On The Way!

The word is that the referrals have left the building!

Our agency had a package go out to them yesterday from CCAA, so we expect to see referrals arriving in the states on Monday and/or Tuesday!

This will be the longest weekend of October LID's entire life.

Referrals need to go though November 5th (12 days) for us to get our picture of Mattie in April/May; November 1st (8 days) puts us on track for May/June...

They're Matching March...Maybe

We recently heard CCAA might be matching families for the March batch. But no one can say it is certain they are matching? That's new. I thought that maybe they were matching families last week - I don't think anyone expected to hear a 'might' this week.

Does anyone else think that every month it's more difficult to get a pebble of solid information? Or is it because we are closer, so it just feels that way? Looking back, I think there has been a definite decrease in outflow of information from CCAA.

All these mights and maybes! And there are 2 large groups logged in on Oct 27 & 31, 2005! When all of you guys were getting logged in, our dossier (paperwork) was on it's way to China!

The 27th is a shoe-in and I'm praying for all of you 10-31 LID's to get your pictures!

It won't be much longer Oct. LIDs!!!

My Best Estimation

The CCAA needs to cover 24 more calendar days to get to us and they covered less LID's/calendar days last month (Here) than they had in the last 5 months.

As I had posted in February (Here), CCAA would need to cover at least 12 calendar days for me to feel 'secure' that we will be in the April/May batch. Backing up: Last month CCAA was 35 calendar days away from the day our paperwork was logged in, in China (LID -Nov. 17, 2005). That actually divided out to 11.66666666666 calendar days needing to be covered, each month, for us to get our picture at the end of April, beginning of May. Hence why I said 12 days in earlier posts.

They covered 11 calendar days last time (though Oct. 24, 2005), but if they cover at least 12 days this month (Oct. 24-Nov. 5th) and next month (Nov. 6th -Nov. 17th), it's within the realm of possibility that we could get our picture in the April batch.

I am hoping for the best (April/May!) but will share w/ you what I am expecting. Since the CCAA covered less calendar days last month, I expect we will not get our picture of Mattie until the May/June or June/July batch. OK, it's only a couple of months - and at the same time it feels like that is SOOO much longer.

We should be hearing something about referrals soon...there are several families who are 'due'!

573,000

I recently read an article from a well informed and trusted source re: China's adoption program.

The article was 2 pages and very informative, but what I wake up every morning with is the number 573,00 in my head; the article said that this is the estimated number of orphans in China.

It causes me to pause several times a day...

Be Careful! Slippery!

Isn't this sign hilarious?? The first 2 characters mean "careful", the 3rd "slip" and the 4th "fall".

The left sign literally translates: God Love World People. So, we might translate this sign as 'God Loves Worldly People'

In Chinese the subject comes before the person, time, place and action. In English the Subject usually IS the person. Therefore, this translates God loves the people of the world.

Learning a new language can change your life a bit...
I used to scribble I love Alan doodles...now I scribble Chinese Character doodles.
I used to sing in the shower...now I practice Chinese.
My singing and my Chinese lessons both sound better in there... :o)

Practice Makes Perfect?

Chinese is not easy to learn - OK I'll say it - it's HARD.
Try to speak Chinese!
Click here, then "start".
Sometimes I hold my head in my hands and say ahhherrreeeugg! Many words I practice for about an hour before I say it correctly, and then I can say one word!
The Chinese characters on this sign are: God, Love, World, People = God loves the people of the world.

I'll talk more about this sign in another post.

I'm Learning To Speak Chinese!

China has 2 official languages Mandarin and Cantonese. Mandarin is the countries official language and I'm learning Mandarin.

My long time friend Sharon has taught me quite a bit of Mandarin during our 'wait'.

She is an excellent teacher, and my very good friend.

A few weeks ago I started taking classes with other students at a school.

My Chinese teacher is Lan...

Lan has even stayed after class to help me! I am SO blessed!

I also have a tutor, her name is Yi (pronounced 'ee') that I meet at the Library every week. Alan took our picture...

She has taught me many things and one of them is 1 little 2 little 3 little Indians; I'm not very good at it (neither singing or pronouncing the words to the song). I don't know if people were staring at us in the Library, we were having too much fun singing and laughing! Yi has quickly become my peng2 you3 (friend).

The ABC's Of Hope

We're so grateful for friends that share their wisdom and care for us during this process. Recently, our friend Dean talked about a common myth and here's what he said...

Quoting Albert Ellis' ABCs:
Antecedent (means circumstances or situation)
Belief
Consequences

He said "...a common myth believed is that our A's determine our C's". So the common myth is: Our circumstances determine our consequences.
This is how Alan and I believe the ABC's apply to us:
Our family, friends, the US and China say our circumstances are good for a baby girl to become part of our family, and there are LOTS of babies in China without a family. CONSEQUENTLY, one would think that this should have happened quickly and been a great experience. There are days it feels like the opposite of those things. There are days we say things like 'none of this makes sense...'

What that brings us to is the B. Our Belief.

Putting aside the A=C myth does not keep us from being eager for Mattie; God made us to have feelings and desires! However, we Beleive the Lord has a plan and purpose that reaches far beyond anything we can comprehend, and at the same time He cares about us and wants the best for us. These two go together, and one is not separate from the other.

We long for this child that God intends to be part of our family. We don't need to see her to know she is amazing, and perfect for us.

We will wait as long as it takes, while we Rest in the Arms of our Almighty.

February Referrals Arrived

They mailed referrals Friday! The cut off is October 24th ,2005.

In an earlier post I mentioned for us to stay securely in the April/May batch, the CCAA would need to cover LID's through October 25th.

Here are the facts as we know them today:

• If you add the number of calendar days CCAA covered the past 6 mo. (see chart above) and divide by 6, the average of calendar days just INCREASED because 7 mo ago (8-24-06) CCAA only covered 9 LID's!
• If you do the same as above using the #'s for the last 12 mo. there was a slight deacrease in the average.
• Based off the last year AND the last 6 mo., November 17th LIDers are 2 batches (months) away!
• The CCAA has no pattern and can ruin all math averages we use to figure out our referral date with this next batch.
• CCAA only needs to cover 24 calendar days to get to us...OH MY GOSH!!! WE ARE SOOOOOO CLOSE!!!!!
• There are 100's of families all over the world seeing their precious baby's face for the first time, today. Now that is a cause for a huge celebration!!!! Whahooooo!

A Feburary Rumor Surfaced in March

The rumor is October 27th didn't make this batch. This is not official and should not be taken to heart...but that's easy for me to say because we know we're not next.
I can't help but put myself into the shoes of those who are an October 27th LID. They have good reasons to believe they will be in this batch. The 13-27th only covers 14 calendar days; less than the average CCAA sent the last 6mo. All the October LID's are doing one of 2 things: they can't sleep or eat or they only want to sleep and eat. Or any combination of the two.
The uncertainty for those with October 27th LID's must be agony...
Us November LID's are on pin's and needles...
It's almost 7am Monday morning in China. Hopefully they walk in the door and put the referrals in the mail.

What Will Meeting Mattie Be Like?

On some levels we have no idea what meeting Mattie will be like, but someone made a documentary that lends us an example of those first moments together. Nina, from one of my yahoo groups, shared this with everyone... youtube Video
When you see a family in this video with an older Chinese child, and they are receiving a baby; this is an indicator of this being their 2nd adoption from China.

Provinces Mattie Could Be From

I often get asked, "where in China will Mattie come from?"

We will not find out exactly, until we get her picture....but we did get some hints from our agency! She will likely come from one of the following provinces:

Anhui , Henan, Qinghai, Beijing, Hubei, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Hunan, Shanghai, Fujian, Inner, Mongolia Shanxi, Gansu, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Jilin, Yunnan, Guizhou, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hainan

Click here for China map. Hopefully I spelled all the provinces correctly!

And by the way - where are those February referrals??? I still haven't heard a word about them being on their way...