Looks like my prediction is still true...

so far the delay hasn't increased anymore, yeah! But it also hasn't gotten any shorter, oh well.
On another note, I am now officially a housewife...which means our apartment is really clean. As of yet, I haven't felt very creative, so I've mainly just been cleaning. The nice thing is that I haven't gotten too bored. I think Gene is a little jealous, but it's helping him build more character which is important (hee hee).
Once I get the creative juices flowing, I hope to finish up what I can on Esther's quilt, and then head over to my mother-in-law Marilyn's house to take advantage of her quilting expertise.
When I can get Gene to help me upload pictures I will post some of the things I've made for Esther so far.

All I want for Christmas is...Esther!

This was on China Center of Adoption Affairs website this morning:

"The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before September 30, 2005.
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before June 28, 2005."

What does this mean? To put it simply...the way things are moving we won't get to bring Esther home until December. Maybe things will pick up, maybe they'll slow down...welcome to the joy of adopting from China!

I have senioritis!

I have officially entered my last month of work! I am trying not to dwell on the fact that I only have 19 days, 1 hour, and 29 minutes left, but as you can see I am not having much luck. Don't get me wrong, I've loved my job but I am ready to be done.
What am I going to do while I wait for Esther? Drive myself crazy and enjoy every minute of it! (well, at least until I get really, really bored...) Hopefully I will be productive and get lots of projects done (some reading, some quilting, some knitting, some cross-stitching, some painting, some cleaning, etc.), but since I'm a procrastinator I probably won't get nearly as much done as I should.

More delays...

Ugh...I just got an email from our adoption coordinator and it seems that referrals are taken even longer than expected. I don't have any exact time frame of course but if our adoption agency finds out any concrete info I will post it here.
On a good note, I think this means that either a lot of families are wanting to adopt thus more babies are finding homes, or there aren't as many babies available which is means not as many are being abandoned. Either of these factors would increase the delay. As much as I my heart is set on adopting from China, if I found out tomorrow that there were no more babies available because their birth families are keeping them, I would be glad.

fingerprints do not expire!!!

I mean seriously....c'mon.

Who knew fingerprints expire

Due to the extended wait time, I was concerned that we may have to redo some of our dossier paperwork (which would be a real bummer). However, after doing some checking around, all we will need to redo is our fingerprints since they expire in June. Gene can't understand how fingerprints "expire" but apparently they do (this must make criminals happy). But if this is all we need to keep our dossier current, I'm thrilled!

What's a Blog?

It seems like it was just months ago when I first asked that question, and look at me now! This is a way for me to keep anyone interested updated on our adoption journey.

Unfortunately, at the moment there isn't much to share. We are in the long waiting part of the process. When will we get a referral for Esther? We're not too sure, hopefully by August (can you hear the trepidation in my voice)?

The last stats on the wait time to referral is 11 to 12 months from LID (fancy abbreviation for log-in-date with China). Our LID was August 17, 2005, which means we may get a picture of Esther around that same time this year. Then, after another 1 to 2 months, we get to go pick her up.

So now we just wait and try to stay busy.