July 22

July 22... It's official. That was the cut-off LID date for the August referral batch. Now to wait for September. I'm still holding out hope for more referrals this week or next - to add to the surprise of this latest batch. You see, typically, agencies know when the CCAA sends out referrals, typically once a month at the end of the month. Even my agency said last week that they heard CCAA was working on referrals and then seemed just as surprised as everyone else that they were in the mail the next day. Now it looks like those of us with 8/30 LIDs won't see anything until November at the earliest... Since I first sent in application inquiries in November 2004, that would put me at an official 2 year wait by the time I learn who my daughter is. There's not much else to do but wait and pass the time.

Last week I passed the time at the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club - it was interesting to watch Tiger Woods at the finals. He makes it look so easy. I wonder if my girl will be the next famous golfer with Woods as a last name...

And this past Sunday, I spent in Chinatown with a terrific group of friends who all have or will have adopted from China. Our small group is growing... and getting noisier, but in nice way! So much so that the restaurant gave us a nice little coat closet all to ourselves. Very cozy. We had dim sum at the Phoenix restaurant - most of it was very tasty (some items we just could not identify) and the little girls ate almost as much Chinese food as the adults.

Things don't always go as planned, but they will all work out in the end - and I know that when she's here, I'll forget about wait... Though I may have to bring it up in lieu of the mother's standard line, "I carried you for 9 months..."; I can almost hear it now: "And to think I had to wait for you for soooo long......"

Well, it's almost a year...

And I'm still waiting (less patiently than I've waited the last 10 months or so) for word of my daughter in China. With all of this time, one would logically think that all is prepared - the nursery, the car seat, the baby-proofing... Unless one knows me, of course - then one would logically think that of course that would simply not be the case. Not that there hasn't been work on the nursery, shopping for a car seat, or thoughts about baby-proofing... it's just that it seems so far away that I still think I'll have plenty of time to get everything ready...

Unless of course, she comes this month. (I'm saying "she" because in my true style I have yet to finalize a name - I've only been thinking about it for at least a year now, maybe more. A good name takes time...) The most likely scenario is that she'll arrive via a referral photo in October - August will have the rest of July, September the first part of August, and October the second - that would hopefully include my LID date of August 30. October could cut off August 28 or so, leaving me until November. Which would mean travel in 2007... So I'm hoping for October. I'll keep you posted.