Dec 14 Cutoff for Dec Referrals

December referrals arrived last week, but I've been busy and haven't had a chance to post. Not a stellar amount of referrals again, but at least that's quit being a shocker and has become status quo. We are still hoping for a September referral and a November travel date, so maybe she will be here by next Christmas. Other than that... not much else to tell. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Until next month....

It's Referral Time again...

and maybe someday we'll get to announce it's our referral, but not yet. :)

The CCAA has matched another 8 days, which is probably the most they've done in MONTHS! (BTW, the cutoff is Dec. 8 if you don't feel like scrolling down a few posts). At this rate, our referral date is still less than a year away, so I do finally feel like we're getting somewhere. By my latest predictions, we will get our referral in August or September. We may get to spend our birthdays in China next year, picking up our baby. And Brian thought a puppy would be a hard gift to top!

The New Blog Title ... Redux

Yes... I have decided to change the title yet again! Even though the interim title worked, I thought this one seemed to fit a little better. I got the inspiration this weekend while we were working on the pergola. Since Brian did most of the work, and I was the "gopher", I spent my down time watching the butterflies, bumblebees, and dragonflies, and I got the inspiration for the new title. I have included a picture of one of my friends!

The New Blog Title

Sometime last week, I decided that we needed to rename our blog something that was more unique to us. After lots of thought and ideas being tossed about, we decided to re-title our blog "Sierra's Charge". We think the name works well because we are pretty certain that she will become Hana's guardian dog once she arrives into our home. I even wonder if she will even sleep under our bed anymore. I think her new "sleeping quarters" will be under the crib.

Adios November!

The next batch of referrals arrived on Tuesday. They matched through Nov. 30, 2005. I guess I could be a little sad that the CCAA only matched a few days worth of LIDs with this batch, but since I'm trying to be a glass half full kind of gal, I'm pretty happy just to see them finish up with November. So, where does that put us? Well, I still think it can be anytime between May and August, but since the upcoming months are unknown, who knows. We still have a bit of time, but each referral does bring us closer to March 20.

Until next month.......

4 more days referred

The CCAA matched through Nov. 25 with this last referral batch. We have finally made it to the end of November, so maybe with any luck the next batch will finish it off. It seems to have taken most of this year to get through October and November LIDs. Let's just hope that Dec, Jan, and Feb go a little faster, or we won't receive a referral until 2010! I'm just kidding. I still think that we will receive referral in a little less than a year. By my best estimates, I think it could be anywhere between May and Aug of next year, with Aug being more likely. Of course, that means that we will need to redo our USCIS paperwork one more time, but I think that they may actually waive the fee the next time. I know this isn't the best news, but we are well beyond halfway!

August Referrals...

and the CCAA has matched through Nov. 21, 2005. Yes, I've been slack with promptly posting, but I have been wrapped up in Harry Potter, so I've not been spending a lot of time online. I'll try to do better next month, since I should have the last book read by then.

July Referrals are here...

Referrals began arriving on Friday, and the CCAA has matched through Nov. 14, 2005. We are now 7 days closer to referral. Last month I mentioned that we could begin counting in months and no longer say a year, but I may have spoken too soon. Looking at recent trends, it still may be another year before we get our referral. It's hard to tell at this point. I was really hoping we would be traveling by next June so we won't have to renew fingerprints and the 171H, but it's not looking promising at this point. In any case, November is 1 day shy of halfway done, and that is the last huge month until March. Hopefully, they will get through December, January, and February a little faster than what it took to get through October and November. Then we make it to March, which is our month, so it will be all down hill from there. However, based on the trends of October and November, and the fact our LID is closer to the end of March, we will most likely be the third or fourth referral batch. Of course, I hope referrals go faster, but I'm preparing everyone (and me) for what to expect.

Until next month....

Nov. 7 It Is....

As promised, I am updating the cutoff date for the most recent batch. It's not halfway through November as the earlier rumors predicted, but it does cover more days than the April and May referrals. I guess you could say I am taking the glass half full approach. Now, for all of you wondering when she'll finally get here, my predictive model is saying we'll get our referral in May '08. I know it seems like a LONG way off, but considering we have been in process for two years already, we're 2/3 of the way complete! And, after saying that we'll be a referral "about this time next year" for two years, I can start giving my estimates in months.

So... we will get our referral in about 11 months! Boy that feels good to say! :)

OK... I've been Slack on the Posting

I know it's been a while since I've posted... but there's really not been much exciting to post. Both April and May referrals were small and disappointing, and I just couldn't bring myself to post the bad new. So thank you for stopping by and checking, and I'm sorry I've been such a bad blogger! At least October was completed with May referrals, so one of the two big months are down!

As far as June referrals go, a few parents have been posting that they received the call, but I don't think all referrals are in. So far, it appears that the CCAA has matched at least through Nov. 7, but nothing official has been posted yet. Once I get official word, I will post the next referral cutoff!

March Referrals are here...

The CCAA has finished matching LIDs through October 24, 2005. It's not all of October, but there is only one week of left in October, and onto November. It doesn't look like there will be a speed up, but at least the monthly referrals are getting a little more predictable. If China continues matching at the current rate, I think we will get our referral next February. It seems like such a long time, but we've already been waiting for a year, so what's a few more months. And who knows... anything can change in a year.

We are out of REVIEW!!!!!!

The CCAA FINALLY updated their website last night, and our dossier has made it through the review room! It's not quite the referral, but we are one step closer! We have finally made it to pending referral status. We are still in for a quite a long wait, but at least that's the last hurdle until we finally see her face!

Referrals are here!

The stork landed yesterday. The CCAA has completed matching LIDs through 10/13/2005. We are now 16 days closer to Hana. As exciting as that is, I do need to keep reminding myself that the CCAA had the first week of October off, so no dossiers were logged in those days. But, they did make it to almost mid October, and we are still closer. October and November are both very big months, so let's hope they match lots of families and speed right on through!

It's Referral Time!

First, I will start by apologizing that I never posted last months referrals. They arrived on Nov. 30 and went through 9/8/05, covering 14 days worth of LIDs. Between peparing for the holidays and feeling a little depressed from the wait, I just couldn't motivate myself to post.

Anyway, onto this month's referrals...

They arrived today, and the CCAA completed matching families with LID through 9/27/2005. This batch included 19 days! This is actually the largest number of days covered since Oct. 2005! I know... this sounds really exciting, but it's still a bit early to get our hopes up. September was a pretty small month and quite light on the dossiers, so I don't want to get too excited yet. For the past 15 months, the CCAA has been averaging about 13 days per referral batch. At that rate (which I'm really hoping speeds up because 1 day could mean another month of waiting), we are expecting to get our referral in March 2008. I'm actually a little more hopeful that we actually will receive our referral in Jan, but time will tell. We're still a little too far out to accurately predict.

So... what to expect in the upcoming months? Sept. 29, 2005 was a pretty big day. I'm pretty confident that will be included with the next referral batch, but how many other days will be included? Well, the CCAA was off for the first week of October last year. So no LIDs from Oct. 1-7, and a few of the days following are pretty light as well. I'm really hoping (and it's a long shot) that they get to at least the middle of October. So everyone keep your fingers crossed. The remainder of October and November are both pretty mammoth months, so no telling what will happen. I'm hoping it stays consistent (or speeds up), but I'm bracing for the realization that less days will be covered. I guess time will tell. Brace yourselves for the great wait of 2007!