Terms of reference

11 months (and 1 day)

Christmas

A New Year

Mother's Day

Summer Vacation

Back to school

Thanksgiving

It feels like such a long time

yet time is moving swiftly

My nephew

newborn to toddling

in the blink of an eye

Yet I wait a wait that seems endless

11 months in puppy time
my term of reference

Define "FEW" please

The agency has decided the numbering system was not meeting their needs so they eliminated it. No one asked me. It was meeting my needs just fine, thank you very much.
In place of the numbering system they have provided me with the following update on the status of my adoption file:

"What I can advise you is that there are only a few other families whose files were registered before yours, who are open to the placement of either a boy or girl."

So what does this mean? I haven't the faintest idea.
It sounds good. Really good. But...what is the definition of few?
If you are reading this fill up my comment section with your definition of few.
I'd love to see who is reading.

Hanging on by my fingernails..

In an effort to be an optimist I peeked at today's horoscope. I need all the external sources I can find these days. I'm not a horoscope junkie and I always, always, always ignore the bad ones...
Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

Taurus
Keep you fingers crossed, and your toes, too.
With luck, you could make a major breakthrough
right where you need it most. Mercury is in a
position to deliver a surprise and bring the solutions
you need.

I love it. I'll take whatever I can get at this point.
Halloween is coming.
Perhaps the agency director has a mercury costume planned.

Understanding the wait...

Today marks 10 months since Dossier to Vietnam. A few posts ago I wished for news by the time my DTV number reached two digits but there hasn't really been any news for me. Yes, my agency received their first orphanage referrals late in August and there is talk of our agency's program gaining 'momentum'. More referrals are on the way soon.

Soon is overused in the adoption world and I am trying to focus on the now. The waiting is hard. I'm not going to sugar coat it for you. I wash and fold and store away the hand me downs and wonder how big little b will be. I say no to nothing and explain to generous friends, neighbours and colleagues that anything I don't need will be donated to a local woman's shelter. I go to work, educate other people's children, and put away every spare penny for travel expenses and for life expenses during my 37 weeks of parental leave (making about $400/week in employment insurance). I read, research, lurk, blog (occasionally), email, and generally fret on and off about the whole adoption experience. Mostly I wait.

Waiting took on a whole new light for me today and brought a little tear to my eye. I was at our school fun fair accompianied by my best friend's four year old. We don't see each other as often as I would like but this little guy has been helping his mom pack up his "old" stuff for little b for months and months. Little b will dress in hardly worn brand names because this giant 4 year old 'only' nephew and 'only' grandchild of his loving relatives has out-grown size 6x. My little buddy hasn't mentioned little b often but did tell me last time I was up at his house visiting that he wasn't quite ready to hand down his wiggl*les guitar .

Anyway, we were walking around the school yard greeting my students and their families when we ran into my vice principal who is off on maternity leave. I opened up the hood of the stroller to take a peek at the beautiul little 3 month old girl and out of nowhere my little buddy pipes up "Oooh, is that little b?"

"No, little buddy. We can't just pick up a little b at the local school fun fair. Yes, it is taking quite a bit of time, and yes, I wish I was pushing around a stroller and introducing my little man at the school funfair, but no, that is not him."

"I've been waiting a long time! When can I play with him?"

"Soon. I hope. Soon.'

Waiting is hard.
Especially when you are four.

News In Adoption World

There is big news up here in Canadian Adoption world. It isn't my news but it still made me breathless. Watch the Canadian Blogs for your very own update.

Sending love to the happy parents and their new wee one from Vietnam.

Countdown to little b...

When I started this 'Never-ending Journey' it had an ending that the agency called 6-9 months from Dossier to Vietnam or sooner. Um, Yeah...

I'm DTV November 15th, 2006. With the original ending I'd be looking at a referral occurring between May15th and August 15th. It took 8 months to get logged in so I don't expect a referral in the next 3 weeks. I'm also thinking number 1 on the list should get a referral before me (number 27ish), to be fair. (Though I am only 8th for an infant boy.)

The newer ending of my tale was to be 9-12 months from DTV or August 15th to November 15th.

The newest and most interesting counting technique counts from the day I forked over the first bit of money to the agency (We'll call it Agency Acceptance). I've been told the numbers 12-18 months from Agency Acceptance. My Agency Acceptance day is July 27th, 2006. That would give me a referral between July 27th, 2007 and January 27th, 2008. This seems the most realistic.

So, does it matter how they count? I don't think so. The bottom line is referrals need to start so that patterns can be seen and agency guesses can begin to have a foundation in fact. The numbers are just to appease us parents. The agency is working hard to get babies paper ready. I hope. The referrals are going to arrive when the referrals arrive and not a day sooner.
I'm wishing for 2007. Please!

A friend of mine had a dream, on a specific day, in a specific month, that wee b had just been born.
I'm not typically superstitious, but...the timing could be perfect.
I wonder?

Good Wishes Abound

A very dear friend of mine sent me a good wish for wee b's quilt.

I wept when I read this poem. It was not pretty delicate weeping but rather ugly red-faced sobbing.


Enjoy!