Round 3 of paperwork

Our paperwork for the US gov is off again with another check! Our paperwork is good each time for 18 months. Obviously, when we started this, 18 months was the wait time. Three times we are filing out the same forms- changing very little only our ages!
I was hesitating this time around b/c I am not bringing in a salary right now. I had already started the homestudy re-write in June, so some money was already spent. I guess I had to continue and hope for the best.
Once we get our paperwork update - it will be good for another 18 months. Then we will be grandfathered (no, not grandparents YET) and ask for another free extension for another 18 months. After that, it will be really hard to renew again.
We can't help that our original adoption family plan has changed and we will be 3 years older at that point.

Hopeless

I used the China Referral forecast calculator and this is what it came up with...

Our prediction for LID 2006-09-29
China has 191 days of dossiers to be processed before they get to your dossier. China currently processes about 3.1 days of dossiers each month.

Our best guess: 2013-04-17

Since China generally sends out referrals in a batch about once per month, your referral date could easily vary +/- one month depending on whether you just get included or just get missed in a particular batch.
About 4 more years....???????...

I'm so sad....

Counting the days

RQ gave a great post about visually helping kids understand the days before our referral. She mentioned using items in a jar like marbles or pennies or something that you could put a large amount in. After a referral date is posted by CCA* , then take out that number of days that were matched.
I think a jar would be really helpful for ME, too!

Here is our calculation of "days" left in line:
It is 192 days from the start date March 22, 2006 (the latest match date) to the end date (Sept. 29, 2006 -our LID date), end date included.

Or 6 months, 8 days including the end date

Alternative time units
192 days can be converted to one of these units:
16,588,800 seconds
276,480 minutes
4608 hours
27 weeks (rounded down)

You Might Be Adopting From China If:

(borrowed from The Shelton Family blog)

...you know that I-600 & I-171 aren't highways

...you've been expecting a baby for over 3 years

...you understand that it's 2006 in some parts of the world

...you've "paid for" 3 citizenships, but never brought anyone into the U.S

...you know that waiting for China has nothing to do with Macy's or dishes

...your homestudy is followed by a number (i.e. #3 or #4)

...you never know how many days next month will have

...you know that babies come in batches

...you've been fingerprinted four times, but never committed a crime

...you automatically assume everyone who is expecting is having a girl

...you own new clothing in 3 little sizes for all 4 seasons -because you don't know when or how big (I will add that she has more clothes than I do!)

...you look twice when you see a ladybug

...you're more interested in what will happen in April 2006 than in April 2009

...you know people who understand when you talk about 2 day months & 5 day months

...your due date hasn't changed by days, but by years

...you know who the Rumor Queen is ... AND ... you don't know who she is

...you know that forecast doesn't have anything to do with the weather

...you've waited so long, they re-checked your fingerprints to see if they changed

...trying to understand why they're printing you again, you study your own fingerprints and wonder if fingerprints grow wrinkles

...when you speak of "that time of month" you're talking about CCAA updates & referrals

This one made me laugh AND cry! God is good and if it is meant to be then it will be...

An Update of Sorts....

WOW! It has been five months since I did my last post. It isn't because I haven't been near a computer but as I said in my holiday letter - not much to say.

We are still waiting. We will go through another renew process this summer to keep our paperwork current. Way back I said that we wouldn't renew unless we were close. Well, we aren't much closer- random polls suggest anywhere from March 2010 on a good day to Dec 2015 on a bad day.
We will renew- it is just more waiting. While we soul search - I still feel the need to keep going. Like - I can't let go! I will try to use this time to keep reading information to help train us for a variety of adoption scenarios.

It has been 3 years this month since we made the decision and contacted an agency. The estimate at that time was 18 months. A bit long (*snort*) but we will use the time to get ready.

Still moving slowing but forward. They are on March 6th, 2006 LID - We are Sept 29, 2006 not far on a yearly calendar but may be years in a referral away. At this point - not much else to do....