Yep, really has been 17 months

It seems crazy that we have been waiting this long, but we have and we will continue until that phone rings. It will ring you know. The good news today is that we got our renewed I600a approval in the mail. Very quick turn around this time. So, I will just keep doing what I do best, wait.

This wait is becoming unwaitable!!!

I don't know how much longer I can wait. There haven't been any referrals that I have heard about from our orphanage. I keep thinking that I might be waiting way past July. I accepted into my mind a date of the beginning of July which is 18 months. I thought that was realistic, but I don't know now. I can maybe handle August but after that check me into a crazy house. Seriously, one can only take so much. I am half joking because obviously I am in this for the long haul, but who knew the haul would be this long! I don't want another Christmas without him. Let there be a rainshower of babies in Taiwan.

Re-Printing Done!

OK, today's stress is all over. We got reprinted, so now we just need our new approval letter from Homeland Security to come before a referral does. I don't see a problem with that. This has to be the last time I go through this. We planned on being fifteen minutes early for our appt. and hit traffic from road work on the highway and were twenty minutes late! After the way we were treated last time, I thought for sure we would be told to go home and reschedule but surprisingly the guard and everyone else was very nice. We met a couple adopting from Guatemala who were shocked this was our second time there. Smooth sailing once we get that letter in our hands. Now to cut the grass and enjoy the sunshine.

My nine year old daughter Taylor came home from school today. She said one of her classmates asked her teacher if the Empire State Bldg is the tallest bldg. in the world. Her teacher replied no-The Sears tower is. I DON"T THINK SO! Taylor came home and told me her teacher was wrong. She went straight to the computer and printed out the Taipei 101 statistics and is bringing them to class. She said see mom- I knew I was right. Go Taylor! I told her hopefully by Christmas we will take the elevator to the top. We are all learning so much from this adoption journey.

My oldest daughter got her ears pierced today. It brought back memories. They still do it pretty much the same way.

This says it all!

I didn't get a good fortune on Friday in my cookie. In fact I didn't even get a cookie. I'll try next week.

Do You Ever Feel Like This???

Maybe it's the rain? Maybe it is the fact we have been waiting over 16 months, but whatever the reason, this is how I feel today!!! Everyday the same thing, no news and nowhere closer than we were yesterday.

Is He Born Yet?

I often have wondered over the months if my son is born yet? I pick a day in my head and obviously it is wrong. But, what if he really is born now? I am going to take a shot in the dark at a date and we'll see how close I come. DOB May 15th. With my luck that will be year 2008. No seriously if it takes 18 months which is what I am now hoping. I can't believe I am at the point of hoping for that timeframe, but if it does, then he will be approx. 6 weeks old at referral. So May 15th it is. A referral at the beginning of July. So in six weeks I will have a picture of my son. Hopeful thinking. An impossibility? We will find out. Next Thursday I will be reprinted. So that will give me enough time for my new approved I171 to come to me. Everything is falling into place, now we just need a little guy in a diaper.

What If?

Hello, Again I am in a good mood. Amazing. I really have got this waiting thing down pat. The weather has been nice consistently. The grass is green and the flowers are growing. I don't anticipate a call anytime before July but who knows. Right now it has been about 16 1/2 months. Families are now averaging about 18 months! Unbelievable. If we only knew back then. Actually, I still would have waited.

So, every Friday night we get take-out chinese food. What if my fortune inside my fortune cookie says this...I can dream can't I?

Today Is A Happy Mood Day!

Yes I am in a good mood today. I finally got the whole homeland security mess cleared up. See below if you have no clue what that means. I sent in a new app.to refile my I600a even though it is four months to expiration. This way, since my fingerprints are expiring now, I can avoid having them done for a third time in three months-which is dumb anyway.Why they don't have the fingerprints and I600a expire at the same time, is beyond me. So today i got a letter saying they received my check for $685.00 and will be scheduling a fingerprint appt. soon. This is hopefully the last time I have to pay for one of these.

The other good thing was that my caseworker at FCA told me that we are the only family at the top of her list waiting for a boy. The other families are way behind me. It is a different story at the orphanage in Taiwan where there are several families still ahead of me, but that is still good news for me. At least I am at the top of somebody's list.

Oh the only thing that could happen, that would be bad, would be for me to actually get a referral now, while my paperwork is in limbo. Yeah right. Like that will happen. So for once I need the referral to wait at least another month. That shouldn't be a problem. I see myself still writing these letters in three months. Until next time...

I Got A Ticker!!

See my ticker at the top?? My friend Ann, whom many of you know from the adoption groups put it on here for me. Isn't it cute? I always wanted one but couldn't get it on here. I am not that coordinated to do anything slightly complicated on the computer. I am happy now.

Oh My God!!!

I know some of you can relate to this because you are going through it also right now, but I am going out of my head with this paperwork renewal garbage. I have to redo everything and pay all over again because none of the government paperwork lasts as long as we are waiting. I have to get refingerprinted which alone is a pain in the rear. I have to make an appt and drive with Billy to Manchester at the designated time and have to endure the rude people in the INS office. I have to again pay $140. Ok so I was planning on doing that next week. My Dept of Homeland Security paperwork which costs $550 is expiring in August. I just found out that possibly when I redo the paperwork the new fingerprints will be invalid and I will have to have them redone AGAIN!!! Another $140. So I thought I was really ingenious. I got all my Govt paperwork together and got a certified check and sent all my birth cert, marriage license, homstudy etc out and mailed it out so that I could renew now and just get the fingerprints done once with the Govt paperwork. That is how it is done in the first place. Well I found out six hours after I dropped it into the mailbox with the big check that it possibly cannot be refiled until one month before its expiration!! So basically that means I wait for it to come back. Meanwhile my prints are almost expired and I get them redone now and I redo my paperwork in August and redo my prints again. Nice!

Also, it looks like the wait may be closer to 18 months. There are apparently still many families in front of me. No problem. After dealing with this paperwork mess, it isn't a big deal. Unless he isn't home for Christmas.

I Had To Do It

I made the mistake in emailing my caseworker today. I had to. I just needed to know what was going on and why it is taking so long for a referral. I knew there would be no good news but I did it to myself as usual, again. I have been irritated lately because I have come to the realization that my immigration clearance is also going to expire before the baby comes home. That paperwork was a pain to do and very expensive. I am not trying to put a price tag on my son, but having to repeat things that shouldn't need to be redone irritates me. I heard the cost went up also. So I emailed Jennifer to tell her that it will be expiring. I was hoping she would say- Don't worry I was just about to call you to tell you that we have a baby for you- yeah right. Instead she said that I need to keep all my forms and passports up to date. Of course, what else would she say. Also she said that she is saddened at the fact that our family has had to wait this long and she still feels hopeful. She said she will speak to Cathwel this week and try to get information or advice. Advice? Advice on what - Wait longer? I know other families have had to wait longer than me, but sometimes I don't think I can take it any more. Have I said this already in previous posts? I should check the dates I write things. Maybe it is monthly thing. You know what I mean. So, the baby ducklings have been keeping me busy, but they aren't the same. I can't put diapers on them, well I could but that would be weird. Actually I was lying on the rug with them tonight and one of them pooped on my arm. That might happen with my son. All I want is to know who he is and I won't complain anymore, I promise. So everyone wish really hard and make my next post be the big one.

Re Introduction

I thought I would re-indroduce my family for those who don't want to scroll all the way down to the end and read everything again. My husband Billy and I started this journey in August of 2005. We thought the journey would end by October of 2006, but here we still are without a baby or a referral even. That is OK though. I am getting content waiting. We finished our homestudy up in Dec of 2005 and were put on the waiting list at Cathwell at the end of that year. Our adoption agency is FCA. We have requested an infant male. We have two girls at home now ages 11 and 9. We live in NH on two acres in a cute white house which you can find at the other end of this blog. We have many animals, although not as many as we used to. We own Subway restaurants so that is where me and my hubby spend our days together and the girls also during vacation. Now contrary to what you might see everywhere else, our Subways are clean. I feel the need to mention that because I see alot of stores that are dirty and mine are not. Oh and my husband and I actually get along most of the time even though we work and live together. So we have been waiting and waiting for a long time. To add to it, we are building a house in Florida and are moving in the winter. So, I do need him home as soon as possible. I don't want to get off the plane and get into the Uhaul. Not my initial plan. But I will take what I can get at this point. So we are hoping for a call soon. The only thing is that there haven't been too many referrals coming out of Cathwell lately and I know of at least a few families ahead of me. So my guess is no referral until June. That would put us at 17 months. Anything later than that and I will be dead, dead from waiting. So that is us in a nutshell. We are a quiet happy family with all four passports ready to go. Just need our "William".

New Ducklings! peepers and lil peep

ARGGGGGGGHHH!!!

OK, this is getting crazy. My computer broke for a couple weeks and I thought for sure, I would get a call then. Nope. We are almost at 16 months now. We did have a couple of babies-ducklings that is. I will be satisfied with them for now. They actually keep me as busy as my daughters did when they were born. Soon I will be getting my fingerprints redone and if nothing happens by August my big stuff expires. My immigration paperwork. Lots of money. Well I wish I had more to say. It is always the same. I will report good news when it comes.

Yes, we are still waiting....15 months!

I hate to say it. There has been no call. Family asks and all I can say is I don't know. I would never change my mind about adopting from this wonderful country. I would do it again in a heartbeat, but I have to say this waiting is killing me. Nothing in my life has been as hard as this. Wondering if he is lying there in the orphanage yet. Wondering why the mom's haven't picked us. My caseworker said we are being shown, so why not us. It is almost better not to know when you reach the top of the pile, because you expect a call. When it doesn't come, it is heartbreaking. I know the right mom will find us, but please soon. I don't want to wait anymore. The even worse thing is that I know of other families waiting longer than me. So knowing that worries me also. I keep thinking that putting all those animal pictures in my photo album might be hurting us. Or maybe the fact that we are self-employed scares the mothers. Maybe we don't make enough. I thought they liked Subway in Taiwan. Maybe they think we will make him work there. Well, at least the mother who picks us will like us for who we are. I can't wait to meet her. I am going to give her the biggest hug and say Thank You. I am going to take a picture of her with Me and William and I am going to frame it and put it on the wall next to his crib so he can see her when he goes to sleep and wakes up everyday. Now just pick us!!!

Billy and the girls ready for Splash Mountain

Why do they have ponchos? I know you are saying why go on Splash mountain and not get wet. Well it was in the 50's and raining. That's why.

Taylor at Japan in Epcot

Tay looked so pretty in this kimono. I hated to tell her she couldn't buy it. I promised her one in Taiwan. I hope they have them

STILL WAITING!!!!

Oh my god, I am still waiting in March now. I went on vacation because I knew for sure if I stopped thinking about the phone ringing, it would ring. That didn't work. This is just crazy. I am not panicking, but a little worried. I think the birthmoms are passing us over for other families. I have also heard some families have waited 16 months now. I am not going to make it that long.
On the positive note, vacation was awesome. We went to my favorite place in the world- Disneyworld. This is our eighth trip. I never get tired of it. Billy conquered some of his fears and went on some big rides. Now we are back in the arctic. Below zero here.
My next post has to be a good one, this can't go on forever. Wish me luck.