There are just no words.............

From Rumor Queen

"Cut off might be the 9thMarch 31st, 2008
One agency has notified their families that the cut off will be the 9th and that 10th will not be included in this batch.
This one is somewhere between an R2 and R3 at this point."

As I said there are just no words.....

Not a done deal yet but this is what it look like this month.... We missed it by one day....

WHAT MONTH

It is time to take an other guess about Sophia...

Riz and I both think Sophia will be under a year old and really it does not matter to us how old she is, we will be over joyed no matter how old she is. We thought guessing what month Sophia was born in would be a fun way to pass the time until we get her referral. Please take a moment to cast your vote in the poll on the right of the page.

Soon we will have all the answers.....

OK well maybe ONE PEEP

So this is what I know so far.... Someone posted a message to the Rumor Queen Forum that they had received an email message from their agency that Matching had begun. Then this was confirmed by some else using the same agency and then by someone from a different agency... I had to be away from the computer all afternoon but when I was able to get back on around 8 there is now a message posted in the forum that someone received an e-mail from there agency that they are expecting referrals for Jan 13th families.... OMG this is better then I dreamed... If this is true then we are in for sure and we are days away from seeing Sophia....

So far not a PEEP

It is so quiet everywhere... No Rumors or word yet of a referral cut off date. We are fluctuating from a strange calm to out right anxiety.... We are confident that we will be included this month, BUT! doubt keeps creeping in..... We really want to know if in fact we are just days away from seeing our girl.... We can't concentrate on anything and are totally preoccupied with the referrals. Hopefully we will hear something today about Matching or better yet a cut off date or even better yet that they are on their way to the US....

Stay Tuned.....

... "I don't talk to foreigners"? UPDATE!

UPDATE!
OK so here is the update on the lady that called Riz a "Foreigner". By the way people often think Riz is Mexican (we live in an area with a large Mexican community)plus he was dressed in old painting clothes that day as he was painting our staircase..
So our neighbor called us to let us know she found out who the women was she was not a friend our neighbor told us but someone she sees once a year at our other neighbors birthday party (that neighbor just turned 105 on March first). Our neighbor said that she is an old eccentric wealthy Delandite. She told us that every year they both attend the birthday party and the women always corners her to talk about other people in the neighborhood. She said that this year we were the topic of conversation... LOL

Sometimes things happen that make you laugh and scratch you head at the same time. Saturday a week ago was one such moment. Riz and I were relaxing watching a little TV last Saturday afternoon when we heard the doorbell ring. It rang multiple times in a row. We both got up and went to the door when Riz opened the door there stood an elderly women. Without introducing herself she said in a harsh voice "do you know anything about Ann M@3&*?" Riz, looking puzzled said well she is my neighbor. The women again with a harsh tone said "Well I know she's your neighbor." Riz and I just stood there with our mouths open. she asked again "do you know anything about her, is she home?" Riz said well I have not talked to her today. The women was agitated and said why wont you tell me about her. Riz responded by saying Mame if you were my neighbor and a stranger came to my door asking about you I would not tell them anything about you either. She was indignant and said to him well I am not afraid of you. Riz at this point said to her maybe you should leave my property(insert Riz sarcasm and humor here). She started down the porch stopped looked back at Riz and said well I don't talk to foreigners... Riz stood there wondering what the heck just happened. He came in the house and we had a good laugh about it. We called our neighbor and told her what had happened. She did not know who the women was and was appalled that someone said that to us. She assured us that she would not associate with someone who would say such things, we know she would not of course. We sat there talking about this strange event and Riz said I don't know what I would have done if I would have had Sophia out there with me.. It does make you think what will we do when this kind of thing happens and we have her there with us....

Enjoy the music......I was planning on playing Depeche mode people are People with this post but e-snips will not cooperate today so hum it in your head...

You Know You Are An Adoptive Parent

I saw this on my friend Melissa's blog....... Melissa's blog is here and she is waiting for her beautiful daughter Lily.... I love this because it touches on so many different aspects of what we are feeling about adoption and our daughter Sophia...


You know You're An Adoptive Parent When....
The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.

You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.

You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing. ( I have never been able to watch this without crying!)

The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.

You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.(Yup, I spend a little to much time reading blogs)

It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child's 'real' parents. (or when they refer to my bio children as my "real kids")

You have ever been 'pregnant' with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth. (2 years!) (By the time this wait is over I think I may look like an elephant!)

You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.

You have ever taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.

You believe God's heart is for adoption.

You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.

You know what the word 'Dossier' means, and you can actually pronounce it!

You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life. (It absolutely amazes me the things a social worker needs to know!)

You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life. (Our child will not be lucky. There is nothing "lucky" about being abandoned and then given to a family and taken to live on the other side of the world. We will all be blessed to have each other. )-

Author unknown I saw this on the starfish website and it all resonated with me. Check out the Starfish Foster Home blog, it is a great story!

More news from RQ

This is the latest from the Rumor Queen site. I am so excited I can barely contain myself. When I saw this I got tears in my eyes and had to remember how to breathe for a second.... Thanks Layla for the Rumor Alert...LOL... We should start hearing more and more Rumors for the next week or so. Stay tuned I will post them here as we see them. Hang on everyone this is it! This is our time.. (at least we are really hoping so and we feel like it is everything is pointing in that direction)(still trying to be cautious until I have Sophia's sweet little picture in my hands but it IS going to happen..


It is so wonderful to see Jan. 10th on the radar...after all this time...

From RQ
"March 18th, 2008
Someone reported yesterday that their agency said January 10th would be included in this next batch. This is an early rumor, from one agency. Please treat it accordingly."

The latest from RQ....

We have been waiting to see this post so it looks like some time around Riz's birthday (April 2nd) we should be seeing referrals again..A few more weeks to go!!!!

Oh by the way Happy St. Patrick's Day

This is RQ most recent post...

"March 17th, 2008
The last 12 referral batches arrived at 32, 25, 35, 30, 28, 32, 29, 31, 33, 26, 32, and 31 days.

The lowest time between batches is 25 days, the highest is 35, and the average is 30. However, 31 days shows up twice and 32 days shows up three times.

With all of that in mind: The soonest I’d expect to see them this month is Friday, March 28 and the latest is Monday, April 7. The most likely arrival based on the average would be Wednesday, April 2, 2008. However, taking into account that 31 and 32 show up more often, it’s also likely we’ll see them on Thursday, April 3 or Friday, April 4.

My best guess is that we’ll see rumors begin by the middle or end of next week and referrals will arrive by the middle or end of the week after that - the first few days of April."

You have to go see

this adorable baby...

Our friends Angela and Bryan who have been patiently waiting to see their daughters face for the first time now have their referral. Because they live in Canada things take a bit longer but they have her picture now and boy is she a cutie pie... Go take a look at sweet baby Ella....

I also want to mention that Kim and Kevin are leaving on Saturday to bring Hannah home. She has posted a beautiful message about Hannah you must read it. She so perfectly captured how Riz and I feel about Sophia that I must send you over there to read it. We want to wish them well as they travel to China. We can't even imagine how they are feeling tonight just 3 days from having Hannah in there arms....

oh yeah... I almost forgot that Wendy and John are on their way to China, in fact they are in Hong Kong right now. If you want to follow their journey to Catherine go over to their blog. Joe and Dianne are also traveling right now and have little miss M with them she is adorable and they all look so happy...check it out here http://ourjourneytobabym.blogspot.com/. you will have to cut and paste their blog address into your browser because blogger is not cooperating with me this morning...Sorry but it is worth it go look...

The latest Projections from Rumor Queen...

Who new being Horrid would be so great! I love the fact that our date 1/10/06 is finally on the chart... I got a tear in my eye when I opened this and saw it... WOW! after all this time just WOW!........

26th Month !

WOW! that is unbelievable really...


We are so happy that this wait is coming to an end for us, finally. With our LID being Jan. 10, 2006 today marks 26 months we have been waiting for our daughter and the last LID anniversary we will celebrate, or endure depending on how we were feeling that particular month. We are looking forward to celebrating referral anniversaries or better yet Gotcha Day/Family Day (not sure what we want to call that day really) anniversaries. We wonder how many of the months we have been waiting has Sophia being waiting too. We know in reality she has not been waiting for us at all, but rather just living her little life. We are ready to see Sophia's little face to know where she is, how old she is, if she has hair or not, is she small or big, we are ready to know all about our daughter. Things are getting very exciting for us as we finish up household projects (painting) and start some new ones too (kitchen remodel). We are also finishing up our packing list and shopping for the things we will need to travel to China and bring home our girl. We recently bought a video camera, something we have never had the need for before but with a little one on the way we wanted to capture not only our trip to China but all of those great baby moments when we get home. We bought one but now we don't like it and may return it and follow the recommendation of our friendly neighborhood technology guru (our friend Luke) and get the Hard Drive camera. We are also in the market for a second car so we have been studying and researching mini vans, something else we have never had the need for in the past but now we think it will make traveling easier with a baby and multiple family or friends at one time... My best friend Lisa and I are going shopping for all the medical stuff we need for the trip and just in general for the baby. Our great co-workers are throwing us a baby shower on April 16th and our friends and Family are giving us one on April 26th (for those of you who keep asking me we are registered at Babies-r-us, Target, OneStepAhead.com and MaharDryGoods.Com) we know why so many, but I love to shop and each have some unique things we like and we wanted to give people plenty variety to chose from. We are so overwhelmed with the idea that so many people want to do things for us, we want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts. I have to give a special thanks to two of my favorite people first Amy thank you for mentioning us in your last entry to Lottie's website, you made me cry. We miss you all and can't wait to see you again. Julie H. Thank you so much for your generosity we can not thank you enough for giving us the Texas medical kit and all the other goodies. It will bring comfort to this first time mom while we travel.

One last thing and I am done with this blog entry, I promise....

The poll... Thank you to all 44 of you who took the time to take a guess where our daughter will be from. Some of you I know others I do not but it is so nice to see we have so many readers... here are the results... It will be interesting to see what group wins...

Jiangxi-13
Hunan-8
Hubei-4
Guangdong-3
Jiangsu-3
Sichuan-2
Tibet-2
Gansu-1
Shaanxi-1
Jilin-1
Heilongjiang-1
Henan-1
Fujian-1
Guizhou-1
Yunnan-1
Guangxi-1

Thanks again to all of you for your support and love over the last 26 months it has been what has carried us through this wait for Sophia...We love you all..

We are NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it? We can't....

After all this time, 2 1/2 years of waiting and many more dreaming we are on the verge of becoming parents. It is an amazing feeling but indescribable really. The love we feel in our hearts for a child we don't know yet, the anticipation and excitement is all unexplainable. Referrals were sent from the CCAA and started arriving yesterday. The CCAA referred families with Log In Dates(LID) between Dec. 28th 2005 and Jan 4th 2006. I know I speak for all of the Jan families when I say we are glad to finally say "See Ya later" (insert Tony Soprano Voice here) to December 2005 and hello to January 2006. The CCAA made it through 8 days of referrals this time around, that is pretty good really. We have 6 days left between the current cutoff date of Jan 4th 2006 and our LID of Jan 10th 2006. We are weeks away now from finally seeing our baby. This time next month we will be celebrating and reminding each other how to breathe. When we finally hold Sophia's picture in our hands I know we will not be able to think straight but we will be filled with joy... I want to skip right through March and go right to April but that would mean missing the babies that are currently being referred to families that we have been corresponding with for more then 2 1/2 years. We are so happy for them and want to say congratulations to each and everyone... Now take a moment and go look at their cutie pies over on RQ's babies post.