Maybe Wednesday...

A little birdie told us that we may see our referral on Wednesday! I would say its a 50/50 chance at this point.
We'll keep you posted, we are in major nesting mode around here!
Happy New Year!
Dena

Referral coming in 2007!

Surely I am safe in saying we will receive our referral in 2007! Seeing as we absolutely have to be next, and it has been 31 days since the last referrals came out, and the average time b/t referrals has been 30 days for the last year. We have heard that the matches have been made, but not sent yet. That means that somewhere between here and China there is a folder with our name on it, and attached to it, is a picture and information about our daughter! Somewhere in China she is probably getting ready to wake up. We pray today there is someone to hold her, feed her, smile at her, and look into her eyes.
We should get her information sometime next week or the week after that. We promise to share it as soon as we get it. We can't wait!
Dena

Merry Christmas from the CCAA!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas, we sure are! Hunter is on a nature walk with Mama Linda, Scott and Roman are at Home Depot getting what they need for their projects (Big Hurray!), Ella is playing with her Christmas toys, could it get any better?
Still waiting to hear news from China. Everyone was watching a package that was arriving at the agencies today, turns out it was a Christmas card! There are so many comments I want to make, but don't b/c I live with this fear that the CCAA(China Center for Adoption) reads our website, and we'll be denied the chance to adopt based on some idiotic comment I make. So I smile and type nice, positive thoughts!
Will our referral arrive in 2006?
I'll keep everyone posted.
Thank you to everyone who is waiting with us, it makes it much more bearable and fun!
Dena

Waiting, not so patiently

Well, after a bunch of hubub about referrals possibly being on the way, today we found out that instead the agencies received the official new rules for those adopting from China. There have been a lot of news reports about it in the last few days. The new rules will disqualify quite a few people who want to adopt.
So, no referral before Christmas for us. The great news is that Scott's fingerprints cleared on Wednesday, which gets us one step closer to getting that form we need to be able to bring baby home. Praying she is warm, fed, and loved tonight...really "missing" her, if that is possible.

Maybe next week or the week after that we'll have some real news to share!

Merry Christmas!
Dena

Have you seen this child?

Almost a year ago Scott and I had the privilege of hearing Tom Davis, author of Fields of the Fatherless speak. His book takes a biblical look at God's heart for the fatherless and for children. During his talk he told the story of a famous pastor friend of his, whose wife's heart had been awakened to the needs of orphans around the world. The pastor had been listening to her quote statistics about the 140 million orphans worldwide and bible verses that clearly show God's tender heart for orphans and His desire and command for His people to act on their behalf. While this pastor agreed in his head that the church should take a more active role, it did not reach his heart fully until one day when he was going through his mail at home. He was going through the junk mail over the trashcan when one of those white cards with a missing child's photo on it floated down and landed on the floor. As he reached down to pick it up so he could throw it away, he looked into the face of the child on the card, and for a moment, pictured his own child's face on that card under the words "Have you seen this child?". Immediately his heart began to race and he could feel the tears forming in his eyes. He thought about what lengths he would go to if one of his children went missing. He said that in that moment God spoke deeply to his heart and said, "each one of those orphans is a child of mine, I know them by name and not only do I recognize their faces, but I formed each one".
Psalm 68:5 "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling."
Love this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSV5xW-NLu8&eurl

No word on when we might see the face of our little one. I will let you know!
Dena

Temporary Insanity

I'm an idiot. We are in desperate need of the USCIS to process our paperwork quickly, heck we are in desperate need of them to allow Scott to get his fingerprints taken, and I have publicly offended them in a most despicable way. Our only hope is that the dear people at the USCIS have no access to a computer and have better things to do with their time than read adoption blogs. Enough said.
I plead temporary insanity caused by extreme conditions, which I will not go into here. (read the next post if you really have to know)
So, to the USCIS, please forgive me, accept my sincere apology, and while you're at it, accept my husband's fingerprints. Did I mention that he has already been fingerprinted this year in relation to security clearance for his job, and those fingerprints go to the FBI, just like these fingerprints go to the FBI. Apparently the FBI has not learned how to share.
Great, now I'm offending the FBI. I better stop now.

Are you ready for a rumor?
2 agencies are saying we may see referrals BEFORE Christmas! Here we go!!!

Dena

"The Secret of Our Success" from the USCIS handbook

So, last week was spent gathering our paperwork, AGAIN, so we would appear to be the perfectly perfect, organized, caring adults that are just perfect to adopt a baby for our social worker, who spent Saturday afternoon at our house updating our homestudy. All went well I suppose as we were deemed "acceptable" (teachers, don't read too much into that, in social worker terms that translates to Exemplary!).
We had to do all of this as a part of what our government is requiring us to do all over AGAIN, which is pay them a bunch of money to get a form called the I171-H, which is our ticket to bring our baby home. Our first perfectly good I171-H will expire in February before our adoption will most likely take place. So as a part of getting this form, we had to go to the armpit of Dallas to get REfingerprinted, because as I'm sure everyone knows, fingerprints expire. If only I would have had my camera. I wish each of you could get a true sense of this 50' x 14' holding cell our government affectionately refers to as the USCIS - US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Believe me when I say they take the services part of that very lightly.

Picture row after row of brown faces packed in like sardines, and then there was us. I think I blended in beautifully, while Scott stuck out like a Baptist grandma at a Def Leppard concert.
By the third hour of watching all of the 'hustle and bustle' - not - we were getting loopy. I had the ultimate inappropriate laughing episode as I sat cramed between all of these eerily quiet strangers. Yes, tears streaming down my face, mascara down to my chin, couldn't speak, mouth foaming, laughing episode. The last time I recall this happening was during a staff meeting at Big Springs. I'm sure it has some psychological origin that I don't want to know about, but there it was. It all began as Scott and I imagined what must be the USCIS handbook for employees. Based on what we witnessed, here it is:

Secrets of Success at the USCIS

1. Minimum requirement for employment - must have worked at the Hobby Lobby return desk for at least 10 years with no less than a 99.5% dissatisfaction rate among customers.
2. The "security guard" at the front door must NOT, under any circumstances reveal their gender. This will give the patrons something they have to try and figure out on their own, and should occupy them for a good 3 out of the 4 hours they will sit in "the chairs", aka Holding Tank #1.
3. Holding Tank #1 must remain at 59.5 degrees F. at all times. Comfortable patrons make for demanding patrons.
4. Absolutely NO Cell phones allowed on the premises. USCIS will employ a full time employee whose sole purpose is to confiscate all cell phones whether on or off. Cell phones are a symbol of modern convenience and may remind the patron that it is not 1905. The patron may demand a higher quality of service which cannot be tolerated.
5. When choosing a paint color for your USCIS building, make sure it coordinates well with bullet holes, urine splatter, and the contents of the patron's noses.
6. Upon entering the USCIS building, each patron will receive a square of toilet paper in case of an emergency. An emergency is defined as having to use the only 'bathroom'. The word 'bathroom' should be translated very loosely. Patrons with a poor attitude should receive the squares which are slightly moistened, or gently used.
7. Absolutely no fraternizing with the patrons as they are moved from Holding Tank #1 to Holding Tank #2. The patrons may burst into a spontaneous smile as you call #402, for example, as they may have been waiting for hours to hear their number. Any sign that you are a human, and are the least bit happy for them will result in an immediate suspension of the employee's right to watch Judge Judy as they 'work'.
8. As patrons scoot from chair to chair in Holding Tanks #2, #3, and #4, make every effort as not to appear to be rushing them through. Patrons like to think you are t a k i n g y o u r o w n
s w e e t t i m e.
9. Incontinent patrons are to be treated with kindness and respect. It may embarrass them if you remove the upholstered chair they were sitting in when their episode occured.


So there it is. If any of you run your own business or are in management positions, feel free to use any of the above to improve your company's bottom line and reputation for customer service.
And here's the kicker, Scott sliced his thumb print with a knife doing Christmas lights (shocking, I know) and they would not even allow him to have his fingerprints taken. He has to go back next Wednesday!
Oh the joy!
Dena