Bad News

Looks like the CCAA is going to hold off on sending out any more referrals or Travel Approvals for the time being, due to the Swine Flu. Luckily this should not affect our wait in any way; when the SARS epidemic hit a few years ago, the CCAA also halted all referrals, but they continued matching babies with families so that as soon as the travel ban was lifted they sent out huge batches of referrals to make up for the time lost. Since we still have years to wait, this will all even out long before they get to us on the waiting list.

I am a little sad because I was really excited about starting to move marbles and getting the "Countdown to Caitlin" rolling, but I really just feel terrible for the people who are next in line: those who were expecting their referrals to be arriving any day now, and those who just got their referrals last month and were waiting for their Travel Approval from China so they could go get their children and bring them home. Imagine waiting over 3 years, then finally having a picture of your child in your hand, but you can't get to her/him. I just can't fathom how devastating this news must be for them. After waiting so long, it's finally their turn, but now this. To just be held in limbo like this, with no idea of what's to come, or when, is just so heartbreaking.

Celebration Time (Again)!

Paul and I decided to celebrate our big LID news by treating ourselves to a nice Hawaiian restaurant in Pebble Beach that we have been hearing about. Even though we celebrated back in January before we left Virginia (when our paperwork was done and we thought our DTC and LID were just around the corner), we felt that we deserved another celebration since the past two months (since our last celebration) have been rough. :)

I have been wanting to see Pebble Beach and the 17 Mile Drive for as long as we've been here, but I did not want to pay the $9 fee to get in (call me frugal, but $9 to take a 17-mile drive seemed steep)! But since we had reservations at a restaurant on the 17-Mile drive, we were able to get in without charge. We went early so we could explore a bit before dinner. Both the 17-Mile drive and dinner were OUTSTANDING!! It was a very nice evening.

Marble Jars

Now that we have our LID we can start counting down! The waiting list is currently at March 8, 2006, meaning everyone with an LID on that date and before have already received their referrals. There are 1,109 days between that date and our LID (March 20, 2009), so all the people who are Logged In during those 1,109 days have to get their referrals before we can get ours.

The CCAA is currently only referring a few days worth of LIDs a month, but everyone is hoping for a speedup very soon (and there are many signs that it is beginning to happen). We are planning for a 3-year wait (that is how long the people who are getting referrals right now have waited), but we are hoping and praying for less- and we understand that it could be longer, too. So this will be a very long "pregnancy", but in the end it will be SO worth it!

I am going to keep up with the "Countdown to Caitlin" by using these jars:
The first jar is for "LIDs still to go". There are now 1,109 marbles in the jar to represent the number of LIDs that have to be referred before we can get our referral.

The second jar ("Days Closer to Caitlin") is currently empty, but as the CCAA sends out referrals I can begin moving marbles from Jar #1 to Jar #2, one for each LID referred.Hopefully the CCAA will send loads of referrals, and quickly! I can't wait to watch Jar #1 empty and Jar #2 grow!

I couldn't resist...

WE'RE ("paper") PREGNANT!!!!!!

March 20, 2009: our LID!!!

I just got an e-mail from Philip! I was so worried since it has been over 5 weeks since our DTC and I was so afraid China had lost our paperwork, but we have actually been Logged In for over 3 weeks now (exactly 2 weeks from our DTC)... China just took their sweet time letting us know! We are FINALLY officially on the waiting list!!!

We are FINALLY paper pregnant!!!!

Nada

Just wanted to update to say we still haven't heard anything. I e-mailed Philip on Friday (which marked the 4-week anniversary from our DTC; today is officially 1 month from our DTC) and he said that this has happened before (such a long wait from DTC to LID) and not to worry...

Easier said than done! (So much for a March LID.)