18 Months!

I don't think the title needs a post. You know what it means.

November 18, 2013

Our prediction for LID 2006-11-13 (China Adoption Forecast)
China has 308 days of dossiers to be processed before they get to your dossier. China currently processes about 5-7 days of dossiers each month.

If China did all future referrals at the exact same speed as they did this month: 2013-10-26

Our best guess - a weighted average of recent CCAA velocities, guessing that CCAA will perform about as well in the future as they are performing now, but might return to previous trends: 2011-01-19

That's our best guess for when you might receive your referral. Just at a guess, we can suppose that the CCAA either speeds up or slows down significantly, and show you those dates. If they speed up: 2009-08-31. And if they slow down: 2013-11-18.

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.

Field Trip to the Zoo

17 months since LID!

Wow! Has it really been 17 months? I barely noticed! (being very sarcastic here).

The good news is that Joe will be home in less than 3 months (2months 3weeks and 4 days, but whose counting?), and that time has seemed to have gone by rather quickly. You will never guess where Blaine decided he wanted to go on vacation once his dad comes home, go on guess.......................................... Yep, Disney World (again) in the middle of July. I can't wait, I have never been there before (being very sarcastic here too). We are also going to go to TX for a long trip to visit Joe's family. It should be a fun, long, hot, summer! I am sweating just thinking about it.

National Guard Soldier from Baton Rouge Killed in Iraq

National Guard Soldier from Baton Rouge Killed in Iraq
A member of Joe's unit lost his life on Sunday. Please pray for his family. I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through at this time.

Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Free family tree - Ancestry search

Gifts for Chloe

Chloe got this ladybug chair for Christmas from my friend Cindy and her family

My sister found this, it is soooo soft and cuddly

I bought these

And last, but not least, my very good friend Avis, sent Chloe and I a box full of ladybug goodies. The t-shirt and booties are my favorites, and will be making the trip to China with us in the far, far off future.

Avis also gave Chloe a Ten Little Ladybugs book, but Blogger won't let me upload the picture. Spell check isn't working either, so don't laugh at how I spell things.

The Balloon (a poem told by Blaine)

Since I recieved so many e-mails from friends and family about Blaine's tooth videos, I thought I would share some more. Blaine loves, loves, loves to be video taped as well as video taping. He actually asks me to get out the camera to tape him all of the time. This video is of a little poem he learned at school.

My Sweet, Sweet Baby Boy

Yesterday morning, when Blaine woke up, he ran into the living room to show me what the Tooth Fairy had brought him. When I asked him what he planned to do with the money, he told me he wanted to buy me my very own Webkin. How sweet is that? He thought that since he loved them so much, that I would want one too. I am such a lucky momma!!! I can't believe how fast he is growing up. I tell him all of the time that I want him to stop getting older, and he just looks at me and says "Mom, I promise to still play with you when I am all grown up" That kid sure know how to make me happy. I hope I make him happy too.

Ping-Pong Champion

(this picture was taken right after the tournament, hense the sweaty shirt, yuck)

My husband, Joe, recently won the Ping-Pong Championship for Scorpion MWR Baghdad, Iraq. He is so confident in his abilities, that he recently announced that he could actually be a professional Ping-Pong player (insert cricket noise here). I love my husband, but if he quits his cushy job in the pharmaceutical industry to become a professional Ping-Pong player, I will....I will...I am not sure what I would do, but I would not like it!!! We are so proud of you honey! hehe

A Day on the Farm

Yes, that is me in the background petting a cow.

The animals on the farm are all really gentle and love to be around people, except for the geese. I have never met a friendly goose. The cows will follow you around like a dog and get "all up in your grill" (isn't that what the kids are saying now? hahahahahahahahahahaha) I told my dad that he and my Uncle Alfred should open up a petting zoo. The farm is right behind my uncle's bakery, and it would be the most exciting thing to ever happen in the little cow and sugar cane town of Vacherie (which is French for Cow, I think)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pictures from Valentine's Day. Blaine is currently into Webkinz, and Joe and I each got him one for Valentine's Day, along with some candy. We hope everyone had a wonderful day. (Blaine informed me that he has two girlfriends, Abbey and Mia, but I am not sure if they know it or not. hehe)

Blaine's First Loose Tooth

On Monday, Blaine came home from school with his first ever loose tooth. I was a little shocked, because I thought 5 was a little young. I said "Oh my goodness" a little too much on this video, and the echo is because we are in the bathroom so that Blaine could have a large mirror in order to look at himself.

On Thursday, Blaine's Nanny (my sister) helped him extract it at lunch time (she is a third grade teacher at his school) because Blaine's teacher was afraid he was going to swallow it with his lunch. He didn't swallow it, but he did lose it for a little while last night before he went to bed. Also, I don't know where he got the $20 from, but at least that was less that what he originally told his friends he was going to get; For some reason he was convinced that the tooth fairy was going to leave him a million dollars. (I hope this works, if not I will try it again later. Sometimes Blogger won't cooperate)

New Babies!

Last week the two mommy goats each gave birth to twins! Blaine was thrilled, and enjoyed playing with them. No wonder he enjoys visiting his grandparents so much.

We are through Review!

Dear Great Wall Family,
"This month, the CCAA completed the matching process for families with dossiers registered through December 27, 2005. Great Wall Beijing has confirmed that the CCAA has completed the review of dossiers registered through November 30, 2006. We hope to receive our next batch of referrals in early March" (Our LID is Nov.13, 2006)
GWCA

FINALLY!!!!!Just two more years and we should have our girl!

Wednesday, February 13th, marked our 15 month LIDaversary!

China Adoption Forecast

This is out current time frame. It gets worse each month. If you are LID with the CCAA you can check out your forecast here www.chinaadoptionforecast.com

Our prediction for LID 2006-11-13
Our best guess - a weighted average of recent CCAA velocities, guessing that CCAA will perform about as well in the future as they are performing now, but might return to previous trends: 2011-02-18
That's our best guess for when you might receive your referral. Just at a guess, we can suppose that the CCAA either speeds up or slows down significantly, and show you those dates. If they speed up: 2009-07-04. And if they slow down: 2014-01-04.
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.

14 Months!

Yesterday was our 14 month LID Anniversary. Hopefully we will be out of the Review Room soon. So far, we have not been asked any questions, so hopefully that is a good sign. I was a little bummed earlier this month when referrals came out and they had only matched from Dec 14, 2005 to December 19, 2005 (we are Nov.13, 2006), but I think I have finally come to terms with the wait (yeah, right), and Joe and I plan to continue on our journey to China for our little girl. I know it sounds silly, but giving up now would be like a miscarriage. We have invested too much into this journey to give up now. WE are going to China for Chloe Paige (eventually).

Bye Bye, George

It was a tough decision, but my dad had to find George a new home. George has been sad since Laura passed away at Thanksgiving, and has run away from home several times over the past few weeks, and even gave my father a black eye. The decision was made to have George go to live on a wildlife preserve near Alexandira, LA to be with other ostriches. Bye George, Blaine will miss you. We will come for a visit this summer.

Disney Pictures

I uploaded all of our Disney pictures into an album at shutterfly which can be viewed at www.blaineandchloe.shutterfly.com

Christmas Card

It's a little late, but here is this year's Christmas card. Keep in mind I had them printed up before I knew Joe would be able to come home for two weeks in December.