Tuesday, May 23, 2006

THE STORK IS FLYING!! I will see Emerson Olivia's face in just another day or two!

Wow! What an incredible day! Ok, first, a little about who I am and how I got here...and where "here" is! :)

I'm Denise. A single 41 year young woman who finally decided to start a family last January. After years of waiting for Mister Right, I decided that I'd rather find my little Miss Right for now...my daughter! If by chance Mister Right comes along later, well that'll be a nice bonus to an already full life, won't it? :)

I've never really considered pregnancy as an option for me as a single mom. My ache is to be a mother, but giving birth isn't so important to me. And since my genes aren't so great for passing on anyway, adoption was always my first choice. There are so many children in this world without a mom...and here I am a mom without a child. What could be more perfect?

I rarely do anything impulsively (not counting those dreaded late night infomercial purchases), so this too took lots of thought. After a few years of scouring adoption websites and reading about the challenges of single parenting, something finally clicked in January of 2005 and I just knew. I was sure in every fiber of my being that I was meant to do this, COULD do this, and it was the right path for me. And I knew without a doubt that I would find my daughter in China.

And so my Journey to Emerson began. :)

My timeline so far:

01/21/05 Decision made, I called GWCA looking for a spot on a singles waiting list and through the grace of GOD and the beautiful heart of the GWCA employee who answered my call (who I won't name to protect her from possible repercussion), I was offered a spot that someone else had just released. What a miracle! (My apologies to anyone who had missed out on a spot during their 2005 selection!)

01/25/05 Application signed and submitted.

02/11/05 Contract signed and the paperchase is ON!

05/27/05 Paperchase is complete, dossier is on it's way to China. I'm DTC!

06/09/05 CCAA logs in my dossier! I have an LID!! Current referral wait...only 6 months! Referral in DECEMBER!!??

09/05 Uh oh. Late September, rumors circulating that next batch will be smaller, the first indications that things are going to take a BIT longer than expected.

10/01/05 CCAA begins sending 1/2 month referral batches instead of full months.

09/05-04/06 Delays, delays, and more delays. During this time, CCAA announces that referral waits could grow to 12 months and beyond due to decreased number of paper-ready babies and increased number of dossiers being logged in. Batches continue to come monthly, but batch size shrinks from 1/2 months to only 5 or 6 days per batch.

04/27/06 Referrals arrive covering 05/31-06/06/05 LIDs. SURELY this means I should receive my referral in the next batch!!

05/23/06 It's finally happening...Referrals for 06/09/05 LID are in the air! THE STORK IS FLYING!!

So that's a little about how I got "here"...to this point where I'm only a few days away from finally knowing who my baby is. :) In future posts, I'll share more details about the journey; specifics about the paperchase process, getting Emerson's room ready, things I've done to pass the time and books I've read to prepare myself for this new life that's about to begin.

2 comments:

Mom 2 six said...

Denise-Speaking as a fellow June Jitterbug it was wonderful finally getting "the call", and see our daughters face. Every minute of the wait was worth it. Can't wait to see Emerson! I am thrilled you are next.
Shelly

Lisa said...

I love your Blog! I am going to link you from mine and can't wait to follow your journey.. hopefully I am not too far behind you! LOL!!

Can't wait to see Emerson's sweet little face!

Fellow Jitterbug,
Lisa : )
LID 06-29-05