when waiting is no more.

a little giggle fills the air
as i rub her feet
i place my hand upon her heart
to feel its every beat.

a song is sung so very soft
her eyes begin to close
she's meeting me in dream land
a place where love still grows.

my vision now is very blurred
the tears stream down my cheeks
i've dreamed of her quite often
through these pas few weeks.

suddenly a sound is heard
the phone rings in the hall
waking up i quickly pray
please let it be "the call".

July referrals--may 10

China actually did 14 days! Only about 5 of them were actual LIDs. they got to may 10th! it came a little later than we thought. they did not arrive until around july 16th, the china office was on a trip during the beginning of the month and matching started late. rumors were flying the entire second week of july.

we are only 9 days away from a referral. what does that mean? at a rate of 4-5 days a month we should get a referral in october! the next few days are really large days, so we predict that they will get to around may 15th for aug, and may 17th for sept and to around may 24th in october. we are praying that this will happen and we will hear very early in the month so we don't have to sit and wait in agony longer than necessary.

i just did a cyber baby shower with another woman in nova scotia. her name is shauna and is a single mom with a lid of may 22. we will probably travel together. the theme was "year of the tiger", since that is what the sign our children will be born under.

there were a few families that has an early may lid and did not get a referral this month. the first week was a holiday in china during 2006 and they were told their lid was may 1-6. this was a mistake and they didn't get a referral and are hoping to get one next month. very scary, makes you doubt if your lid is correct.

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.