Referral Day

And all I can say is unh. It's not the worst, but it's far from the best news. Dossiers through August 9th have been matched. This means we're inching closer. As a reminder, our dossier was logged in on October 13th.

It's taking them approximately 3 months to get through one months worth of dossiers. If that remains true, they'll get the middle of August in October and the rest of August and early September in November. September should be a very light month as many people who sent their dossiers to China in late August through all of September weren't logged in until October. There were various rumors back then about the delay. I seem to recall a computer problem being the reason. Assuming a light month, the rest of September could match in December.

There are no dossiers logged in from October 1-7 as this was a holiday, so with a 13th log in, we're actually the first week in October logged in. This means January is a possibility. If September splits into 3 instead of 2 months, it could be February. Finally, if they finish August in October and do September in November since both months are supposed to be light. There is still the slimmest possibility of December. This is now reaching the highly unlikely.

That really stinks because this means we will have to renew our I-171H. The I-171H is the permission by Immigration to bring home an orphaned child. This will add an unexpected and unwelcome expense of close to $2000. Now you see why I'm really hoping for referral by December. Well, that and because we've been waiting FOREVER and are ready to have our child in our home.

Send your thoughts towards China and ask them to speed up for us, would ya?

Now let's switch to happier thoughts. Yesterday, my agency DTC group moderator hosted a cybershower. It crossed several months, I believe. We had moms with LIDS from September to November. There may have been a December, but I'm not sure. Most of the ladies lived within driving distance to her home, so they met there for the shower. Those of us who couldn't get there participated via Yahoo Messenger and a webcam. It was a lot of fun talking to my agency friends, plus we received some lovely gifts. Barb was matched to me and sent us a wonderful child's pink backpack with a water bottle on the side. Inside there was a matching plate, bowl, cup set, several Sandra Boyton books, a princess purse with matching earrings, hair clips, hair band, and hair twists. It's all adorable. Thank you again, Barb!