Finally.... referrals!!!

***edit! TWO more referrals today! Congrats to Mona and Cristina who both got their referrals today!!! I hope these referrals keep coming, and I really hope Dianne is next!!!

Congratulations to Allison who received a referral for a baby girl, and John & Penny who received a referral for a baby boy!!! I am just so happy for them that their wait is finally over (well, not exactly but it's almost over). News like this is so encouraging to everyone else who is waiting in the adoption world. It makes me feel like it really will happen. One day, we will get the call and our lives will be completely changed!!!

AND

Congratulations to all those who received visas today and can book flights to go and bring home their children! Five families found out their visas were in (including Justine!-on my blog list).


This week-end Mike and I are going to 100 Mile House with 30 Korean children to have a Canadian adventure!!! If you want to see where I'm going they have a website: www.springlakeranch.com It looks beautiful, it's a horse ranch on a beautiful lake!


I think it will be good to get away from adoption forums and blog addictions for five days too (eek! how will I survive?). I just hope I have the energy to keep up with these kids.

4 months

**edit** More Luck!!! Today at work one of my students from China came to me and gave me a Chinese knot! She told me of how the knot and the colour red will bring me luck. Yeah! I've received this gift before but today it felt like it had extra meaning. Maybe this knot will bring us even more luck! We've got the Irish and the Chinese on our side, now we just need some Ethiopian luck to come our way!




I was looking for a picture to go with our four month milestone and I found this four leaf clover. I had to use it because our dossier arrived in Ethiopia on St.Patrick's Day!!! Maybe this is a sign.... lucky number four!
On second thought, yeah right.... this would be extremely wishful thinking since no referrals have come in in the past month. This means that there are many people waiting ahead of us and I feel so bad for them because they have been told that it will be soon and now they're almost waiting 8 months!



And so the waiting continues.... I still find joy though in thinking that if our referral does come in at six months then that means we could see our boys face in 8 WEEKS!!!! 8 WEEKS! I am going to continue to be hopeful....

"Like cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a distant land"

The other night I started feeling like we were close to meeting our little one. Or at least like he was born and waiting for us. The next day I got this email and it got me all teary eyed at work. Our agency, Imagine Adoption, has bought a second transition home to keep up with the amount of waiting families here in Canada! Right now, if all the beds are full and they are waiting on visas they cannot take in any more babies. So, our agency just bought a 6500 sq. ft. home and purchased 40 new cribs! This also means that the old home will be able to have more room for older children and toddlers. In the email the words "lessen the wait time" were mentioned. Now, I know all you APs out their know what this does to you. I immediately became so excited at the thought that our referral could be on its way. However, I emailed my caseworker the next day and was told that this new home will just mean they can keep up with their current timelines. Hm.... what to do. I suppose I will just wait.

Adoption is such a bizarre thing though, because one moment I am rejoicing that they bought 40 new cribs and then the other I am realizing that 40 moms are in a desperate situation in order for these children to be placed for adoption. What feels like good news to us, is someone elses heartbreak. I pray that if our son's birth mom is alive, that the news of her baby being adopted will be good news to her soul and that she will have peace over the whole process.


(this is where our baby will live and where we will meet him....just had to write that because it still feels too surreal!)

Before pictures and life at 3.5 months

As per Dianne's request here are a couple before pictures of the room (currently pretty ugly). I spent the last few days going through piles of paper and haven't done much more than that. I did make room downstairs for our desk so I should be bringing that downstairs soon. And then there's the issue of the toilet.... still waiting.

Before:




Life at 3.5 months:

So far no referrals have been made and with the nearing court closures in Ethiopia I find myself feeling really frustrated for the families that have been waiting over six months with no news. Basically, if a family gets a referral during the court closures (August ?-September ?) their wait from referral to travel could extend from 4 months to as long as 7 months. I am definitely praying for some referrals to be given out in the next week so that they can have a court date by August. Currently, our agency says they are waiting on PCR tests to come back for the babies.... I'll keep you posted!