Holiday Weekend

These long weekends are exhausting! I was glad to get back to work today to recover.

Our friends' six-year-old son, Sean, came home with us on Saturday after we spent the afternoon/evening barbecuing and visiting. He loves to visit our house and play with our dog, Shadow. He has a love/fear relationship with Shadow. He loves to play with him, but he gets nervous, too. Can't say that I blame him since Shadow is probably twice his weight. We figure it's good practice, for Shadow and us, though he wears us out.

We brought Sean home early Monday morning and traded him in for his parents. They joined us on a roadtrip to Detroit, where we watched the Tigers play the Yankees. The outcome didn't please Jim, but the day was fun.

Besides seeing the Tigers play, barbecuing with friends, hanging out with Sean, we also enjoyed lunch at a local Chinese restaurant with our Chinese class and went to see X-Men: The Last Stand. It wasn't as good as the first two, in my opinion, but it was nice to get out.

In case you are wondering what all of this has to do with our adoption, not a darn thing. Referrals came out last week. They didn't go as far as we hoped. Rumors are all over the place and nobody has a clue what is going on. I decided to let all of that go. I'm going to trust my agency and trust the process and hope for the best. This weekend was all about getting out and enjoying our life. It worked this week, let's hope it works when I get hit with the next dip on this roller coaster.

Pity Party - Table for Two?

It's not a good day. Each month horrible rumors have floated about the referral batches. Each time, the worst case scenario came true. It happened again today. The CCAA updated their website with the May referral information. This month they only matched dates from June 6 through June 15. They didn't update the reviewed documents, so it still reads September. Knowing that our dossier had passed review would have been a silver lining.

What does this mean for us? Who knows. The worst of the rumors are stating that the wait will be 18-24 months from LID. On the other hand, there have been significant rumors for some time that the CCAA wanted the wait to be 12-months. When I first heard that rumor, I thought it would be impossible for it to get that long, now I'm hoping that it's that short.

The thread of hope that I'm clinging to is this idea. If the June referrals finish June and July referrals contain all of July, then the CCAA will have met its rumored goal and be at 12-months. I am fine with an October referral. I think Christmas in China would be lovely. I just want to hold my child. If I could know when, it would be so much easier.

The question now is hot fudge or tequila?

Bonus!

I found this video on-line today. It's a 2-hankie movie, and a sneak preview to what we can expect.

Good Thing Simon Wasn't Around

Well, today was a day I would never have predicted. I stood before a crowd and sang three songs in Mandarin. Luckily, I wasn't alone. My fellow classmates, including Jim, were also up there singing away. The audience was very generous.

Today was the end-of-year program for Chinese school. The main students are children, and their skits were great. They had asked us to prepare something for the program, so our teacher taught us three children's songs last week. We sang Liang Zhi Lao Hu, Zhao Peng You, and Mama Hao. I'm just grateful no one taped it.

Helping a Deserving Child

On Yahoo, there is a group for everyone, especially if you’re involved in adoption. One of the groups that I belong to is the October DTC group. This is a world-wide group of people whose dossiers were sent and/or logged in China around October. This is a great support group because we’re all in the same boat…and a slow boat it is. We’ve swapped quilt squares and post cards. We’ve had secret pals that we treated (and were treated by each month). In fact, we’re in the middle of a cybershower right now. Everyone has shipped gifts to an assigned partner and we’ll all meet online next week while we open them. One very special project is raising funds to help with the medical needs of some of the orphans in China.

We’re going through a wonderful organization called Love Without Boundaries. This organization is run by volunteers who have adopted from China. They do some amazing work. Their website is http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/. If you would like to help the October group in this quest, go to How to Help and then to the General Fund link to donate. Just specify it is for the October 2005 DTC group. When we’ve raised $400-$500, we’ll be able to pay for the surgery for one child.

The Wait and Mother's Day, a Wedding, and a Laugh

7 months today. Our dossier was logged in 7 months ago. Wow, last year I really thought that we'd be parents by Mother's Day, or at least be matched. It's funny how you can be going along your merry way, dealing with the wait, and then BAM you get blindsided. Oh well, I know that next year this holiday will take on a whole new meaning for us.

We've finally recovered from travelling to my sister's wedding. It was a beautiful event. She and her new husband got married just off the beach in an outdoor setting. The weather held up, always dicey in the Spring, and everyone had a good time. We got to see old friends and relatives that we rarely get to see. It meant taking a few days off from school, but it was fun. It's times like this that the difference between working out in the "real world" and working in a school are really brought home.

I got an email today from one of my oldest friends. That's oldest as in longest. We'll never be old! :o) Anyway, she had this video linked to her email. It sure made me laugh. I hope you enjoy it, too.