Leaving for China....

Not for the adoption, sadly, but just for very short vacation. My mom is a flight attendant, and I have decided to try and distract myself from the TA wait by going to work with her. I'm not sure a trip to China is the best solution to distract me, but the shopping surely cannot hurt! :-)

Besides, it will give me a chance to test my posting skills from China. I will be exploring Shanghai, the city we will be visiting on our way home at the conclusion of our adoption adventure. Justin has bravely agreed to stay home with the children, giving me a true vacation and "girls adventure" out. I am very lucky to have such a great husband.

More Ladybugs...

A dear friend gave me a card today...it is COVERED in LADYBUGS. For those that don't know, and my friend does not know.....Ladybugs are the symbol of Chinese adoption. Seeing ladybugs is a sign of good news coming from China.

Families are starting to wonder if we will get our TA's before China shuts down for the New Year. I pray that we do!!!!!

With all my heart, I am ready to go. I know everything happens for a reason, and in it's own time, but please let it be our time!!!

Wow oh Wow!!!

I belong to a yahoo group for people adopting special needs children from China. We keep statistics about how long processes are taking depending on the order of your paperwork.

We have slowly watched our name move from the bottom of the "waiting for a TA" list to somewhere in the middle. Our name seems to move up about 4-5 spots a week.

On Monday morning, we were #50 on the list. Then a FLOOD of TA's came in. If everyone on the list ahead of us with a LID on or before where the TA's were coming in yesterday...then we are now #24 on the list. That is a HUGE one day jump. I think I saw about 20 TA's for certain on my various yahoo groups.

And CHI - another agency - doesn't seem to have given any out yet! Their coordinator was out of town yesterday and it appears that no one was notified if they recieved any TA's.

Today should prove to be interesting!!!

The average time from from LID to TA is about 70 days...some got theirs yesterday in only 38 days. YIKES!!!! Please let that be us!

We would get our TA about December 3!!!

LADYBUG SPOTTED...

Well, our friend was correct yet again!!! We received our LOG IN DATE of 10/26/2005 today!!!! This is the day that our file was finished being translated and can now be reviewed for final approval!!!

The average time from DTC to LID when we sent our file in was only 18 days, but recently it has been taking over a month. We were hoping for for a 10/18 date, but I know of many people with dates in early to mid-September that have a LID of 10/24, so it looks as though God has smiled on us once again and pushed our chart ahead a little.

Best of all, one of the other families from our agency also adopting from the same SWI got a LID of 10/24 (well, good for me, not for her...) but that means we will probably receive our TA's at the same time and travel together!!! We are both adopting 3 yo boys, so we will be able to support each other very well!!!

I am so thankful to have received this bit of news from the CCAA!!! We all push for better dates and want the CCAA to get our file through fast, but I have to look at it from anther perspective. China is working very hard to place these children. If it is taking longer than usual, that must mean that more families are in the process of adopting these precious children and there is much more work for the CCAA to do. They have a tough job, and the do it well. Everyone is always so amazed at how the child they were matched with fits into their home!!! The CCAA must have some remarkable people working for them!!!

It's a boy

I saw this and I couldn't resist posting it! :-)

Ladybugs in the Wind

We have a wonder family friend who means the world to us. She began as Matthew's preschool director, and we just fell in love with her. She was my shoulder to lean on through Justin's deployment and is like my personal cheerleading section. She is a wonderful woman full of genuine goodness and grace.


She also has an amazing ability to ask St. Jude to look out for our family and give us a boost with our adoption. 3 times she has stopped me and asked it I had received our next bit of info...our Pre-Approval, our court approval, or our I-171H. At my "No" responses, she said a prayer each time and told me "In Two Days".

We saw her tonight when we picked the children up from afterschool care. She asked us to share our news with her. We had to explain we may not hear anything for months. She smiled, said her prayer...and told us Friday would bring us news. If anyone has the ability to interceed - it will be her! Honestly, she just has such a good heart. I don't know how else to properly describe her!

Keep your fingers crossed, and feel free to add your prayers!!!