It's snowing now... we wait for "the call"

So yes, the first week of December came and went without a referral call. We are nearing our 9 month mark - fitting isn't it? (But really we've been waiting much longer - the ticker is for the wait AFTER all the paperwork was sent off).

Many families passed court last week - meaning that their children became officially theirs. After passing court, families travel within 2 weeks to pick up their children. For some, it was the second or third time in court due to paperwork problems that continue to plague most adoption agencies (laws tend to change without notice in ET). Some families did not pass court due to these issues - it's heartbreaking to know you have to wait longer just for some stupid paperwork error. It is all in place though to protect the children.

Anyway, we WAIT! I don't know how much longer I can keep saying "no referral - still waiting" and be polite :)

SOOON!

We are at the top of the list! There were two more boy referrals yesterday. So that puts us at #1 (as far as we know).

No call today - hopefully next week :)

Ticker says....

Well, the ticker says we've been waiting 8 months and 4 days for the news about our son - we should find out soon (in the next few weeks) - how old he is, how much he weighs, where he was born/found, and get to see his face for the first time in a picture! I am excited but still a bit detached emotionally since it's been a roller coaster of a ride these last few months with unexpected changes and longer wait times. We are getting close though!

I told Roscoe, I'm getting Micah his stocking soon - he's our chosen son and he's alive somewhere, we just don't know where he is yet. Our friends who adopted from Russia told us the story of their "call". They had gone to get Christmas decorations and got stockings for their boys and on the way home from shopping the agency called ("the Call") with news regarding their referral and the boys they had matched to them! Their call was 1 year ago tomorrow (not by the day but it was the Monday before Thanksgiving).

We're # 3 in line for a boy!!

Well there were two more referrals on Wednsday.

one girl (3-5 months)
one boy (1.5 months)

Yes the boy is a biddy baby!! AHHH!

So anyway, we are # 3!! Maybe next week or the next or hopefully not the next after that.

Micah we are sooo close!

We've moved up! #4 in line for a boy! woohoo!

Yesterday there were three referrals:
infant girl
16 month old girl
2.5 year old boy

We are now 4th in line for a boy - looking at early December - just in time for life to settle down a bit so I can add the FUN stress of shopping and packing :) Late nights there are going to be so worth it!

What's going on?

I will say I don't know :) I'm trying to stay busy and not think about the fact that soon (I hope but have no idea anymore what to expect) we may have a referral of our son! It seems like a dream that you never really wake up from - will it ever become reality? will I ever wake up with a sigh of relief that our son is finally home? Seems like it's getting farther and farther away the more we wait - as backwards as that is.

So When is our referral coming??

Well this month has had some ups and downs. We are at our 7 month wait today. Our DTE is 3/19/08. There were 7 referrals in October - with only 2 infant boys. Here is the break down.

America World Received 7 Referrals ranging from infant to 5 years old in September.
THE DTE of the last family who received a boy referral was 02/08/2008THE DTE of the last family who received a girl referral was 12/13/2007
THE DTE of the family who received referrals of sibling group 0-5 was 5/9/2008
THE DTE of the last family who received a referral of 5 year old female is 7/5/2008
We have now completed boy referrals for all families up to March for boys and up to February for girls
The next DTE for girl referral:2/1/2008
THE next DTE for boy: 3/3/2008

There are 4 families requesting boys with DTE 2/29/08/08. We are the first family with a DTE of 3/19/08. So we are family #5 in line for a boy.

The wait time for an infant boy has been 5-7. It is now possible to move to 7-9 months.

Our agency has been successful in giving out 10 referrals for the past few months. While they may give 10 referrals this month, most will be older children. Different variables are affecting the number of infant referrals for October.

The few children available this month have been unable to have a completed paperwork, making them ineligible for a referral at this time. Another reason is that most of the Orphanages are filled to the maximum and are waiting until some children leave to bring children into the city for their paperwork to be completed.


There was also a new fee increase that affects us now. It raises the amount of money we need to come up with in a month. I'm glad I took on extra teaching this quarter!! It just makes me want to bring our Micah home sooner and sooner!!

so that is where we are - waiting still - maybe even until the end of November now - we will likely travel 8 weeks after receiving a referral. I know I mentioned in the last post that I thought our son would be at an orphanage or our agency's transitional home - now I really am unsure - not really sure of anything to be honest! So we wait and pray that he is safe and protected!

Now, enjoy the pictures of my cute nephew Isaiah!! He makes me smile every day! He is almost five months now - but most of the pictures of between 3 and 4 months of age - notice that he has had ample buckeye uniforms since birth! He is a tiny bucknut!






Isaiah and his dad (my brother) wearing their AJ Hawk Jerseys