THIS IS OUR SON, UMMMM DAVID

I don't know if I've posted here on my blog or just in private emails that I've only had a couple dreams about our China adoption. One would think (wouldn't one?) that with as much time that I think about Ava and about China......I would dream about her? Yes, one would think, but nope.....Not so. Well, the night before last I had a dream that we received our referral and in my dream I received my child!.....Not sure if I was in China.....That part wasn't very clear. The rest of it WAS quite clear. First, we did NOT receive a referral for a girl......She was a he. We did NOT receive a baby (as young as possible)......We received a 4-5 year old boy. Although he had the most beautiful almond shaped eyes and I believe he was Chinese......He already spoke perfect English. He also made it VERY clear that he didn't like me....Not one bit. I was trying my hardest to win him over, but it didn't go very well. One issue that he and I had was that he wanted to be called by his Chinese name.....DAVID......And I was doing everything in my power to convince him to take ANY other boys name.....Just NOT David. Now, if I offended anyone named David or with a husband, son, brother, uncle, grandfather or second cousin named David....Let me explain. My EX-husband was named David (Dave) and it's just not one of my favorite names because of that....In fact it sorta makes my skin crawl. ;) With that in mind, you may understand (or maybe you won't! ;) why I was trying to list off different boys for him to pick from, but he wanted no part of any of them. His name was David....End of story. I WAS going to let him have his way in the end, but I wasn't very happy about it. I'm just happy that I haven't seen many, err I mean ANY referrals with boys having a Chinese name of David. ;) That's a relief!

EDITED TO SAY.......I wouldn't mind (after the inital shock wore off...Since everything I've bought is PINK!!!!!!) if we did receive a referral for a boy. I just don't want his name to be David.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2 DAYS?

Well, the news isn't looking very good on the number of days referred this month. A Spanish agency forum is reporting referrals will be for March 1 and March 2. I know I had a "feeling we were matched" this month.....Guess my psychic abilities are a bit off at the moment! ;)

Where does it leave us as far as when we will receive our referral? I think at this point I'm going to plan on the worst case scenario and hope for the best. I really am fine....Really. I read the rumor this morning and didn't even get upset. I guess after waiting 1,050 days since LID....You get used to the disappointment. Just makes you feel numb after awhile.

Here are my predictions for the next cut off dates:

March: March 5 (March 4 and 5 are weekend days...Nobody is logged in)
April: March 6
May: March 7
June: Us

The good news is that if we received our referral in May or June....All the kids can go to China with us. That would be wonderful.

COOL AS A CUCUMBER....FOR NOW!

I really have calmed down from my freaked out state with regards to whether we will receive a referral or not in this next batch. I believe it was no doubt false labor that we were experiencing.....However, I must say that it sure brought us a couple of exciting days and I believe it was a little glimpse of things to come! I really do understand why RQ reported the rumor even if it was a bit far fetched. I mean....March 23? No way. It seems like there have been quite a few whispers about things picking up a bit with the orphanage donation increase on January 1. I guess time will tell. At this point, we're soooooooo close anyway. If it's not this month then it will be next month. If it's not next month THEN I will panic. My only fear right now is that we will be in China when Hope graduates. Her graduation is May 31. I spoke to my agency last week and they said if we received our referral in early March.....We would probably travel the first week in May. That works for me.

So.......I'm back to my nesting. Not to say that I won't be checking RQ all day long (just like any other day :) for any news on referrals, but I'm not going to sit here all day long glued to the computer. I've got a list of things I want to get done before we receive our referral and if last Thursday and Friday is any indication of things to come....I better get moving......When the rumors start flying next month.....I'm going to be glued to this computer and I get the feeling nothing will be getting done around here!

IS THIS FALSE LABOR????

Alright, I'm starting to freak out here! *deep breath* There have been a few rumors floating around the China adoption world that this next batch of referrals may include more days than anyone EVER anticipated. In fact, the rumor this morning on RQ shows a possibility of a rather large batch that would cover everyone logged in through March 23, 2006. *deep breath* Our log-in-date is March 8th. *deep breath* *deep breath* Never in a million years did I think that there was a chance that we would get a referral in this next batch......Until last night. Out of the blue, a feeling came over me that we have been matched. About 10 minutes later I see a post on RQ (yes, I'm addicted to that site!) that matching began. I wasn't going to tell anyone about my feeling except for my family.....Then I got an email from her and decided, what the heck....I'll tell her about my "being already matched feeling", because she already knows I'm nuts! Then I did a post on the matching room. I just had a feeling. AND then this morning we get the rumors of a possible HUGE batch. Could this really be labor? Or braxton hicks?! *deep breath* *deep breath*

MATCHING/MATCHING ROOM

Someone JUST posted that their agency said the CC*AA has starting matching!!! I thought I would take time to explain how matching works to those not familiar with the matching process. The first picture shows a cart with files of families logged in. I heard that an agency is assigned a certain color for all their families. These files (or dossiers) might be heading from the review room to the matching room on a cart like the one pictured below.

Here is a picture of the matching room at the CC*AA. See that wall of files? Our file has probably been collecting dust on one of those shelves for quite some time. ;)

Because I'm lazy.....AND because RQ explains the matching process MUCH better than I ever could....I took the following from her site:


First, they review the baby dossiers and make sure there are no issues with them. We are told that they then count up all of the baby dossiers that are eligible for matching that month and then look to see how far this stack will go in the parent dossiers without sending out a partial day, and they pull all of those parent files. That is the likely cut-off date. Sometimes something happens and they don't get this far. Sometimes something happens and they get farther.
Next they match orphanages up with agencies. This orphanage has six babies, this agency has six families. These two orphanages are in the same province and have a total of 12 babies, this agency has 12 families. When they are through with this is when (I believe) some agencies start to get information about the cut-off date. Or at least it is when they used to start getting information.
And then they start matching individual babies to individual families. At some point during this part of the process most agencies used to hear from their person in the matching room to let them know how many referrals they will be receiving and from what province(s). Some agencies shared this information with their clients. Some chose not to. Recently I’ve gotten the feeling that many agencies are still getting this information but they are being given orders by the CCAA to not share this information with the families.
Just as in the review room, each matcher is assigned certain agencies and is responsible for communicating with their agencies. Some matchers tell their agency the cut-off date, some matchers tell their agency “you have X number of referrals arriving”, some matchers give their agency a list of that agency’s families that will be receiving a referral. And some matchers don’t say anything at all to their agencies.
The next question that comes up is generally how the matchers match families and babies. I’ve heard from several people who have had the opportunity to speak with someone who works in the matching room. The various conversations seem to all agree that they first look for something that stands out: a matching birthday, a baby who looks a lot like a parent, or a baby who likes music and a parent who teaches music. Several matching people have stated they match by bone structure of the baby’s face and the parent’s faces (this is why they need our passport photos, so they can compare our mug shot with the baby’s mug shot). Some have stated that they used Chinese astrology, also. Once they’ve matched the obvious matches they then start to look at things like age of child requested. The age requested is not a priority for them, they feel they are matching families and not filling orders.

Can you see the tiny pictures of all the babies on the wall in the front cubicle? In one of those cubicles our family will be matched with our daughter, Ava. How amazing is THAT!!!!

FAMILY FUN

I just realized.....We're now 12 days into the new year and I haven't posted since the end of December. I stink at blogging. Now that that's been determined...... Alrighty then, I've got a bunch of pictures to post here. Sit back and enjoy or if your smart....Hit the escape key while you can!

First, before we get to all the exciting family pictures.....I need to post the latest news on the China Adoption front. DO YOU REALIZE THEY'RE ONLY 8 DAYS FROM OUR LID WITH REFERRALS???!!!! *Please excuse me while I take a few deep breaths* If you don't understand what being 8 days away from LID means...........Let me say this in non adoption lingo..........This means that we might be getting a picture of our Ava in the next, ummmmmm 6-10 weeks!!!!! *deep breath*

In other adoption news......I'm sure everyone has already seen a picture of the adorable Ms. Pipa, but if you haven't click here. I swear, I've been walking on sunshine ever since she and she received their referrals for their precious girls! Also, my secret pal (I wonder if I will ever stop calling her that?!) is in China NOW with her daughter, Syri. If you haven't been following along with their trip to China click here.

Alrighty, here are some pictures of Christmas.....The LAST family Christmas picture without Ava.

Here is a picture of us with MY mother. We realized something when looking at this picture. Jeff and MY mother are starting to look more and more like each other as the years pass. Is it the glasses? Wearing the same color shirt? The hair? =)

Hope and Matt. I'm including Matt as part of the family......He practically lives here! =)

Ian was enjoying some organic chocolate milk that was given to him by his Uncle and Aunt. They did have other presents for Ian, but Ian said that this was the BEST Christmas present EVAH.....It's his most favorite chocolate milk of all time. Had Santa known this, he might not have as much Christmas debt to pay off.

A week or so before Christmas, we came home to several Christmas presents on our front porch. The sly Santa went quick to his work and was out like a flash before anyone could see him or thank him for the gifts. He also visited my SIL and BIL that live one street over from us. They were home at the time, but Santa moved so fast......They didn't see him either!

We all received hats/scarves. We decided to take a family picture of all of us to put in with a thank you card. While Aunt Shawnee was running home to get their hats.....We took a few warm up pictures. Here is a picture of Hope, Ian and Matt (who is borrowing Jeff's hat!)

They stuffed my hat with napkins.....Because, you can. I looked a bit like jiffy pop popcorn that one might cook on the stove. =)

Here is the picture that will be sent with the thank you card.

Here are several pictures that didn't make the cut.

Can you tell that they're brothers?

Uncle Aaron and Aunt Shawnee. Not sure what Shawnee is saying, because I no speak gangsta!

Aunt Shawnee might be thinking......Hmmmmmmm, who can I re-gift this to next year?!! KIDDING.....She LOVES her hat/scarf! =)

We took my mother out to celebrate her 77th B-day this past weekend to REDS. It really has become our most favorite restaurant. Jeff and I have gone there on a few dates, but this is the first time we took the family. Here is a picture of Jeff and my mother. I'm starting to think they should call each other before we get together, because they keep wearing the same color and well, the family resemblance is getting a bit freaky.

Me and my boy. Yes, I'm also wearing red for whatever reason?!

Hope and Griffin. Griffin is sporting his new shorter haircut. Thank you, God.

Ian.....Being Ian!

I had more pictures, but I'll save them for another day. I'm beat. =)