Drat!

Although I am not thrilled about pushing this referral back a month, I am excited about October. I love the month of October. i love the weather! I love Halloween! I love that we start ramping up for the holidays. I love the weather here. I also notoriously nest in October. I already have a plan to keep me occupied on the weekends. Hubby isn't quite on board. He'll come around and see it my way....he always does. He is such a great guy! Here's to a fantastic October!

We heard that.....

we did not make the cut-off for this batch of referrals. However, we also heard that the cut-off was 15 Feb. That means we are two days away from our referral. Even the worst batch ever was 2 days! We are so *in* for the next batch.
When will they arrive? Who knows. I did a little bit of arithmatic. I would "guess" that the soonest we could begin to see our referral would be Friday, October 24th and the the latest could be Thursday, November 6th. I love the month of October...I may learn to love it more with the anticipation of seeing my daughter's face in October!
next, Next, NExt, NEXt, NEXT!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow, tomorrow

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow......

We find out tomorrow one of two things:

Our daughter's face, birthdate, and birthplace

OR

That we have to wait until next month to find out our daughter's face, birthdate, and birthplace

So exciting

---

What's new Pussycat?

I must first make my disclaimers:
1. What I am about to share with you can not be shared with anyone else. It is a secret between the two of us...shhhh....my agency may get upset. Okay? So keep this a secret!
2. Over Analyzer Alert!

Now, for the news. My agency sent me an email on Friday. They told me that there are two, yes TWO, packages en route to the grand ole USA from China. Now my agency says that they receive packages all the time from China, however, there is a possibility that referrals may be in one of those TWO packages. Here is where the over analyzer alert must be inserted!
I know several key points here:
1. TA's have not arrived for the previous travel group (I am pretty sure about that). So one package may contain TA's ( I hope for my 2/6 friends).
2. We are the next referral group for our agency.
3. There are TWO packages, which ups our chances of one of those packages being referrals!

Therefore, if referrals are in one of those two packages, we are 100% in for this month! So we wait for Monday 1:00......(our agency said they will call us, regardless)

Is it Monday yet????

Remember, it is our secret!

I would love to.....

tell you that I received an email from my agency saying hello to the Feb 17th families and how my nameless agency has just confirmed from their Beijing office that matching has most certainly started. However, my nameless agency is not currently aware of the cut-off date, nor when referrals will be sent. But if I were to tell you all of that I would have to kill you, seeing how our nameless agency has requested that we not divulge confidential information. So, I didn't receive that email.....sorry to arouse you!

First Rumor is NOT good

Before I talk about the rumors, I must first address the terrible formula poisoning. I have read blurbs about the tainted formula. I cannot wrap my head around it. To spend too much time dwelling on it will make me crazy, simply because I cannot do a thing to change/help it. I know it has affected thousands of children in China. I am sure that our daughters and sons have ingested the toxins. I am sickened and outraged about these events. I am so angry I could scream, but that is not constructive. My heart goes out to all the children, to the ayi's, to the parents, and to the adoptive parents. Stay strong.
Now for the first, bad rumor. It appears that China will put out a small batch of referrals, one day. They want to get "a handle" on the tainted formula crisis, as well they should. I wish everyone good health......

OMG!

The RQ website is down.....how will I make it through the day?????
UPDATE: I found the "old" RQ website. It is a blog. Click here if you are in search of rumors about the referral cut-off!

On Baby Watch

Many, many years ago when I was pregnant with the old one and the young one, I remember what the last two weeks was like. Everyone was on baby watch. Everyone was extra attentive. If I called someone, an immediate return phone call was made "to check to make sure I wasn't in labor."

Now the there is a definite difference between pregnancy and international adoption, aside from the obvious physical. When I was preggers, everyone knew my due date. With this international adoption thing, I feel like I have been making guesses about my due date and people just don't "get it."

I have three friends, who have been down this road before (you both know who you are-L,-R,-T). These women are on my baby watch. I feel a bit like EF Hutton, I call and they listen. Each one of them will call me back right away hoping that I have the "news" for them. You guys are cracking me up. I like calling them, just to see how quickly they respond, a bit The Boy Who Cried Wolf-ish. Seriously Ladies, thanks for being my baby watch, thanks for being there, and thanks for your unrelenting support during this arduous wait. It has meant so much to me! BTW, I'll call you later today..........

The latest redeux

Our lovely Spanish RQ has made contact with her mole, and she expects to hear something by the end of this week regarding the cut-off.
I keep telling myself that I am surprising not as excited as I thought I would be, however, my body language says something very different. I have for several years had bouts with insomnia. Twice over the last few days I have awoken in the wee early morning hours (and I get up at 4:20, so you know it is early) to have difficulty returning to sleep. I have injured fingers from hitting the refresh button every minute! I have been on the computer more than usual. All of these things lead up to perhaps I am more excited than I once believed.....

The Latest

Well, we are, as we have been for the last 3 years, in a holding pattern. I have to say, however, that this holding pattern feels very different from the holding pattern that previous 30 something months had brought. I will not be disappointed with referrals next month, even if I am NOT included. Wow! I can say that with such confidence and truth. If it will not happen in October, then November it is!!! (I don't know why I added December in the poll.)
I have read other blogs over the last few years. At one time, when I was full of excitement about being in logged in, I had nearly 20 blogs that I followed. Joe asked me this morning how I could read and follow other people's lives. I suppose it is because we have a bond and a mutual understanding with others waiting, and we revel in their referrals and excitement. Is it living vicariously through others? I suppose. In any event, thank you to all who have shared your thoughts, your lives, your depression, your elation, and more with me.
One more thing, in order to cope with the long and trying wait, I stopped counting months since LID and forgot about anniversaries (on the 17th of the month). So thanks to the people who did keep track: I think we are at 31 now and nearing the end!! Wha Hoo!!!

Poll Results

First, I must fess up that I logged on a new computer to check my very scientific poll, and I had to vote to view the results. I voted October (because I am hopeful). So the results, minus my October vote, at the time of this post are:
October-7 votes
November-8 votes
December-2 votes
So as you extrapolate from the raw data (trying to sound RQ here), it seems likely that November is the month, however, October is a distinct possibility. And who the hell put December???? Just kidding thanks for taking the time to vote.
So what I conclude is that I am not sure for either month......what??? As R says over and over, "the closer you get, you still don't know!!!"
I would expect to see referrals arrive September 30 or October 1. That is my prediction for "when."

Poll Time

What do ya'll think? When will that precious referral with that gorgeous face arrive? Remember that my LID is 2/17/06 and the CCAA has completed referrals through 2/9/06.

My Sunday......

Sunday I spent the day organizing and purging. I went into Flora's room, and although it appeared ready to the untrained eye, there were 6 rubbermaid boxes and a closet full of children's clothes that had to be "taken care of." I went through nearly all of the remaining clothes of the girls. I cleared 7, yes SEVEN trash bags full of kids clothes. Mostly sizes 5, 6, 6X, and 7. I gave them all to my friend. Who then passes them onto her friends, and so on. Flora's drawers are full and two boxes remain in the closet. One with two diaper bags, just to keep them dust free. And the other box is filled with the items we are taking to China. It feels so good to have "nested" a bit.
E and C also finished a project for Flora. Several years ago they purchased stuff to make a blanket for her. Well they started and completed it this weekend. It seems as the excitement is creeping back into our lives. The girls are getting more excited as J and I are too. See, R., I am not so pessimistic and glum. I think the emotionality of this wait has bothered me more than anything else ever, in terms of emotion. I guess it will be all that sweeter when she is finally here!

One is all you get!

So I log on to RQ this afternoon. Wow we are so close....I was amazed. There I am little ole me right under the horrid case. Well then she writes, if this next batch is decent sized, then I will conduct another poll. What? What? I only got to participate in ONE poll? Are you kidding me? Wow! Okay, I guess I'll take my referral and move on.

Holy Crap!

I can't believe that I woke up this morning to a rumor that said the 9th of February is the cut-off!!! I am shocked! Amazed! Unbelievable! I had the two sided thing going on. On one hand, I wanted to believe that the CCAA would make it to the 16th of February! That would give us one month to get organized....and we would know that we were definitely in for October. On the other hand, I was wondering if we would even get referrals for September. I thought the CCAA would throw us the bone of February 1st-5th (ala dates forward with no referrals). I can't believe that this might be true. The only thing that "worries" me is several agencies on Friday reported that matching had not even begun yet.....Here are my guesses for a referral month: there is an outside chance for October, a very strong chance for November, and an even more of an outside chance for December. I laugh because I have been guessing all along, and so far, I have been wrong every time. Now that we are closer, I have to be right at some point!! So all this waiting and we are almost there......again Holy Crap!