A sad update...

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I will try to get a few posts out over the next few days to catch up, but for right now...

Things in Vietnamese adoption are REALLY bad right now. Our chances of getting a referral before things shut down are close to zero. Pleaase, if you are so inclined, send a few prayers our way.

It's Official

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Our Daisy is from Vietnam.

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Another LID Anniversary!!

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7 months down! Yeah for us!

This past month flew by soooooo fast!

Are you Chinese??

China

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Ethiopia

* Haiti

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South Korea

*Vietnam

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We are contemplating a change of plans in the adoption path. We will meet with our social worker on Tuesday to discuss options related to switching programs. Programs that we are strongly considering are Vietnam and South Korea, and we would like to get more info on the Chinese special needs, Haitian, and Ethiopian programs as well. The prospect of making this change is difficult, but we know that which ever path we decide to take, it is the one that is meant to be. We are hoping that there is a program out there that is as perfect of a fit to our family as China is (was).

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We optimistically hope to have Daisy home within the next 12-24 months. We'll keep you posted!!

Did you hear the good news...

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Happy 6 month LID anniversary to us! We are headed for an adoption seminar in Madison on the 19th. In some ways it seems silly to us to have to go through this day A.G.A.I.N after we've already gone through an adoption from China. (Heck, we were even asked to speak at this type of thing on our own adoption experience. )But...on second thought...it IS a day dedicated to Daisy. A day to remind us that this is REALLY GOING TO HAPPEN...someday...even though it seems like an eternity from now.

Good-bye November!

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Congrats to the new families that were created last week with October referrals. Referrals are now in through November 30, 2005.

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Au revoir Novembre! And good riddance!

5 Months Down to Daisy!

I was thinking...

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If circumstances were the same as they were for Sofia's adoption...we'd be 1 month away from referral. Sigh...

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This month produced a whole 3 or 4 days of referrals. I think they are now up to November 25, 2005. (Yes, you read that correctly.) I think the Chinese adoption community is deserving of some good news in the near future, don't you??

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We will continue to be patient waiters. We love you sweet Daisy!

I can't believe I missed it again!

4 months down in our wait!

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Time has flown by this summer! It's hard to belive we are already 4 months into the wait. Too bad we have like 30+ months left (yes...it really is looking that bleak lately). With Sofia we were already 2/3 of the way to our referral by this time. I guess you can't sit and dwell on it...it will happen when it's supposed to happen.

A little late, but...

It has been 3 months since our log-in date (on the 12th)!

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Another month closer to our Daisy!

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Happy anniversary to us!!

Referral time again...

Congrats to the lucky mommies and daddies who will FINALLY be seeing their little ones' faces! Referrals have been issued through November 14, 2005.

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We're getting closer, one month at a time!

Happy Father's Day...

Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Daddy.

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Wishing all Daddies out there a GREAT DAY!

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We love you Daddy, Grandpa Geno, and Grandpa Pat!

2 months down!

It has been 2 months since our dossier has been logged in by the CCAA in Beijing. Unfortunately there isn't any excitingly positive news to announce. We are still looking at a heckuva long wait. I keep praying that one of these days I will log onto Rumor Queen to find some wonderful, worthwhile rumors that actually turn out to be true. The IA community has had far too much bad news from China lately. We could really use a boost.

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At any rate...another month down, another 18+ to go. At least we are getting closer to Daisy...even if it is only baby steps.

Can I just vent a little bit?

This whole wait thing seemed OK in the beginning. We thought, 18 months, hmmmm... That doesn't sound very difficult. Actually, it seemed like it might even be a good thing considering the age of our kids right now. It would give Sofia some more time to be the baby and Tate a little bit more time to enjoy middle-child-dom. (Actually, middle-child-dom can end at ANY TIME...I think Tate will be in a much better place when he is actually one of the big kids...)

But...fast forward 5 months...and here we are almost 2 months logged in and up to a 19 month wait (and climbing). Can the wait actually reach 36 months?? Is that even possible? It seems like so much can happen in 3 years. In many ways that feels like F.O.R.E.V.E.R.!! I need to adjust my attitude accordingly and it JUST ISN'T WORKING!!

OK...I'm done now...

Referral time...

Congratulationbs to all of the new families being created this month!

The stork made a surprise landing yesterday and the babies are as sweet as ever! This referral batch covered families logged in between November 2 - 7, 2005. I know that November 2005 is annoyingly large, but does it have to take 3-4 months to get through??

The wait is now officially up to 19 months and rising. Geesh...

1 Month LID Anniversary

It's official...1 month down, a gazillion to go...

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Do you remember in high school when you were excited when you celebrated monthly anniversaries with your boyfriends/girlfriends?? I remember when I was excited to reach each monthly milestone. I'm not so sure how I feel about that with regrads to our adoption...I mean, another month down is another month down...but when you're talking 36 months, 1 month doesn't seem like much.

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Not much new on the adoption front. We received a list of families that will potentially be travelling with us somewhere down the line. One of the families is from Wisconsin (I think the Milwaukee area), and we are very excited about that! Hopefully by the end of this horrendous wait our group will all still be in tact...let's face it, a lot can happy in 3 years (please, please, P*L*E*A*S*E don't let the wait get.that.long...) The encouraging news is that the next batch of referrals is RUMORED to include 15+ days. In the Chinese adoption world that is MAJOR news! What does that mean for us?? Well, IF the CCAA does deliver on the 15+ days this month and IF they can continue to keep that trend in the coming months (which is highly unlikely, given the bleak track record), we might be looking at an 18 month wait at a minimum for our referral. Oops...I mean 17 months...we are 1 month down, remember??

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We'll wait for you sweet Daisy...as long as it takes...

The stork is flying!!

It looks like new families will be made for those with a LID between October 27th and November 1st of 2005. Yes, this marks only 6 days of referral matches...but hey, it's better than the 2 days at the beginning of the month! Congrats to all of the new families!!

Only 17 more months ahead of us.

Ouch...

Let the Wait Begin...

Our official LID is April 12, 2007!!

Now...the 30++ (??) month countdown begins???

D*T*C!!!

As of today, March 20th, we are officially DTC (dossier to China)! We received word this afternoon from Sara that our dossier was sent to China TODAY along with 3 other families. We should be getting information about the other families in the near future so we can get in contact with them prior to travel. In our case, maybe we can get together and commiserate over the wait. It is going to be a long, yucky 18+ month wait. Fortunately for us, we have 3 sweetie-pies at home to keep us occupied.

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Next stop...LID (log in date)...

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(Hopefully this will happen sooner than later!)

Drumroll please....

On Saturday, March 3rd (Grandma Sarg's 95th Birthday!) we received our final document back from the state of Wisconsin and shipped our whole entire dossier off to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. YIPEE! It is a bittersweet moment when that package leaves your hands and is put into the hands of a system (ie. the US Postal Service) that doesn't have a bit of emotional connection to its contents. I've seen the TV specials where postal people throw their postal bags into the ditch and their mail never gets delivered. Fortunately for us we DID have the envelope tracked and it was signed for on Monday morning around 11:00 at the Chinese Consulate. THANK GOODNESS! We should get that back by the end of the week and then we can meet with Sara to go through the final walk-through. I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it will feel to get everything to China. Even though the wait is now 16 or 17 months (and climbing...), we still will be logged in and waiting. It will be a long, hard wait, but at least we know first hand about the miracle that awaits us in the end. How very appropriate that the end of our paperchase for Daisy is happening on the anniversary of Sofia's Gotcha Day! (2 years ago today!!)

I wonder when Daisy will be born???

And the winner is...

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We are very excited to have FINALLY come to a consensus on a name.

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We eagerly await the homecoming of our daughter/sister...

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DAISY MARGARET

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Named after my maternal Great-Grandma and Bob's Fraternal Grandma.

Cool, huh?