Pumpkin Festival

Chinese holiday

This week started with National Day in China and comes to an end tomorrow with the Moon Festival. All city offices close for the week.

Photo caption:
An old couple walk through a red lantern gallery in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006. A total of 300,000 lanterns were hung up in a residential district to greet the National Day holiday. (Qiao Qiming/Xinhua News Agency/WpN)

LID Anniversary

Today marked the one-year anniversary since my log-in date (LID). I went out for Chinese food to celebrate and received a great fortune cookie. My fortune read " Something special is coming your way".

There are 48 days of referrals to get to my LID. If the CCAA can average 24 days per month for the next two months (or some combination that totals 48) then I will receive my referral in November. To get a December referral, the CCAA only needs to average 16 days per month. Things are finally starting to get interesting.

Twins for Kim & Scott

My local adoption friends, Kim and Scott, just received their referral for the most adorable twin girls, Jayden and Jenna!! They turn one next week and hopefully they'll be home for Thanksgiving. I'm so thrilled for them. Congratulations!!

Referrals are in...

Referrals have been posted. This batch covers July 23 through August 9, 18 days total. Not bad. I was hoping for this group to cover August 15 but this can still work. The CCAA would need to cover 24 days in the Oct and Nov referral groups for me to get a Nov referral. I think they can do it but a Dec referral is still definitely a possibility.

Pre-referral pick-me-up

My new toy. A pink nano. Just in case the next batch of referrals is as small or smaller than last month, I figure there is no time like the present to buy myself a referrals-have-to-speed-up-so-cheer-up gift. :D

Secret Pal Revealed...

My fabulous secret pal has revealed herself- Bobbi- soon to be mom of Madison Mei!! You have been a wonderful pal and I want to thank you for all the fun, thoughful gifts you've given Ava over the past 6 months. This month is no exception.

The demin dress is so sweet. I can't wait to see Ava wear it. The farm house sings a toon and has pull out animal pages in the front of the book. I'm sure she'll adore this. But, the best gift of all is the stunning silver/crystal bracelet with Ava's name on it. Did I mention that Bobbi made this bracelet- too cute. I've been looking around for a bracelet to bring to China for Ava and this will be perfect. I LOVE IT!!

Bobbi, with your 8/11 LID, I'm praying that you receive your referral next week. Can't wait to see photos of Madison. I'll be checking your site and following your journey. With Love, Michele and Ava

Introducing my nephew Jason

Weighing in at 7 lbs., 3 oz. and 21" long, Jason Salvatore was born at 12:30 p.m., August 30, 2006. He is just beautiful and so far, very quiet. I'm sure that will change soon enough. Underneath the cap, he has really dark hair. So sweet.

With big brother Alex.

Jason with his dad, Mark.
Proud grandparents, Janet and Sal (a.k.a. Mema & Papa).
Jason with Alex and very excited sister, Bianca. She is already totally in love with him and will be a wonderful big sister.

One step forward, two steps back

The next batch of referrals have started to arrive at some agencies. For the first time since I've been following the rumors (which is for over a year now), there were no rumors as to when this batch would be sent and what days they would go through. Still not completely sure on the latter but it's looking like July 14 through July 22-24. Not too good. Last month's referrals covered 15 days. This month's will only cover 9-11 days. If the CCAA could just complete the very simple task of updating their website in a timely manner, there would be no need to still be guessing on the closing date but...

I didn't think it was possible but the CCAA has just worsened what I considered to be my worst case scenerio- Dec referral with Feb travel. Now I'm thinking the worst case looks more like Feb referral with April travel.

On the upside, with the last batch of referrals arriving so late last month (July 31), in addition to the fact that the CCAA continued it's office move and gave their entire staff (half at a time) a full week off work, this referral group, such as it is, came in about two weeks earlier than what I was expecting.

Ava Bear from Stephe

Stephe sent Ava the most adorable surprise gift. A little bear with her name embroidered on the chest. Thank you Stephe for being so thoughtful!

Alex's Birthday

My nephew Alex turned 18 yesterday. It's hard to believe. I can remember so clearly the day he was born. We spent the entire day waiting for him then he finally came by c-section nearly 15 hours later. He was well worth the wait.

He was beautiful then and he is just as beautiful now! Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Secret Pal Gifts

My wonderful secret pal has sent more great gifts. Next month is the final gift exchange and I can't wait to find out who has been sending these great gifts.
The little blankie and stuffed baby lamb are so soft. I'm sure Ava will love them.
Little did my secret pal know but I've been buying other Little People Farm parts so the wishing well was the perfect addition.

Thank you Secret Pal!

Nothing new

The rumor boards have been pretty quiet this week. With the last referrals coming out on July 27, it's really too soon to be hearing anything reliable. This last batch covered LIDs June 29 through July13, 2005 - 15 days worth of LIDs. This is two more days than the previous month, which was four more than May, which was two more than April, which was two more than in March. Albeit slowly, the process does seem to be picking up speed.

Since this last batch came out a little later in the month than usual, I'm hoping that this month's referrals will come out closer to the 21st or 22nd of the month. If the referrals don't come out until Sept 1st or 2nd, then there will be essentially no August referrals this year.

Redecorating project complete

My living room/ dining room redecorating project is finished. I'm really pleased with how much better the couch looks with the new pillows- some that match the curtains and the ivory ones I found at Pier 1.

The picture frames have been left empty for now. The plan is to add black and white photos from my trip to China.
I recovered the dining room chairs to match the new valances. Still need to find a nice runner for the table. Big thanks goes out to Mom for all her help and also to Dad for putting together the framework for the valances.

Debi's Baby Shower

the highs and the lows

Early last week, the world was a happy place: the referral rumors were positive with the feeling that the CCAA could do all of July's LIDs and I was still 39. Life was good.

By last Thursday, rumors started flying that the cutoff will only go to July 13 (not good). By Friday, the CCAA's long awaited office move began, essentially closing the CCAA for an undisclosed period of time and delaying the next batch of referrals. As everything CCAA goes, there was no warning and it took days just to get a confirmation that this was indeed happening because, of course, an office move is top secret?? By Saturday, a number of international agencies told their clients that the wait is still anticipated to hit 18 to 24 months. And then there was Sunday, my 40th birthday and a fitting end to a crappy week.

Still not sure exactly when to expect this month's referrals. If everything was on schedule, they would come out by Monday. With the move, it's hard to say. It's rumored that they might not send referrals until the beginning of August which further mucks up my timeline. aauugghh!!

All American Baby

My August Secret Pal sent Ava this adorable red, white and blue outfit with matching hair clips. I love it! Sammy, the cat, also received a toy. Thank you secret pal!

Bowling fun

My nieces, Paige and Bianca, slept over last night and we went bowling today. I haven't been bowling in years- we had lots of fun.

Birthday gift

What a great way to start out my day. My friend Donna stopped by my office first thing this morning with a birthday present for me. How fun! Love the scrapbook and all the embellishments. Can't wait to have Ava home to start her scrapbook.
Donna also made me this beautiful handmade card. It's so pretty.
Thank you Donna for being such a great friend and a truly lovely person!

A few photos from the 4th

The girls busy drawing at Aunti Shells.

Another new Tote

I've added another fabric to Ava Totes.

Need 90 days of referrals!

With the last batch of referrals going through June 28, there are now 90 days of referrals left to get to my September 26 LID. Keeping in mind that the referrals have been coming out on the 21st to 25th of the month, here are the possibilities:

July referral = 90 days of referrals in one batch- will never happen.

August referral = 45 day average over two months, although the CCAA has referred more days worth of LIDs than this at one time while trying to catch up in 2003, this is highly unlikely.

September referral = 30 day average over three months, doable.

October referral = 22.5 day average over four months, most likely.

November referral = 18 day average over five months, I consider this my worst case scenerio.

It's official... June 28

The next batch of referrals are on their way. This group covered June 16 - 28, 13 days. More importantly, it looks like it includes nearly twice as many referrals as last month. Since up until this past week it looked like referrals would only go through June 23rd, this is a much better show than originally predicted.

So, where does this leave me? My best guess right now (I'm feeling pretty optimistic today) is that I will receive my referral in September or October with travel in November or December. As long as I'm back by December 24 (homestudy expires), I won't have to redo any paperwork.

Need to laugh

This bubble wrap site was posted on RQ today, thanks Liz. Make sure you have your volume turned on when you hit the "fresh sheet" button. Very fun and a good stress reliever. I'm thinking I need a new link heading named "Need to laugh" for when this process becomes too much to take. If you know of any fun, silly sites that would make a good addition, please add link to the comments below.

More rumors...

There are now four agencies that have told their clients that this next cutoff will go through LID June 28, 2005. Hopefully, the referrals will be sent by tomorrow and we'll see the CCAA site change. If it turns out to be correct, I view this 13 days of referrals as a huge improvement over the past 4-5 months and hopefully a sign of an increase in referral numbers. This would also keep the current wait at right around 12 months. I'm hoping that the CCAA's plan includes keeping the wait no longer than 12 months. And, yes, I do believe there is and always has been a plan.

Summer Fun

The theme for this month's secret pal exchange is summer fun and as you can see, my secret pal has this down. Wow, Ava is going to love all her sandbox toys. The cat bookmark is adorable- I need to print off a photo of Sammy to add to it. And, I love the notecards as well.

Thanks Secret Pal for all the fun summer gifts. We're all set for Ava's first summer home- 2007.

Potato sack baby

I've been following a blog of a family that is currently in China. They have 2 bio daughters, one 3-year old daughter from China and they are there to get their 4th daughter, she's 19-months.

They've been to China before so it looks like they took more time to really plan a vacation prior to receiving their daughter. As part of their trip, they went to the Great Wall but in an area that is not touristy. It's very steep and has a chain that you can hold onto while you're making the 3-mile uphill walk. The father carried the 3-year old up.

The next day they went to another province that required an uphill, 4-mile hike (one way) to get to this beautiful postcard setting. As someone who would have died trying to make either of these hikes, I was really impressed.

Then, about two days later, they get their daughter. After about a day or two the mom writes how sore her back and arms are from carrying the baby. Say it isn't so. If this way-too-fit-mother is feeling pain carrying her daughter, what chance do I have?

How many of you waiting families are carrying around your potato sack baby to prepare? I'm trying to decide whether this will help.

Lost in translation

As those of you who follow the Rumor Queen know, the rumors were all over the place this past week. One or two agencies told their families that they were told the CCAA would change their site on Saturday so many families have been stalking the site for the past 24 hours. Nothing.

One women posted on RQ that she went on the CCAA site at 4:30 am eastern time and the site design was different but when she went back to it, the site was back to what it normally looks like. Of course all the waiting families assumed that a "change" to the site would be an update of dossiers reviewed, possibly dossiers referred or maybe the elusive "new rules" for adopting from China. Maybe what they intended all along was a redesign of the site.

A new tote

Just added a new tote to my Ava Totes site.

Age by Chocolate

Sent by my aunt, to my dad, to me...

Don't tell me your age; you probably would tell a falsehood anyway-but the Hershey Man will know!

YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH
This is pretty neat. DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST! It takes less than a minute.

Work this out as you read ...Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1756 ....If you haven't, add 1755.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.You should have a three digit number


The first digit of this was your original number(I.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week.)The next two numbers are . . .

YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2006) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS