Home Study Update

Well Rorrie..... Judy visited our home yesterday to see the addition and do a homestudy update. She like the living room and the kitchen remodel. Your brother & sister talked non-stop. Judy was actually very surprised how much your brother chattered on and on! Especially since he hasn't reached two years old yet!! We should be getting her update within about a month so we can send in our paperwork again for an update on the Immigration approval. Hopefully this next 18 month window will be long enough so we can bring you home before it expires.

We are trying to keep our heads up about the wait, but CCAA has still not finished November 2005 and it is not looking like they will finish it this month either! We expect the next set of matches to arrive over Labor Day weekend for the month of September. So in October they should complete November and the wait time will be just 24 months from LID to Match Date. How long it will take to get through December is up for much debate. Many people seem to think that they will complete December 2005 LID by the end of December 2007 (or very early in January 2008).

The mystery still exists around number of LID for each match group once they break into January 2006 LID. CCAI and many others have said that they are hopeful that CCAA will be able to match 15 LID per match group. I think they might be right for January and February but March is looking like a HUGE month. April is not as big as March and May seems a little smaller. I think that we will still be lucky to see your beautiful face in December 2008. And then travel the beginning of 2009. At least we will miss all the worrying about traveling during the Summer Olympics.

I am honestly surprised at how many people still think they will be receiving referrals during the summer of 2008. CCAA would have to start matching almost full months again for that to happen. I hope and pray that it happens but I keep guarding my heart. It has been very hard with the wait time increasing and increasing. The program is under such intense scrutiny by all the waiting parents that at times we seem like a pack of fish swimming around and around in circles trying to guess what will happen next!

All your BaBa and I know is that we wish you were coming home to be with your family soon but that doesn't see very likely. I know that things can change easily with the program but I think December 2007 will be a telling month for information. Here are my reasons. First, CCAA's new fiscal year begins November/December so if any changes are going to happen in the cap of matches done each year they will probably reset that number then. It also seems likely that if they are going to make any changes in the Child Rearing Fee, paid to the orphanage for your care while living there, it might be made at the start of their new year. CCAA has made statements that they hope to get December 2005 done by December 2007 and the match 15 days each match group starting in December 2006. It will be just over 6 months since CCAA has stated that all orphanages are now eligible to participate in the International Adoption program. And lastly the numbers available to be reported for adoptions to the US for 2007 will be complete. As the reporters start gearing up for the Olympics and all their "stories" they will have two years of declining number for the number of children adopted to the US for statistics.

All these factors in our eyes are pointing to the end of this year as the determining factor for how the last part of our wait will play out.

Today is also a sad day for our family. Our oldest kitty, Var, has been failing in his health. Today your BaBa will be bringing him to the vet so he can be put to sleep. He is uncomfortable and has lost a lot of weight. We will miss him very much and it makes me cry to think about him leaving. It also brings up all the other "four legged" family members memories that have already gone to heaven. I feel horrible that your BaBa has to take him all by himself but I can't afford to take any time off from work. We will need the money to pay for his final bills.

Good bye Var.. your family will miss you. I'm sure you will be met by the others that went on before you. Please tell them how much we miss them. We love you all.

This has become to much for me right now. I need to say good bye. Rorrie, remember my kisses on the wind.