STORK ALERT!!!!!

I really think this is it. SEVERAL agencies say referrals are on the way and the cutoff is March 14th. Hopefully we will see them soon!!! Due to a work committment, I could not be online most of the day. Jon and my parents did a fabulous job of watching out for info!!

I told my clients what was going on so they did not all think I had completely lost my mind. At one point during the day, I went to the restroom and forgot to bring my phone. It started ringing and one of my clients ran the phone into the restroom. It was only a work call but BLESS HER!!!

I saw my friend Leigh today and she gave me a lovely gift with a beautiful handmade card. She made the card two years ago - crazy. I was impressed that she still knew where it was.

I am hoping that by tomorrow morning there are reports of referrals arriving in Europe and we will get our calls tomorrow or Friday AT THE LATEST!!!!

Still haven't decided on a name.

And The Roller Coaster Goes Up!!!

There are some agencies (three I think) that say referrals are ON THEIR WAY!!! And are you sitting down? The rumor is that the cutoff is March 14th. Holy Moly that is us. These are rumors and nothing is confirmed but it's better than last week's rumor of nothing until September. Should know more tomorrow. Typically we start hearing chatter of referrals arriving in Europe before they start arriving in the US. Of course, I am scheduled to be at a client's site teaching a class all day tomorrow. Jon and my Mom and Dad are on Rumor watch. Stay tuned.

UGH!!!

More agencies are saying that things are definitely on hold due to the Swine Flu. Not a real shock since it's May 12th and referrals haven't arrived and there is no word that they are on their way. Several people's travel plans have been put on hold since some provinces are not allowing agencies to schedule the necessary "in China" appointments. This could all (hopefully) change tomorrow but that is where we are today. The Swine Flu stinks!!!

Good News

Some folks that received their referrals last month have received travel approval!!!!! If all goes well, those people can begin to make travel plans. Maybe that stork didn't get the swine flu after all? It looks like in light of the swine flu, there will be additional paperwork which must be done in order to travel. If there is one thing adoptive parents can handle, it's paperwork so bring it on.

There is also some unofficial chatter (rumor) that referrals will be sent later this month. No word on when or how many days they will cover. Funny thing is I'm not even agonizing any more on whether we will be included in the next group or not. As long as things keep moving I'm good. Of course, you may have to remind me that I said that next week. But for now, I'm just happy to not have a complete shutdown.

Not Much Of An Update

I was waiting for some concrete information before posting an update, unfortunately that hasn't happened. Our agency is saying that families are being encouraged not to travel but the rest of the process is proceeding as usual. Other agencies are saying that things are on hold. While it is a positive sign that our agency says referrals will not be held, I will feel better when all agencies are saying the same thing. Or better yet, when referrals arrive. It's not so much the thought of waiting longer that is getting to me, it is the not knowing that is making me crazy.

Also, I want to say that I have the BEST family and friends!!! To everyone that called, emailed, left comments and dropped by the house to give me a hug, THANK YOU!!! We've had lots of delays through this process and for whatever reason, the news last week hit me hard. Having your support means the world to me and Jon.

Clear As Mud

I'm going to try to get through this post without cursing.

Still nothing definite on the Swine Flu impact. China did post an offical announcement but it is difficult to decipher Looks like those folks that already have a referral and travel approval might be able to travel at the discretion of their agency. Anyone with a referral but doesn't yet have travel approval might have to wait who knows how long. It is still unclear what impact this will have on referrals. Oh, and it's now a holiday in China so we won't know anything more until next week. My heart goes out to those that have a referral but can't travel. Having that picture and not being able to travel would be the last bit of torture I could stand.

Some think maybe China is leaving it open to see the state of things when they return from their holiday weekend. Now if we could just get our media to shut the hell up maybe things will seem better next week and we can just freaking get on with this!!!!!

Swine Flu

Just when we thought nothing else could get in the way of our adoption. There are reports that China has halted adoptions due to concerns of the swine flu. I don't have any concrete information regarding what this means and how long things may be halted. Even if we are "next", it seems we won't hear anything in the next couple of weeks like we thought.

I know there are logical reasons for this and yes, I know that things will work out. Logic isn't working today. In the last three years, I have "looked on the bright side" more times than I can count. Not today. Maybe tomorrow but not today.

UPDATE: 9:00 PM Central time. Some agencies are now saying this rumor isn't true. Some are insisting it is true. Who knows? It's been an emotional day and I'm tired. Maybe we will know something tomorrow. I want off the roller coaster.

Matching Has Begun?

Some agencies are reporting that matching has begun. That means they have started the process of matching babies with families. There is a chance that right now, someone is looking through our paperwork and matching us with our child. For a more detailed explanation of how the "matching room" works, you can go here.

There are a couple of agencies thinking that the matching could get as far as 3/14/06. THAT WOULD BE US. I am not sure if they have some information from CCAA that has them thinking that or if it's just a guess. Either way, it's crazy exciting.
By the end of next week, we will hopefully know if we are in or not and could even have a picture!!! My personal feeling is there is about a 50% chance that we will be included in the early May group.

Luckily I was busy at an out of town conference last week so I was able to stay somewhat distracted from obsessing over whether we are in or not. I was also able to spend some time with a good friend that Jon and I have known for years. He wrote the nicest reference letter for us when we started this crazy process. When I told him goodbye at the airport, I said "Next time you see me, I could be a Mom!!"

Are We Next????

The "official" cutoff for the last group of referrals was 3/8/06. I say "official" cutoff because it looks like some families from 3/9/06 got referrals, yet some people from 3/7/06 were skipped. Just when this could not get any more excruciating!! My heart goes out to the 3/7/06 people that were skipped and I really hope they find out something soon!!

So, that means they need to get through our friends with an LID of 3/9/06 - 3/13/06 AND THEN IT IS OUR TURN!!! 3/11 and 3/12 were weekends (yes, I know the 2006 calendar better than the 2009 calendar) and it appears 3/9 and 3/13 are fairly light days.

Anyway, all of this means that we could be next or the group after that!!! I think the next group of referrals will arrive in about two weeks, around May 1. That is just crazy with a capital C. Right now, someone in China could be taking our dossier down off the shelf and blowing the dust and cobwebs off. (This is the part where I don't allow my mind to think about all of the things that could have happened to that dossier in the last three years.)

So for now, we just keep waiting, wondering and praying that LuLu is safe. Well, that and trying to accomplish all the things that we procrastinated on for the three years.

When our referral arrives at our Agency, they will call us with the basic information and will email us a picture. They will have everything translated and will overnight the complete information. We will have more paperwork to do and our Agency will work to get our travel dates set. Typically, travel happens approximately 6 weeks after the referral. So, we will likely be in China sometime this summer.

We still haven't decided on a name so it's still LuLu. (And according to my sister, it will always be LuLu.) We have a short list of names but I don't think we will know for sure until we see her and see her Chinese name.

So stay tuned, it's getting exciting!!

P.S. A great big shout out to Nancy. We have gotten your last couple of notes and Jon and I REALLY appreaciate them. Your excitement means so much to us.

Come On Referrals!!!

It's Monday morning in China and there are rumors that the next group of referrals could show up this week. I CAN NOT WAIT to see how far they get and I am so excited for my fellow March 2006 LIDers that are NEXT!!!! I am prepared to only see referrals for March 7, 2006 families since apparently that was a big day for dossiers to be accepted in China. Any thing more will be fantastic. After this group of referrals, I'll have a new prediction of our referral date!!!

Oh, over the weekend I had a dream that they made it to March 14, 2006 with referrals which is us and I was running around like a complete lunatic. I am pretty sure that one part of that dream will come true.

8 more LID's To Go!!

Here's the latest. Referrals have arrived for anyone with an LID up to March 6, 2006. That's only 8 LIDs and we will be included. Referrals have been arriving around the first of the month so if that keeps up, the next group will be April 1. My best guess is that there is one or two more groups to go before they get to us. (There are some crazy good rumors out there that suggests it could be sooner but I'm not counting on it.) Since everything slowed down the day we started our paperwork (or so it seems) I'm sure things will speed up once we get our referral!!!

There has been a flurry of activity around here trying to attack that To Do list that we dusted off in January. Mom and Dad came out for a week in January and helped us get LuLu's room ready. Mom sewed her fingers to the bone and Dad painted his heart out. Jon and I both are very appreciative for all the help!!! Mostly for helping us get off our you know what and start. Can't really goof off when the parental units are here to help, can ya?

Mom sewed bumper pads, blanket, valance and a pilllow. Here a picture of Mom agonizing over getting perfect corners on the blanket. She is so talented. I love the blanket and love it even more because Mom made it.

All the furniture that we are using in LuLu's room are things that we already had. Amazing what a coat of paint can do. This was my Grandfather's. We painted it and gave it a distressed finish. Where the memo board is, there used to be a mirror. I made the memo board with a burst of craftiness that doesn't come around very often.

I still need to get new hardware for it but it's coming right along. I love the mirror on the top left. When I was little, I can remember going into my Grandfather's room and trying to see myself in that mirror. I could tell if I had gotten any taller by how far I had to jump to see myself.

Anyone Out There???

Yeah, it's been almost two years since a post. Surely that's a record and I will win some type of fabulous prize. I didn't plan on it being two years but a week turned into a month, a month turned into a few months, etc. Plus, it looked like we would be waiting FOREVER so I had to step away and try and get on with life. When the name of your blog is "Jon And Karen Go To China" and you aren't going to China, stepping away includes the blog.


Not only did I not update this blog, I really stopped reading a lot of my favorite adoption blogs. Nothing personal to any of you out there but that's just how I deal with stuff sometimes. I think the fancy term is denial. Anyway, I've been making the rounds and oh my goodness!!!! What beautiful families! Can't wait to catch up with all of you.


So why am I back now? There are only 14 LIDs ahead of us!!!!!!! The next batch (hopefully in the next week or so) will start with March 1 2006 families. We are March 14 2006. If they continue referrals at the same pace as the last year, I think we will receive a referral around April. We'll see.


Although we've kept busy over the last couple of years, we haven't done much to get ready - again, stepping away doesn't include shopping for baby stuff and painting a nursery. We have A LOT to do!!!! So, in addition to dusting off the blog, I've dusted off the To Do list and we are going to attack it. Starting now.

February Happens

Where have I been? What happened to me? February, that’s what happened. If February was a movie, it would be Steel Magnolias. A crazy combination of gut-wrenching sorrow and side-splitting laughter. During the first week of February, we lost Jon’s best friend due to very tragic circumstances. I had no idea how to write about it when it happened and honestly I still don’t have the words. I can only say that I hope he has now found the peace that he was not able to find while he was alive. We miss you, Jason.

Not long after that, I spent my girl-friend weekend with BFF Andree’ in Vegas. What a blast!!! We had not even checked into the hotel yet when Andree’ made me laugh so hard that I snorted loud enough for the guy in line behind us to comment. And the laughter did not stop until we said our goodbyes at the airport.

And since we apparently didn’t have enough going on, Jon and I started suddenly looking at houses while out for a Sunday drive, called our realtor friend, found a house we liked, made an offer, had our offer accepted and then put our current house on the market. We close on the new house on March 21st. No, we haven’t sold our current house yet but there has been lots of interest so we have our fingers crossed. Besides, one thing that can probably speed up the rate of referrals is two mortgage payments. I know we are all tired of speed up rumors, but I am telling you this could work.

Light My Fire

It seems that getting out of the review room has been just what I needed to re-light that extinguished fire under my you know what. I told myself months ago that until CCAA got to December 05 referrals, I was not going to get too excited. Rubbish. I've got some bottled up excitement and getting out of the review room has let it out. I know the next couple of months for referrals may not cover as much ground as this last one and we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Also for the first time in months I got up the nerve to input our LID of 3/14 into one of the referral calculators out there (can't find the link at the moment.) It isn't an exact science but does calculate predictions on past data. It gave us a date of 11/22/07!!!! I am not putting a whole lot of stock in that date but I would be lying if I said I didn't like what it said. (If you had told me a year ago that November 07 was a best case scenario, I would have wanted to smacked you.)

When I told Jon about the 11/22/07 prediction his response was "Well babe, I guess the rabbit finally died". Yes I know it is just a figure of speech. But dang it, in the last few years I have pee'ed on enough sticks and obsessed over enough adoption message boards and blogs to consider sacrificing a rabbit if it came to that.

Progress, Sweet Progress

Congratulations to all the families receiving referrals today!!!!Looks like referrals covered up to October 13, 2005. Our magic date is March 14, 2006 so that puts almost exactly 5 months worth of dossiers in front of us. No, that doesn't mean we are 5 months away from a referral - I am still hoping for a very special Christmas present. However, for some reason this group of referrals has given me hope. It seems possible for the first time in months.

I was already feeling good about things and then a few minutes ago saw this on the CCAA website:

The CCAA has
finished the review of
the adoption
application documents
registered with our
office before March
22, 2006.

We are finally out of the review room people!!!! Whoo Hoo!!! This is big!!! This means all of our dossier t's were crossed and i's were dotted just the right way. Maybe all of that obsessing over the paperwork was worth it after all. I really wanted to get out of that review room but I didn't realize how relieved I would feel seeing the official update.

The next big stop for our little dossier is the matching room. I imagine the matching room is quite backed up at the moment so maybe our dossier is hanging out in the hallway outsite the matching room. Maybe they have added a waiting room for the matching room... either way, being out of review is GOOD.

Best Ebay Find EVAH

WHOO HOO!!!I just bought this shirt off ebay!!! After a VERY stressful day at work, I decided to check out ebay to see what I couldn't live without. And there it was....the cutest Baby Lulu shirt. I had to have it. I waited until just before bidding ended and put in an insanely maximum bid. If you thought you had this shirt and was outbid at the last moment, I'm sorry but I have no shame. But I had to have it. Now I have a million things left to do tonight because I spent an hour hitting refresh on this item.

Big Fun On The Horizon

Ok after a string on less than jovial posts about waiting for a referral and the Holidays, there is some big fun on the horizon!!! I spoke with my BFF Andree' yesterday and it seems we both have a bad case of cabin fever that needs to be cured ASAP. Andree' has been pounded with winter weather for the last month and her kids have had waaaaaay too many snow days. I have a different strain of cabin fever. My case is due to the fact that our dossier is STILL not out of the review room in China. Yes, our dossier has been in China since last March but we still have not cleared the review from the officials in China. Hopefully there will be an update soon. I can just picture our poor little dossier sitting on the shelf in the review room singing Boat Drinks by Jimmy Buffet
"This mornin, I shot six holes in my freezer
I think I got cabin fever
Somebody sound the alarm"

OK, back to the big fun. Andree' has a weekend pass from her many obligations and I am going to take a couple of days off from work and we are headed to Las Vegas for a long weekend next month. (Note to self: Remember to officially request vacation days...C.B. if you are reading this, consider this my offical request.) We are going to hang out, go to the spa, see a show and laugh. Few people in this world can make me laugh the way Andree' can.

Holiday Recap

Jon and I tossed around several ideas regarding what to do during the holiday season. We thought about disappearing somewhere about mid-December and resurfacing in January like nothing happened. But I could not resist the call of the nieces and nephew. As much as I want to be a parent, I do LOVE being Aunt Karen.

I cherish the relationship that I have with my nieces and nephews. If I already had children, it would be different. I know we would still be close but it would be different. When you don’t have kids of your own I think you have the upper hand in being the “fun” Aunt and Uncle. You don’t have to play that hand, but it’s there. I’m certain my sister’s kids think every day at our house is like this. Despite the fact that the disco ball is still hanging in the living room, every day at our house isn’t like that.

So we headed about 600 miles to the east and spent some time with my family. I had a blast being Aunt Karen to Olivia, Jackson and Ivy. Anyday now they are going to be too old to think I am cool so I better enjoy it now. Trust me, Ivy is 5 going on 15 so it really could be any day now. I did have a brief crying spell during Christmas Eve service and again on Christmas morning but not too bad considering early December I wanted to go to sleep and wake up in January. Last Christmas I spent so much time thinking about what this Christmas would look like. It didn't look like that and when I was quiet and still, it got to me. Luckily there wasn't much quiet and still with all the fun going on.

I don't know where she is or when we will meet her, but "LuLu" is already so loved. She was mentioned on some Christmas cards that we received. While helping Ivy clean her room, I accidentally found the blanket that my sister and her kids started making for "LuLu" last summer. My parents had a present for "LuLu" under their tree. My Dad corrected me regarding my previous post. He point blank reminded me that it doesn't stop at three. He's absolutely right - there are Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Friends, Dogs and Birds waiting right along with us. For that, we are grateful.

Because Someday There Will Be Three Of Us...

Overdue Holiday Meltdown **UPDATED**

So apparently I really don't post enough since I just had trouble logging in - seems I forgot my new password.

Lots happening lately just haven't been motivated to capture any of it here. Maybe I've been busy, lazy or maybe coming here forces me to think about THE WAIT and that interferes with my current state of denial. I've been staying off some of the blogs that I read regularly and the discussion boards. Don't take it personal if I haven't commented or visited your blog lately - it's not you...again, it interferes with my current state of denial.

I've actually been handling the holidays great. Had fun putting up the tree, hung THREE stockings on the fireplace without a single tear. In spite of everything, I've probably been more in the Christmas spirit this year than the last two years. And then I checked in on my LID discussion group and everyone was talking about this new Christmas song titled "Merry Christmas". Apparently I am the last one in the China adoption community to hear of this song. It is recorded by the Christian group Third Day. One of the band members is (or maybe already has) adopting from China. I have to admit that I had never heard of this group. Well my interest was peeked so I downloaded the song. And that was it. Here's the first verse:

There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn
Crying for mama's arms
At an orphanage just outside a little China town
Where the forgotten are

But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine

I can't even share the rest because I need to go take out my contacts and blow my nose for the zillionth time. If you haven't heard it, consider yourself warned. Search online for it - you'll find it. It does have a happy ending - the same one that many of us are waiting and hoping for.

**UPDATE - It was a "good cry". I cleaned myself up and went over to amazon to see about ordering the CD. I read a review which included the following:
Which brings us to the final song. "Merry Christmas" is yet another in a long line of potentially depressing Christmas songs. Band member Brad Avery's real life wait to adopt a girl from China inspires it. While the final verse does have a happy resolution, I find the first two verses very sad. I will be skipping this track most of the time. Still, this one track is not enough to ruin the CD overall.

My somewhat selfish sadness turned to anger. This guy is going to skip the track so it doesn't ruin his Christmas!!!! To each his own I guess. But to me, this says that the forgotten are forgotten again. I don't think so. Luckily Amazon allows comments to their reviews and I wasn't the first to leave a comment. I probably could have been more eloquent had I taken time to think about it but that's not how I operate. I left the following:

I just want to make sure I understand this. You find a Christmas song about a baby born under imperfect conditions "depressing." I am glad to see that I am not the only one that understands the ridiculous hypocrisy of your comment. I will sleep better tonight knowing that a song about a baby born under imperfect conditions doesn't ruin a Christmas CD. Go back to your Jingle Bells.