The Inside Scoop

When I called our agency over the last year, usually they would say something about October, 05 being a weird month.

I think all of us forgot about the 'weird' while flying though the Oct. 05 LID's ,compared to the rest of the year. Sure, we heard snippets about confusion in Oct. for the last 17 months, but it seemed we were home free.

Here's a quote from someone with a Nov. 1 LID. To back this person up on her frustration, we were logged in, in 19 days. Quote: "I, along with a lot of people.... mailed our paperwork (dossier) to China 9/21/05 and were LID 11/1/05. My agency had people who sent their paperwork after me, but have earlier LIDs."

Our agency along with many large agency's, was affected by this 'weird'. But I will spare you all the specifics and just say, it has been given as an approximate that 300-400 people were being logged in per day at the end of Oct. b/c of some type of confusion at the CCAA. Which is why Sept. and Oct 2005 moved so quickly (hardly anyone logged in) and why only 2 days were sent last time...a bunch of people were logged in all at once.

'Weird!'

The question is, did they fix the problem in 2 days, or will we continue to endure this 'clog' until they refer everyone LID though Nov. 1, 2005. Your guess is as good as mine.
We should have a better idea when the next batch of referrals arrive.

And It Feels Like...

I attended an Easter service this weekend; You may have read John 15 before (click here to read John 15) and the most familiar is vs. 5 'I am the vine and you are the branches'.
I was relating most of what the speaker was saying to our adoption; he brought a tree with him, and illustrated with a hand held cutter, how a gardener cuts back the branches, so they will produce fruit; the illustration is, the gardener is the Lord and we are are branches.

I wondered, what am I supposed to be learning during all this, and what is being pruned and why. At this point in my walk with the Lord, I am used to the trimmings the Lord does in my life and while they are painful at times, I'm grateful for those trims.

After a few minutes I started thinking "Lord, to be honest, this has felt like more than just a trim here or there, is there something else I should know?" Right about that time the speaker whipped out a chain saw and fired it up. He cut all the branches off that tree and reduced it to a nub. He said 'sometimes the pruning feels a lot more like this'.

On Friday last week, when I was hearing all the rumors of 2 days....that's when I heard that chain saw fire up. And then on Monday...I felt reduced to a nub.

Reflecting: I recognized the sound of the chain saw, just like I do the garden cutters! None of this is uncharted territory, it's just a different season of pruning in my life...

During the pruning, I never understand what's going on, and all I feel is the pain. After time passes, I look back and think I would never want to go back and be "who I was" before the pruning.

So one day at a time, I put all my efforts toward remaining in the vine because apart from Him, I can do nothing...and my prayer is at the end of all this I will be a little closer to becoming that gigantic Oak tree that I have always hoped to be...
Is. 61:3b ...They will be called the Oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Never Could Have Imagined

I never thought I would say that the CCAA only covered 2 calendar days for the March/April batch, but never the less...CCAA has referred families who were logged in (LID) through October 26th, 2005.
There are 22 calendar days to cover between Oct. 26th and Nov. 17th (11-17-05 is our LID). To see last months chart, click HERE
Having a little reality check this afternoon, along with 15 phone messages on our work Voice Mail that still need returned because I have literally done nothing this morning but try to find evidence that " The CCAA only sent 2 days" is wrong.

I've wasted an entire morning and need to get back to the real world but will post again and update scenerios on our blog soon...

Sorry I am not the bearer of better news today...

They're Here!

The Stork landed in North America! A family with an Oct. 26, 2005 LID just got a call!

We may not find out how many days they covered until Monday, because it is almost dinner time right now and we're heading into the weekend.

There's alot of talk they may not have covered much territory this time. If they did cover a lot, yea!! But everyone should brace themselves for the final talley, as it's not sounding good at all...

As always the focus here is: families all over the world will soon see their precious baby's face for the first time and that is ALWAYS exciting!!!!

Pre-Placement Packet!

I just received an email from our agency that says I can download our 'Pre-Placement Packet' after 7pm tonight, Mountain Time!! I LOVE the name of that Packet!

So, I'm guessing the Pre-Placement packet is about: 'you are close, and here are some things you need to know'.

Every packet I get from them is like a 3 day read - so I'll let you know when I know what it is.

There is still a lot of talk about referrals being on the way, and about the false alarm, but no one has spotted the Stork yet. We should spot it any moment though! After all, it IS April 4th!!

False Alarm

So it's Tuesday and not a word on those referrals!

Sometimes China sends out packets to agencies, about the time referrals are supposed to be mailed, and we get fooled. Not a word on what the package actually was, but we can conclude that it probably wasn't the referrals at this point.

Sorry for the false alarm. I'll let you know when I actually have something firm...There's a lot of smoke right now but no fire...

Waiting

We should hear something today about March referrals...check back soon