in the mail?

Rumor Queen reports two agencies confirm referrals have been mailed!

Let's hope we're in.

Let's also hope our friends Renee & Joe (LID 4/10/06) are in! We overlapped briefly at Yokota, and they sold us their car. We originally met on Rumor Queen!

We. Do. Not. Know. When.

Well, I'll preface that by saying there are rumors matching has started or is finished and the cutoff is April 9th, 11th, or 12th. But none of it's solid yet.

As the excitement builds, everyone asks when? when? when?

If we knew when, we'd tell you. I don't understand why people don't understand.

Tonight for the first time, I got "why don't you know when?"

Ugh! Please, if you know anyone else adopting, don't ask "when" unless they are a really close friend you and really think they might know when. For the adopting family, it is a pregnancy without a due date.

I'll be so glad when the "when" questions are over. Only to move on to the next era of questioning!

April 5th cutoff

First of all, Happy Groundhog Day! We're guessing our girl saw her shadow and needed more time, because the new cutoff date is April 5, 2006. We are April 6. (Please read FAQs if none of this makes sense.) But the good news is, Fliss and other April 2006 friends are IN! And we are most likely next. Referral calls are already coming in.

Jeff & Doraemon practicing with the Ergo Carrier. Thank you, Sweeney family - we love it, and so does Doraemon!

He likes it, really!

And last night it snowed!

Rumors and Tokyo pics

Rumors are that matching has started, and referrals may arrive next week. All I can say is we may or may not be in.

Here are more photos from my Tokyo adventure:

matcha latte (made with powdered green tea) - delicious!

Zojoji Temple and Tokyo Tower

View from Tokyo Tower

Tokyo!

Someone gave me the most perfect weather for what may be one of my last solo adventures for a while.

shizukana (quiet)

Nothing too much to report. Our April 06 LID group people reported these vague nuggets:

• Someone with LID 4/12/06 said "the girl in the matching dept. said we should get a referral in the next month or two." I'm thinking the "girl" was someone from her agency.
• Someone said their agency expects matches around the 27th-ish. That's all I know - see, it's very vague!

Tomorrow I go to Tokyo to see friend Beth who's leaving Friday for China to meet their daughter. We're meeting at Kiddyland, a kitschy kids' store in Harajuku. Then lunch & beer! I'm spending the night at Yoyogi Youth Hostel just for fun and to do some quiet sightseeing.

Jeff is out of town, so the boys will have their robot feeders, and maybe a visit from nice neighbor, Shannon.

My head was spinning today after my lesson with Yukari-sensei (my Japanese tutor.) I'm learning so much! I can really talk with locals more now, and it's nice to make that connection.

All is quiet

Nothing to report. Rumor Queen's been giving us "filler" this time of month: info about sensory activities (good stuff!) and her usual fun fiction recommendations (mysteries & crime - not my genre, but we appreciate her trying to keep us entertained.)

I have fun photos to share later. I admit my previous calm is now replaced with stomach butterflies. Now that I'm over the Yokota Crud (a bad cold), I'm working out again, so that might help.

Thanks to all of you for checking the blog and words of support!

3 things

1. Latest rumor is April 2006 will be finished (families matched) around June/July 2010. This doesn't mean too much new for us, but it's good to know. It's somewhat discouraging for those with later LIDs.
2. The last batch was small (essentially one day, since April 1-2 was a weekend.) However, we heard many expedited families received referrals just before Christmas. "Expedited" means they qualify for Chinese heritage preference, or live/have lived in China for a while. I hear the "expedited" wait is much more frustrating because they don't hear anything for 6-7 months at a time. BUT, our expat friends in Tokyo (who recently moved here from China) got their referral (much earlier than expected)!! They were surprised just before Christmas! That is GREAT NEWS.
3. Our agency's April 3rd LID families received referrals (3) from Guizhou Province (south-central.) They range in ages from 13-24 months. Congrats to these famlies!

April 3rd

It looks like the cut-off is April 3rd.

April 1-2 was a weekend, so this was a very small batch. However, it's the 2nd batch in December. We really don't know what to expect next, but congrats to the families who are in!

We are LID April 6th.

First rumor

RQ says one agency reports matching has begun.

An interesting read is "how the matching room works."

It's a sunny & somewhat warm Christmas Eve here at Yokota Kichi.

(kichi = military base)

Hope you're having a nice Christmas Eve wherever you are. We just found a perfectly good nursery glider (rocking chair) on the side of the road! Thanks, Santa, or whoever left it out.

March is OVER!!!

Just got an email from our agency, saying CCAA announced they finished March 2006. Whoo-hoo!!!!!! They've been working on March 2006 for ALL OF 2009. Our family coordinator must've been up in the middle of her night (in USA) to report this info to us. ARIGATO to her!

If you look at the calendar above, you can see April 1-2 is a weekend (so not many people logged-in on those days.) Now, we just have to get through April 3, 4, 5, and 6. We are LID April 6, 2006. It still could be a long while, so just rerax. If none of this makes sense, read the FAQs and Terms & Acronymns.

Good thing I got some training from Linda and little AUBREY HEE-SOO this morning (all caps to emphasize her cuteness.) Thanks for the full diaper and big smiles!

Jeff is TDY, so we'll celebrate "March is Over" with drinks at Chili's another day. I drove to Tsurutsuru Onsen in the mountains today for a very relaxing soak in an outdoor hot spring.

I knew only good could come from that!

end of social week

This week was full of fun events: daytrip to Usabaro Kokeshi doll factory with friends, 2 spouse nights, lab, visit to Japanese school with friends to teach English, Thanksgiving feast with Jeff's office, Jeff's birthday & Ralph's adoption day, baby meal to friend (nice way to end the week.) And that's just my stuff! We're all ready for the weekend.

Our conference call with our agency is at 5 AM (I re-checked the time zone conversion - yippee, not 4 AM!)

It's pandemonium on Rumor Queen (we're used to it) regarding rumors about no referrals this month. As you can see, we're too busy to get a referral this month anyway.

Once again, mysterious delays

Where are the referrals? There's lots of discussion on Rumor Queen about the delay. Possible reasons are tossed about:

• New CCAA director wanting to delay and look at how things are done
• President Obama's visit to China
• Concerns about H1N1
• Trying to delay so March 2006 referrals are dragged out over all of 2009

We don't know, and there's nothing we can do. I was surprised by the lack of H1N1 concern during my China trip, but maybe other China regions are more concerned.

So now we just wait, play with the cats, enjoy the holidays, and wonder each day if Rumor Queen (or anyone on China Adopt Talk or Todo Adopcion - the "Spanish Rumor Queen") will throw us a bone.

On Saturday at 4 AM, we'll be in a conference call with our agency about what happens at referral time. At least that's something, or just more preparation to wait, wait, and wait, enjoy Japan, etc. By the way, the Japanese have amazing "winter illuminations" all around for nighttime sightseeing. Christmas music and decorations, too!

We don't have to update our home study after all. In networking all over the globe to find that answer, we've made some new friends, including other adoptive families here in Japan and Asia. All we can do at this point is help each other!

Packages in the air

First, a few sweet moments with Ralph and Doraemon:

Rumor is that packages are in the air. No one knows what the packages are, and probably nothing for us. But some families will no doubt be celebrating!


No matter who joins our family, Ralph will always be our tiny baby.

First rumor

There's a vague rumor that all of March is assigned.

I uploaded all my China photos on Flickr, but haven't finished the descriptions yet. Now I have to email the friends I met there. That's Hai Ou (her name means seagull) by the camel in Nanjing. She spoke English well, and was very smart. She taught me all about the Ming Tomb and helped me ride the bus and find my hostel.



We've been busy figuring out our next home study update. This will be our fourth and hopefully final one!

Any day now

We expect to see rumors on the next batch and cut-off date any day now. We'll be checking Rumor Queen a lot! It'd be nice if CCAA at least gets through March 31, 2006 (our LID is 4/6/06.) I'm still catching my breath from my China trip, and will definitely get my photos up on Flickr soon. For now, here are a few pics from Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.

Cereal selection at Wal-Mart Supercenter in Nanchang: mostly hot grain cereal, and 4 varieties of cold cereal (see top row)! No Cheerios, Gerber Puffs, or similar baby snacks to be found. And I spent a lot of time studying that Wal-Mart. Plenty of wipes and other non-food baby supplies, though.

Me at TengWeng Pavilion. I climbed to the top for a view of a somewhat ugly river & skyline (sorry, Nanchang.) There was a jovial group of businessmen who wanted pictures with the foreigner. The gardens and fish-turtle ponds were nice. It had an elaborate bonsai (miniature tree) garden. As I arrived, the America World group was leaving, so I got to see the families & babies briefly before they headed "home" for their naps. Afterwards, I explored the Gloria Hotel, and Shengli shopping street for teeny-bopper fashions and a shrimp sandwich at KFC.

Victoria, British Columbia

I'm in Victoria, BC, today. Just sightseeing until I can hopefully catch the Space-A flight back home Saturday. Victoria is lovely - clean air and bright sunshine, fancy old buildings on the waterfront, and mountains in the distance. Yesterday I took a public bus to Butchart Gardens. My favorite parts were the Sunken Gardens and Japanese Gardens. There were lots of Chinese tourists there, and I was surprised to understand a few of their words! Today I head back to Washington state. Can't wait to get home to Jeff, Ralph, and Doraemon.


On the rumor front, they say CCAA came back to work Friday the 9th, so maybe we'll see referrals (not ours yet) trickle in.

Nothing until after Oct. 13th

Chinese National Day holiday week started October 1st, so the CCAA will be off until October 8th. They will probably return to work October 13th (after the weekend.)


So, as was rumored, it looks like "September" referrals won't be mailed until after the holiday.


Also, there's talk that CCAA might be delaying these referrals to wait & see what happens with H1N1 flu as flu season starts.


All we can do is enjoy the here and now! I hope they have a good holiday. Yesterday I saw some news photos of the holiday celebrations in China. I understand this and Chinese New Year are their biggest holidays.

Rumor Roundup

A friend tonight had a very intelligent question: what have we heard this month? Well, it's a slightly topsy-turvy month for rumors. Here's what we've heard:

• March 29th may be in (remember, we're April 6th.)


• Referrals may not be mailed until after Oct. 8th due to Chinese National Day holiday.


• Packages are in the air


• But we don't know what these packages are (from CCAA)


• Somebody says they're matching all of March in this batch. We've heard these silly things before, and they are never true.

So we're just holding tight and enjoying the ride. I found some nifty things at Batesville Wal-Mart: travel changing pad (pink!), scented diaper bags with dispenser, Triple Cream exczema cream.

If none of this makes sense, see FAQs and Terms & Acronymns on the right side of this blog.

Batesville

I (Heather) am in Batesville enjoying some relaxation time with Mom and her four cats. We plan to watch some movies (Totoro, The Changeling, Sunshine Cleaning.) I've been in the mood for something scary!

Jeff is home working and taking care of the cats. I miss them all!

Nothing new on the rumor front. We thought referrals might arrive this week, but it looks like CCAA might hold off until just before or just after their upcoming holiday week (Oct. 1-8, China National Day.) I heard this holiday week and Chinese New Year are really their only holidays from work. So I say, enjoy!

Vancouver

Mom & I toured Vancouver, BC. It was beautiful! I had a couple good runs on the waterfront and Stanley Park. We had a nice cab driver take us on a night tour of the city lights and water views. He also drove us through Stanley Park to see totem poles and raccoons. Supposedly there are bears in the park, but we didn't see any (darn!) Vancouver is where my dad grew up, so we drove around some residential areas to imagine his childhood there.

Nothing new on the rumor front. We expect (other people's) referral calls any day, then we might know the latest cut-off date (March 27? 28? 29?) Everyone's thinking the 29th.

I miss Jeff & the cats. I will Skype with them soon!