Real deal Holyfield!

It's not a rumor anymore.  China has OFFICIALLY matched through Sept. 19, 2006.  That's us....we're IN!  Now we just patiently, who am I kidding, we wait like a kid in a candy shop for our agency to give us "the call".  We're not sure if they will receive papework today or Monday....and if it goes into Tue. or further, I'll be wearing Depends.  Looks like I'll spend the day mopping floors, cleaning windows, changing beds, laundry, ironing, etc....I think I'm nesting!!!  Ahhhhh, this feels so unreal.

Braxton Hicks or the real deal....

Well, we've heard a rumor that China has matched through Sept. 19th!  If it's true it means that we have FINALLY been matched with our daughter.  This better not be some jr. high rumor that isn't true or I'm going to be a mess until this time next month!  This could possibly mean that I'm officially "in labor".  Not sure when the labor stops....when I get her info. or when I get HER!  I feel like once I see a picture I will feel like this is REALLY going to happen.  The stork is in the air!!

Now we wait for everything to arrive at our agency and for them to make "the call"....

Another day....

According to the rumors posted on the Internet, China is matching right now.   Looks like we won't hear anything until Friday at the earliest!  For those of you who don't quite understand how all this works, let me explain:
1. After Doug and I turned 30 (the legal age to adopt from China) we filled out paperwork (lots & lots of paperwork) and sent to China.  Our paperwork arrived there on Sept. 19, 2006 (our log in date LID)
2. It was supposed to be a 12-14 month wait from LID to referral (referral is when you get matched   
    with a child and they send you the child's info.)
3. We sat and waited for China to get to Sept. 19, 2006 (when we started the process back in 2006
    they were caught up to about Sept. 2005).  So, it looked like it should take them 12 mo. to get to 
    Sept. 2006.
4.  During the wait time we had to update all of our paperwork, homestudy, and fingerprints every 18
    mo. with the Dept. of Homeland Security.
5.  As of June 2012, China had matched through Sept. 15, 2006.  They only match once a month,
    usually at the end of the month.  This month, we know they will begin matching all the people
    logged in on Sept. 16th.  Well, the 16-17 was a weekend so they will definitely match those days  
    since no on is logged in on weekends.  So, the 18th is definitely in this month and hopefully the
    19th and further. 
6.  China is just now matching for this month so they will have to complete the process and send all
    the referral information to all agencies who have clients logged in on those days.  This is where we
    are now.
7.  If Sept. 19th has been matched this month, then our agency will receive a packet with all of our
   child's info. on Friday or early next week.  Our social worker will call and tell us that we have been
   matched, send an email with basic info. attached and then mail all the info. via FedEx within a few
   days.  All of the info. has to go through translation before we get it.
8.  Then, we do lots more paperwork, wait about 3-5 months and then travel to China to bring our
    daughter home.
*At this point, we have no idea what child China will refer us.  We requested a healthy girl, ages 0-24 months.  We don't know what she looks like, how old she is, or what area of China she is from.  We don't know if she's been in a foster home or orphanage and we'll never know anything about her biological family.  So, in a nutshell....that's our journey.

Winding down...

We're winding down our summer this week, getting ready for school to start on Aug. 1st.  I wish I had done a better job of continuing school through the summer a few hours a week, but live and learn I guess!  I was so ready to have a summer vacation in May that if my kids had WANTED to continue school, I probably would have sent them to travel with the fair for the summer.  I'm sure they would have learned lots of life skills while on the fair tour.  When I was 16 I went bungee jumping at the fair.  Can you tell me what's wrong with that last sentence?  There is no reason why bungee jumping and fair should be in the same sentence.  I'm not sure how high it was, but I was lifted off the ground in a cage and pulled to the top of a crane.  Then, I opened the cage (still, more words that shouldn't be in this story) and I jumped out.  My best friend rode up in the cage with me (it cracks me up how many times the word cage is being used in this story) and she cried and cried as I prepared for my swan dive.  I really think she was mentally preparing my funeral. I obviously survived, but that was the one and only year the cage/crane/bungee jumping attraction was available at our fair.  I guess the Fair Board realized it wasn't such a swell idea to send people head-first toward the ground from atop a crane.  For the record, my dad signed the consent form for me to jump.  I'm thinking that he suddenly realized he was going to be paying for 3 kids in college and this seemed like a good way to get one out of the way.  Anyway, my kids weren't sent off to the fair.  Instead they have spent a summer outside, playing like crazy, sweating profusely and letting their brains turn to mush...sort of like mine was when I thought fair bungee jumping was a good idea. 

nothing yet...

This waiting for a phone call is going to give me irritable bowel syndrome! 

12th Anniversary

Today is our 12th anniversary!  I'm extremely blessed to be married to my wonderful, godly, adventurous, handsome husband!  I love him more and more each day.  We laugh that we don't always LIKE each other, but we DO still love each other through thick & thin.  How he's managed to still like me some of the time, I'll never know.  He's definitely a keeper!  The 12th anniversary gift is supposed to be silk.  I'm certainly hoping for a picture of a beautiful little girl in a silk dress this week...that would be the icing on my anniversary cake.

Crickets, crickets....

I'm going nuts waiting to see if we're IN this month!  Our 12th anniversary is on Sunday and I'm hoping that my anniversary gift is a picture of a little brown-eyed bundle.  I haven't slept well the past few nights, and when I do I dream about her!  I dream about getting the call, our first moments together, coming home as a family, etc...  It's all-consuming right now and the longest labor I've ever experienced!  I've given birth without pain meds., with Pitocin on top of that...twice!  But, this baby has definitely been the longest and hardest labor this momma' has experienced!  I feel such peace that this is the final addition to the Perry home so I really am trying to enjoy every minute of this journey.  I have worried that I'll feel different about her than my other two girls, but I can tell you that as I get closer and closer to the moment, I am falling madly in love!  It's amazing how you can love a little bundle you've never met.  Although she's not growing in my tummy, my heart sure is swelling because she's "growing like a weed" in there!  Hopefully my next post will say...."we're in"!!