Baby carrier has arrived...

Here we are already heading into mid-October and I'm SO hoping that referrals come out before the end of the month and that ours is in the batch! I'm getting so excited! We may only have a few short weeks left until we see our daughter. I keep asking myself if this is really happening after all this time...someone pinch me!

Last week we got our Baby Hawk baby carrier in the mail. We picked out a dark espresso brown for the trim with this fun fabric on the front. Joe is modeling it with our new baby, little Miss. Idaho. She's 10 lbs and tastes delicious with a little butter and sour cream...

Here's what the back looks like...

Joe says it's pretty comfortable for him and distributes the weight pretty evenly. I'm a bad judge of baby carriers because I have a bad back and have daily trouble with low back pain. I'm going to have to pump myself full of meds and suck it up on the China trip because I want to carry Lauren as much as she'll let me while in China.

***Attention Target Shoppers***

If you like ladybug things for the nursery, I just picked up this adorable changing pad cover today. It's very soft and oh so cute! It seems to be a brand made for Target since there is a whole line of items that match. It's called tiddliwinks and was $12.99.

Projections are out...

Wow, our LID (2/17) finally made it to the top line of the Rumor Queen projection chart!!

For family and friends not familiar with her projections, referrals for the last year have fallen on her "Horrid Case" date, her "Spring 2008 Small" date or something in between. We can't be 100% sure we are in for the next batch, but I'm feeling pretty darn good about it. I would say I'm feeling about 95% sure. Over the past year, referrals have only fallen below the "Spring 2008 Small" projected date twice. I think I'll take those odds! ;)

Ok, now it's poll time to see which province you think Lauren will be from. Here's a map of the provinces...

and here's a graphic from the FCC website on most referrals by province...

and now it's time to vote...

Online Surveys & Market Research

We are...

I was SOOOO excited on Monday morning to see that referrals got through 2/15! Yes, this means that we are finally next! We should see Lauren's sweet face by mid-November at the latest, but probably earlier.

I feel like I have lots of things to do now that we KNOW it won't be long. There are still things we wanted to get done before our referral. Gosh, where has the past three years gone? Life on hold...yup. I need to kick it into high gear now!

By the way, check out my sidebar countdown calendar...doesn't it look great with all those days marked off?

The cookie knows...

I was at Costco on Friday night and they had these chocolate covered fortune cookies packaged up so cute in this red box...

This morning I opened up the box, reached down in there and pulled out a cookie. Check out what my fortune says...


Now if it could only tell me if the seeds will blossom in October or November!!! I'm thinking it will be November, but we'll know for sure in a few days.

Special gift for myself...

I got my order from Lisa Leonard Designs today and as soon as I opened the boxes the tears started flowing (I told you I've been emotional lately). I LOVE the necklaces I ordered!

I've been wanting to order a personalized piece of jewelry to start wearing when we get our referral. I found Lisa's website and love her hand-stamped, sterling silver jewelry...


I fell in love with this personalized family tree necklace with a freshwater pearl charm (double click to enlarge)...


and I also couldn't help but order this silver necklace with gold flower, also personalized...


I can't wait until I can start wearing these...I'll be so proud to finally be Lauren's momma!

On another note, thank you for all your kind words on my post from Wednesday. I think you all have talked me off the edge and now I'm looking forward to next week when we should know how far they get with referrals. We will finally see our daughter's face either next week or in another five weeks. It doesn't even seem real that we are actually this close.

Crazy!

This graphic sums up how I've been feeling lately.

Between the stress at my office right now, not knowing if we'll see our daughters face in a couple of weeks or a couple of months and the China baby formula problem, I'm just about ready to tear my hair out! I've been stressed and SOOO emotional this week.

Just in case you're out of the loop on the baby formula situation, let me give you the Reader's Digest version of what's going on...some people decided it would be a great idea to water down milk with a dangerous chemical called melamine...yes, the stuff that's in plastic. This allows them to stretch out their supply of milk and causes a false high protein level when the milk goes through inspection. This milk has been used to make baby formula and distributed throughout China (yes, including orphanages) to feed babies. The melamine causes kidney stones and kidney failure, among other things. What kind of sickos would put babies in danger like this. I can only imagine what the parents in China are going through right now...not even knowing for sure what is safe to feed their babies. The thought of our daughter being feed a dangerous chemical for an unknown amount of time makes me sick to think about.

So far, the early rumors on referrals aren't good. Supposedly the CCAA may be checking into what type of formula the orphanages have been using, which may effect the number of referrals they kick out. At this point, we don't know what will happen. We don't know if they will continue to refer babies from orphanages using the tainted formula or not. Certainly if they don't that will more than likely decrease the number of referrals since the number of available children would drop.

I always thought the end of this journey right before referral would be happy and exciting...looking forward to seeing our daughter for the first time. Instead I'm feeling anxiety, stress and sadness.

I don't want to be a downer, but I'm having trouble seeing the light at the end of the tunnel right now.

31st LIDversary and new floors...

Today marks our 31st month of waiting. Yes, it's now been over 2.5 years, which is hard to believe. It honestly doesn't feel like it's been that long, but at the same time it's been a long wait. It's funny how that works.

Today I pulled up Rumor Queen and my heart skipped a beat when I saw our log-in-date in her post! It seems so strange after all this time to have her actually talking about our date. Here's what she had to say...

There is an agency out there that thinks their 2/17 families have a chance of being in the next batch, but the way it is worded does not sound like they think it’s a sure thing, just a possibility.

I'm SO trying not to get my hopes up for an October referral, but it's VERY hard not to. I know it's a long shot, but there is a remote possibility. At least we know that we'll more than likely be in for November if not October.

We are finally getting the house back in shape since getting our floors done over the weekend. From the tile and grout removal, everything in the house is covered in a fine layer of dust. It's almost like soot and can't just be dusted off, so we've been cleaning everything top to bottom.

The floors look beautiful and I love them. They even make our kitchen cabinets look nicer. I'm so glad to be rid of the ugly white tile and dirty carpet. Now Lauren will have a nice clean surface to walk and play on. Here's some pictures..

Yearbook yourself...

Well, I've been spending some time with the laptop this weekend while they are working on the floors and I saw that Shannon yearbooked herself. I couldn't help but give it a try too. Here's how I would have looked in my yearbook back then...

1956

1964

1966

1968

1996

1998

This and that....

I got an e-mail today from Artbeads.com, by favorite on-line bead store. They have some beautiful new stonewear beads and some of them have ladybugs on them...


Just thought I'd mention this for my bloggy friends who like to bead and make jewelry. Don't you think one of these ladybug beads would make a great necklace? Hmmm...I just may have to order one.

Well, it's home improvement central at our house this weekend. Joe and I are replacing our ugly (put in by the original owners) white tile and worn out carpeting with wood laminate flooring. We hired someone to remove our old flooring and do the installation, but we both have the day off tomorrow to clean and paint the baseboards as the installer removes them. It will be a long and dirty weekend at our place, but come Monday we'll have beautiful new floors. Here's a few before photos...

Bad furbaby...

Well, there were 141 votes on my poll on when we'll get our referral and 71% think it will be November. I can definitely live with that. We may actually be about 60 days away from seeing our sweet girl's face!

Today we had an appointment with our social worker (SW) to update our home study certification for the last time before we travel. Our furbaby, Lucy, decided she would be a little stinker while the SW was here. Joe and I took the SW down the hall to see the nursery and we stood in there and chatted for a few minutes. When we came back through the kitchen to the table, Lucy was just polishing off the SW's last bite of coffee cake and standing up on Joe's chair to get the rest of his!

Oh my God, I was SOOOO embarrassed! Thank goodness she has a good sense of humor. She said she'd leave that part out of our update. Gee, she probably thinks that Lauren will have to compete with Lucy for food! ;)

Hopefully, we'll have an update memo from the SW within a week and it will be on the way to the court to be certified. It's really nice to have this step over with! Once we get our certification back, I'm going to request our free extension of the I-171H. It doesn't expire until March, but I want to be on the safe side.

What do you think?

Online Surveys & Market Research

Oh my gosh!

September referrals are out already and the CCAA got through February 9th! This is SO much better than we expected for the first batch after the Olympics and earlier than expected too!

The CCAA was closed during the first week of February 2006. Because of the closure, this batch is actually four days worth of LID's although it's a LOT of movement on the calendar (as you can see on my sidebar countdown calendar).

There are now ONLY six LID days to go. So, when will we get our referral? There is a remote possibility of next month, but that would mean they would have to do a six day batch right on top of this four day batch. I don't think that's very likely. I think it's much more likely that we may be in for November or December at the latest. Finally, I feel I can say that we will DEFINITELY have our referral by the end of the year! What an awesome way to start the new year!!

I have a feeling that the next few months will be the craziest part of this roller coaster ride so far. I feel like I finally need to kick things into high gear and work on some things like: our packing list, finishing our agency required educational points, finishing up some reading I've been meaning to do, taking that baby CPR class. The list goes on...where have the past 30 months gone? HA!

Time to fess up...

to having 142 hangers in Lauren's closet. Yup, there are actually this many hangers with adorable little outfits hanging from them. Two-piece outfits even share one hanger, so I can't even say that the stuff is spread out a little.

Now, keep in mind this does span from size 6-9 month to 2T. I say this to make myself feel better. ;)

Oh well, that's what happens when a shopper is forced to wait years for their baby. Anyone else willing to admit how many hangers they have? It may be more than you think!

Venture a guess?

So, can you guess what this number has in common with Lauren's nursery?

30th LIDversary!

Today marks 2.5 years of waiting and 3 years since we mailed in our adoption application. Who would have known we'd be waiting this long and make it this far. Our hearts are in China, so we always knew we were in it for the long haul...and long it has been!

Although we still probably have at least 4 more months of waiting to go, I decided to mark this LIDversary with a video of the past several years. We have met some incredible people during this time and have made some life-long friends. It's been a roller coaster ride, but we have always stayed buckled in tight and made the most of this long wait as you can see...

FINALLY...

after six months, the CCAA is DONE with January 2006!! Next month, we will see the first batch of referrals for waiting families with February LIDs.

I just updated the countdown calendar on my sidebar and as you can see there are only 17 calendar days until our LID. The word is that the CCAA office was closed for Chinese New Year from January 30 to February 3, so that means there are only 10 more LID days until our date! I just got a chill just typing that and I have a big goofy smile on my face!

Based on the fact that it took six months to get through Janaury, I'm thinking we'll have our referral in November or December. I have a feeling we'll be getting our best EVER Christmas present this year. My hopes are high that we'll have our referral by Christmas.

On another note, congratulations to my friends Melissa and Kathy who both got their referral calls today! They are both in my DTC group and I've had the pleasure of hanging out with both of them on trips over the past couple of years. I'm SOOO excited to see their time finally come!

USCIS info...

Thank you all for your encouraging comments and e-mails after my last post and little meltdown. I got an e-mail today from a fellow waiting momma with the following info from the USCIS site:

Hague Adoption Convention - Update on Implementation (December 18, 2007)

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is pleased to provide this update concerning the implementation of the Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (“Hague Adoption Convention”), signed at The Hague in May 1993.

On November 16, 2007, the President signed the instrument of ratification for the Hague Adoption Convention. The Department of State deposited the instrument of ratification on December 12, 2007, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. On December 18, 2007, the Department of State published in the Federal Register at 72 FR 71730 a written notice that the Convention will enter into force for the United States on April 1, 2008.

On that same date, the interim rule that USCIS published in the Federal Register on October 4, 2007, at 72 FR 56832 will become operational. This means that for all cases filed on or after April 1, 2008, any U.S. citizen seeking to adopt and bring to the United States a child habitually resident in any country that has ratified the Hague Adoption Convention must follow the Hague process, as specified in the USCIS interim rule. Under United States law, prospective adoptive parents who filed Form I-600A or Form I-600 prior to the effective date may continue to process their adoptions under the current orphan regulations, provided that the laws of the country of the child's origin allows for continuation under the current orphan regulations. It is important to note that some countries may require processing under the rules of the Hague Convention no matter when the case was initiated. In such cases, the adoption will have to be processed under the Hague procedures despite when the adoption process was initiated.

As of December 18, 2007, 75 countries have become parties to the Hague Adoption Convention, including the United States. The Hague Adoption Convention is designed to protect children and their families against the risks of unregulated adoptions abroad and ensures that intercountry adoptions are made in the best interests of children. The Hague Adoption Convention also serves to prevent the abduction of, sale of, or traffic in children. The new process protects the rights of children, birth parents, and adoptive parents while promoting transparency, accountability, and ethical practices among adoption service providers.

Cindy, thanks again for this info. I never did see this and it makes me feel a LOT better.

While I was at the office this morning, I stopped to take a little breather. It always makes me feel better when I take a minute to look around my work area and see all the little reminders of the adoption I have in there.

My friend and China travel buddy, Stephe, gave me this a long while back when she was my secret pal. I love it and look at it many times during the day...


This little plush lady, keeps me company at my computer...




This shot is dark, but these plaques have the Chinese characters for "love" and "hope"...


This little lady hangs from my in-box...




Not that I need a reminder of the adoption (I only think about it every minute), but it does feel good to be surrounded by all these things.

Not a good day...

Even though I knew that this week would be hell at the office, today started out nice enough with belated birthday flowers and a card delivered by a friend. Thanks Janet, I love flowers...they always make my day!

One of our team members is out on maternity leave (of all things) and the new fiscal year is in full swing. I work for a local government Engineering office and once the fiscal year budget takes affect on July 1st, all the departments are chomping at the bit to get their construction projects started. The workload stress has been wrecking havoc on my fibromyalgia and I've been one giant ball of muscle pain for the last month or so.

So, I get home today after a LONG day and the first thing I read is the rumor about this month's batch possibly being only two days. OH MY GOD...they have been working on January 2006 for five whole months now!! I think they are going for a world's record here!! Are we EVER going to see February 2006?

Then I find this blog post through a Yahoo group. Ok, now I'm feeling sick with a major pain in the pit of my stomach. I haven't heard anything about this from my agency, but I do have this from another agency...

Joint Council Update

Program International Relations Initiative
Date July 18, 2008
Regarding Renewal of I-600A for Hague Adoptions

In collaboration with Debbie Reynolds, Executive Director of Adoptive
Family Services and Co-Chair of the Joint Council China Caucus, Joint
Council continues to advocate for a positive resolution to the issue
of expiring I-600A approvals (for Hague adoptions).

As has been discussed on our Members Listserv, Joint Council has
confirmed with USCIS that due to regulatory requirements, prospective
adoptive families (PAPs) with an approved I-600A for an adoption in a
Hague country may file for a one-time renewal (extension). PAPs may
only request and receive a renewal (extension) one-time.

If the approval associated with the renewal expires, a PAP applying
for an adoption in a Hague country will then be required to file an I-800A
and proceed through the Hague IA process. The impact of this
requirement is very significant especially regarding China adoptions.
There will be additional filing fees, a new home study (meeting the
new USCIS Hague guidelines) and the impact on the PAPs standing with the
partner country (for example the CCAA) has yet to be determined. Some
have suggested that PAPs may be required to submit a new dossier to
the partner country with unknown impact on their registration/filing date.

As part of our ongoing advocacy Joint Council has been in contact with
USCIS, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption (CCAI) and
Congressional offices. The requirements and limitations on the one-time extension of
the I-600A approval are regulatory and are not open to interpretation
by USCIS. As a result any 'fix' of this significant issue will require
changes to the regulations or the law itself.

Joint Council is advocating for a quick legislative and/or regulatory
fix with a goal of resolving this issue before Congress is out of
session this fall. Our goal is to allow those PAPs who filed an I-600A
application prior to April 1, 2008 to be permitted unlimited renewals
of their I-600A approval. Recognizing the significant impact the current
regulation may have on PAPs and children in need we remain fully
engaged on the issue and will keep you informed of our efforts and outcomes.

Sincerely,
Tom

TOM DIFILIPO President & CEO Joint Council

So, the first five paragraphs are basically making me freak out, then the last paragraph basically says the Joint Council is working on a "fix" so that we can continue to renew under the current system.

Does anyone have any further information on this issue? Sorry for being a total downer...I'm having a major meltdown tonight and I see no light at the end of the tunnel at this point.

Fun b-day gifts...

The birthday fairies were very good to me this year. Check out this Brighton China charm and charm bracelet from my sweet hubby. I love them...


Aren't these fortune cookie shaped bath fizzies adorable? They smell great too...thanks Jennifer!


Check out this fuzzy ladybug. She stands up and she's also a soft and fluffy pillow.



I also love my Coach passport holder...thanks Kim!


And last, but not least, a gift that only a cook could love...a new chef's knife. I can't wait to use it. Christine works at Sur La Table part-time and knows how to spot a good knife. Thank you! Ford, I hope you're not too jealous! ;)


On another note, I'm working on a "waiting" video that covers the time period since we applied to adopt until now...basically the last almost 3 years. I'm going to post it when referrals FINALLY get to February, which means we're on the home stretch!

The burning questions of the week:

Will we see a referral batch before the Olympics start on August 8th?

If we do see a batch, will they finally get into February?

If we don't see a batch until after the Olympics, will we loose an entire month of time or will it be a giant batch?

The waiting is killing me this month because there is a slight chance we may actually see them get into February! Finally, our month is coming and it feels great.

On another note, I wanted to show off the goodies I got in the mail from my bloggy friend Carol. Check out these super cute bibs. I especially like "I'm worth the wait"! Believe it or not after all my shopping, and you all know I can shop, I don't have anything with this on it yet.


She also sent these adorable onesies...I love them!


Carol, thanks again for all these goodies. I can't wait to see Lauren in them!