Surprise!

What a great surprise! The CCAA sent out another batch of referrals this month!!!

The cut-off is Feb. 28th and February is now out of our way! March is "on deck". :)

What's this mean for us? There's only 13 days in front of us. If the CCAA continues to refer 5 days per month, we're looking at March for our referral. That's right...March 2009....just three months away. Fingers crossed there will be AT LEAST 5 days in the next batch!

Check out "Our Countdown With Harrah's"....we're next!

6 Days

Referrals started arriving yesterday and this month's cut-off is Feb. 23rd. That means 6 days were referred. We're just excited it was more than two days.

What's this mean for us? There are now 19 days in front of us. If the CCAA continues to refer 6 days per month, we're looking at April 2009 for our referral.

What happened to the speed up that was suppose to happen after the Olympics???

Finally.....

The cut-off was finally announced....Feb. 17th. Only two days. Why it took so long to match only two days? I have no idea, but it is what it is.

What's this mean for us? There are 25 days in front of us. If the CCAA continues to refer only 2 days per month, we're looking at December 2009 for our referral. I need to keep reminding myself this probably will not happen because it's too painful to think about. Better luck next month.

Finally, but confused....

Referrals started arriving this week (FINALLY!), but no one is clear on the cut-off date. It is either Feb. 17th (only 2 days) or Feb. 19th (only 4 days). My fingers are crossed for the 19th, but I'm expecting it to be the 17th. I'll update when we know more.

Feb. 16th

It appears some family with LID's of 2/16/08 received their referral yesterday! This is out of the blue and it's not clear what this means yet. Hopefully all of 2/16/08 [surprisingly] received their referrals and that's another day out of our way. :)

PLEASE SIGN!

Please sign this position! There's been some changes in adoption laws and it negatively impacts us. Please, please, please. (The link is self-explanatory.)
http://www.gopetition.com/online/22112.html

6 days....inching closer

Referrals started arriving today, and even though the cut-off date hasn't been made official, it looks like Feb. 15th will be it. 6 days...not great, but we'll definitely take it.

What does this mean for us? There are 27 days ahead of us. If the CCAA continues to refer 6 days per month, we're looking at March 2009 for our referral.

P.S. September 12th marked our 3-year anniversary of mailing our application to our adoption agency. I look good for 36-months pregnant!

It's official....

Feb. 9th is the cut-off! (Funny how your perspective changes....I'm excited over 9 days of referrals.) Here's what all this means for us: There are 33 dates ahead of ours. If the CCAA continues to refer 9 days per month, we're looking at January 2009 for our referral. Looks like we've hit the stage where we need to start talking about child care arrangements.

Fingers Crossed

The rumors have started and they're stating Feb. 9th as the cut-off. Boy I hope this is true! That will mean only 33 days in front of us. That also means IF the CCAA continues to refer 9 days a month, we're looking at January 2009 for our referral! I have to calm down; I can't be this excited at the rumor stage...

Surprise, Surprise

The CCAA did something today that has not happened since we started this journey....we received a good surprise. The cut-off for this month is Jan. 31st. Yes, it's only 6 days, but we were prepared for only 2 days. Also, "on deck" next is February. Slowly but very surely, they're making their way to March 14th. (OMG....can this really be happening???)

Once again, what does this mean for us? There are currently 42 days ahead of us. If the CCAA continues to refer 6 days per month, we'll receive our referral in March 2009.

I've posted this video before, but the song has become one of my favorites and I wanted to share it again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY_FpV05n-c

Maybe 2 days?

The rumors have started on www.chinaadopttalk.com and two words for you....they're ugly! (I could have used a variety of two-word combinations instead.) I'll post more when I know more. Ugh!!! There's so many times I wonder how we're surviving this.

Onto other things....enjoy this sweet video and story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLYxtuC0oRk&feature=related

Just because....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jSisMP2_F4

Jan. 25th

Looks like the cut-off will be Jan. 25th this month. It's not official, so I'm not going to update the information on the right until it is, but it's looking like only 5 days.

What's this mean for us? It appears there are 48 days ahead of us. If the CCAA continues to refer only 5 days a month, we're looking at May 2009 for our referral.

In other news, the pregnant man gave birth today....you'll never hear me utter the phrase "life is fair".

Adopted...The Movie

A trailer for a new movie coming out....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv7JPYc3ZwY

Looks like something that will be difficult to watch, but necessary.

Jan. 20th

It's official, Jan. 20th is the cut-off date. This month covered 8 days of referrals.

Here's the ages old question, "What does this mean for us?". There are now 53 days ahead of us. If the CCAA continues to refer 8 days per month, we're looking at Jan. '09 for our referral.


Once again, we'll hang in there and see what next month holds. I had a co-worker excited for us because "you're getting closer". I had to inform her we no longer get excited over little things. I guess we're saving our excitement for when we see our child's face.

Finally.....

an update. I haven't updated because nothing has been going on in "adoption land". The devastation of the earthquakes seemed to have silenced the usual rumors. However, referrals started arriving in the US today. As of right now, I have not read of a referral past Jan. 20th. There area few reports the cut-off date is Jan. 22nd, but I haven't seen anything mentioned yet. I'll keep you all updated!

PS We have no idea how the earthquakes will eventually effect the adoption process.

An Apology

The sponsors of the "Non-Mom" Contest received a barrage of comments and changed the wording of their contest to "Adopting Mom". I think "Mom" is a better title, but anything is better than "Non-Mom". Check out the comment to the below post....a personal apology from Teleflora.

Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously
My own.
Never forget
For a single minute:
You didn't grow under my heart,
But in it.

--Fleur Conkling Heyliger

Non-Mom

What's a non-mom? According to the Today show, it's a mother who adopted her child(ren). That's right, according to the Today Show, I'm a "non-Mom" to be. I DON'T THINK SO!!! This makes me angrier than someone telling me, "I wish you could have had your own children". I won't climb onto my soapbox because I'll be here all afternoon, but if you'd like to look at this ridiculous contest for yourself, click here: http://www.americasfavoritemom.com:80/mothers-day-2008/static/semiFinalists. If you'd like to write and complain to these idiots, like I'm about to, you can e-mail them at these addresses:
support@americasfavoritemom.com
today@msnbc.com
kesti@marieosmond.com

Thanks for letting me vent,
Tonya, aka MOM -to-be

Three words for you....

three f******g days.

What's this mean? There are now 63 in front of us. If the CCAA continues to not be in a hurry, we're looking at Feb. 2010 for a referral. Yes, you read that number right...2010. If they continue to refer 3 days at a time, we'll be married 8 years, B will be 34 and I'll be 36. Here's my quote of the day, "If you want to see God laugh, make a plan".

It's that time of the month....

Rumors are starting at www.chinaadopttalk.com. Check them out; if you dare. Two words for ya: they suck!

Jan. 9th

All rumors are pointing to Jan. 9th as the cut-off. 5 days. That's it....just 5 days this month. I'll change the info. on the right when it's official, but it's looking like that's all it is for this month.

Once again, what's this mean for us? There are now 64 days in front of us. If the CCAA continues at this pace, we're looking at June 2009 for our referral. Yep, you read it right. See how two days can make a world of difference? Last month (and the month before) we were looking at December, now it's June after next.

BTW, I'm posting at work. I've been cursed out by 7:30 this morning and now I read there's a small referral batch coming out this month. If I take the blonde out of my hair, I'm bound to have some gray hairs.

Edited later in the day to add: I've eaten a LOT of potato chips today.

Beginning of Rumors

It's that time of month again....time for referral rumors to begin. Right now, Jan. 11th through Jan. 13th is the predicted cut-off. You can follow along at www.chinaadopttalk.com.

Newsletter

Our agency has an online newsletter that is "published" about every other month. The latest has information regarding the agency owner and founder's visit to the CCAA. I thought you all might be interested. If so, click here: http://www.hfsadopt.org/china/images/forever_families_vol_2_issue_2.pdf

Referrals!

Unless there's a huge surprise, January 4, 2006, is this month's cut off. Yay 2006!

What does this mean for us? There's now 69 dates in front of our LID. IF the CCAA continues to do what it did last month and this month, we're looking at December 2008 for our referral. I'll repeat myself from last month....The "IF" in that sentence is huge. If we do not have our referral in December 2008, please do not ask us what happened. It's just a guesstimate.

Getting Closer

All the rumors are pointing to January 4, 2006, as the next batch's cut-off date. This is good because we're FINALLY into 2006 with referrals. (I think we've been in 2005 since we started this process.) This is also good because I can say our agency only has 3 other groups in front of us. This is not good because it's only 8 days worth of referrals.

It's not definite, but it is the word in "rumor land". I'll update when the cut-off is definite. Check back soon!

Rumors

Looks like it's the time of month for referral rumors to begin. If anyone is interested in following along, check out http://www.chinaadopttalk.com/. Keep in mind, it's rumors! It's a good way (not necessarily a healthy way) to pass the time.

I'll post more for you all when we begin to hear something more concrete.

P.S. The good news is maybe the lay-offs at the CCAA won't dramatically affect things.

From Our Agency

Our agency posted this on their message board. Isn't this just fan-friggin-tastic!
(Did you hear the sarcasm as I typed?)

Dear Families,
In an attempt to provide our families with all information that we have on CCAA, we are sharing this information with you. Please understand that at this time we are uncertain of both what these changes might mean for your adoption and if they have any meaning for your adoption at all.

First let me give you a little background. Several years ago, CCAA purchased a very large, very nice, and undoubtedly very expensive building in Beijing. Now, at the same time that CCAA's income lessens (far fewer people are attracted to adoption from China due to the lengthening wait times), their mortgage payments continue to burden their resources. I believe that this tighter money situation is the likely cause for the CCAA personnel cutbacks that we learned of over the weekend.

Most, if not all, of CCAA's contract employees have been let go, including the head of the Waiting Child program, another person who has matched many American families with their babies over the last several years, and several people in the Dossier Review department. One of the two vice directors has been retired also.

Right now I cannot forecast with any hope of accuracy how these personnel changes will affect the speed with which your referrals will be made. Perhaps with these employee reductions, CCAA's remaining employees will feel the need to be more responsive and efficient, and referrals will speed up. But there is also the possibility (perhaps probability) that the overall staff reduction will cause delays due to the need for training the remaining staffers to provide services previously provided by those staffers no longer working there.

We will continue to update you as we learn more ourselves.

Looking Official

Looks like December 27th is the cut off. I just read in a message board France is reporting this. Because of the time difference, it's Monday morning there, so their agencies will be open for business.

Here's the info. most of you want: How does this affect us? There are currently 77 days ahead of us. IF the CCAA continues referrals at the speed is did this month (8 days), we'll be receiving our referral in December 2008. Please keep in mind, the "if" in that sentence is huge. It is not set in stone, so if it hasn't happened by December, please don't ask us why it didn't happen.

I'll edit the info. on the right when it's confirmed by US Agencies.

Referral Rumors

Referral rumors are in the air....looks like December 27th is included and is the possible cut-off. This would only include 8 days of referrals, but it's more than what's been referred the past few month. Sadly, I'm very excited about only 8 days of referrals! It's not official yet, still at the rumor stage, but I'll let you know when it becomes "official".