Country Roads

We made it to Tennessee yesterday afternoon. We had a pleasant drive, only ran into one little snag in traffic outside Knoxville. Speaking of which...we listened to about 20 minutes of a Knoxville radio talk show host expound on the reasons for the UFO cover-up in Roswell. Most amusing!

Rumors are flying like they always do right before China releases its referrals for the next batch of families. At this point, they've referred children to families whose paperwork was registered in China through November 7, 2005. Looks like this month, they will refer babies for families with LIDs (log in dates) through November 14, 2005. That's the latest rumor anyway. At this pace, everyone expects the wait to reach the two year mark by December. My constant prayer is that China will refer more babies faster. There are lots of complicating factors: not enough babies whose documents are "ready" for international adoption (plenty of babies, mind you, just not enough "paper ready" babies), a desire to show a DECREASE in international adoption during next summer's Olympics (read: "We don't have a baby abandonment problem in China"), a possible quota that limits the number of babies referred, more domestic adoptions (a good thing for sure but I can't believe there are THAT many domestic adoptions that they would so drastically impact the international adoption rate)...This is why I pray. I pray constantly that this process will speed up. Yes, I have my own selfish reasons for this prayer...I want a baby to love! But most importantly, I want these children to know that there are families on the other side of the world whose arms ache to hold them. They are loved! We will get an email update in the middle of this month showing where our dossier is in the process. I hope our dossier is in translation, the very first step after getting logged in. There are actually just three steps: translation, review (to make sure all your documents are good and you meet standards), and matching (where they put you with your baby!). Sounds simple, right? They have reviewed dossiers received in April, 2006. So, they are more than a year behind in that department. I would like for us at least to get translated...then we can join the stacks and stacks of dossiers waiting for review. *sigh* I will continue to keep you posted.

On a positive note...we leave for the beach tomorrow. That will be awesome! I'm very excited about that. A trip to Myrtle Beach will include meals at the Captain's House, a trip to the Gay Dolphin, and plenty of quality time on the beach. We'll be back in a few days...until then, Happy July 4th and stay cool!