Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Goodbye 2008 - Hello 2009

I'm not the party type on New Year's Eve but I do like to look back and reflect on the 12 months that have past.  2008 has been full of wonderful firsts with Zane...first tooth, first words, first steps, first haircut, first birthday and a ton of other firsts in between.  This year has been so much fun!  I love being a mom and love Zane more than any love than I've ever known.  Zane is obviously the 'theme' of 2008.  While nationally and in our own lives there has been financial struggles (we even paid for more than $4/gallon for gas!) we hardly noticed with the joy that Zane has brought us daily.  We know how blessed we are and we thank and praise God every day for His gracious gift of Zane to us.

Some other wonderful news, I have seen several of my local and online friends bring home their children - by birth, by domestic adoption and international adoption from China, Taiwan and Africa - it's been so wonderful to see these families grow.  Unfortunately I also have 2 good friends that had adoptions fail this year - a heart breaking experience.

The obvious sad news is that we are only 71 referral days closer to Mia than last New Year's Eve.  "The wait" will reach 3 years in March.  We can easily imagine it reaching 4 years by time we see our referral.  Will Mia be born this year?  Will she even be conceived this year?  Of course we won't know these answers until a referral which we do not expect to see in 2009. Hopefully 2010?  2011!?  But as I said to Mike the other day, God always had a plan for Zane to enter our lives, He has a plan for Mia and we will continue to trust (and try not to question) His plan.

For now, we celebrate the goodness of 2008 and welcome 2009.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Surprise...one more batch in 2008

Today a second December batch appeared and included those through February 28, 2006!  I'm so excited for these families.  So that gets us to March - unfortunately a HUGE month of dossiers.  It may take 6 months or more to get through all of March '06.  But one step closer and the good news, we are less than 200 referral days away.  Officially 196 days.  One more milestone.  

Thursday, December 11, 2008

66 Days

I make a safe assumption that the referrals for 2008 have come to an end.  As I count up the number of LID days given referrals for the year, I see it is a total of 66 days - just over 2 months.  Ugh.  There are all kinds of ways to look at our progress (or lack of) but this is the most relatable to watch our progress toward the front of the line.  We are still just over 200 referral days out.  66 days in a year... do you see where I'm going with this.  It's hard not to get frustrated.  Another Christmas, another birthday, another day, month, year without Mia.  I continue to have faith in God's plan but it can be trying at times.  I can hear myself telling people when we started about how stable China's adoption program is.  Ha.  I have heard so many rumors, so many theories, so many predictions and no answers.  It's very defeating to know we are looking at a new year and basically zero chance of seeing Mia in 2009, even unsure it will be in 2010.  But I do see beautiful new referral pictures each month, tuck my son in bed every night and know it's the right thing for us to continue this wait.