Matches Have Been Mailed!

My heart is racing... China has mailed out matches and my log in date is included in this group! We have a match with little Lucy - her sweet little picture and all of her information is flying over the ocean to finally come home to us!

Once our agency receives the information it takes them about a day to look everything over and translate it and then they will call us the next day to come meet little Lucy! There is a slight chance the call will come today, but since it doesn't appear that they received the matches yesterday it's more likely that it will come tomorrow. There also is a chance it won't come until Monday... waiting the whole weekend knowing we have a match and not seeing her face will be sheer torture! None of my "sisters" in my yahoo group have had to wait over a weekend to see their little ones, so I'm hopeful that we won't either.

Tomorrow is our anniversary. Meeting little Lucy would be a fabulous way to celebrate 16 years together!

Keep checking back... we'll post her picture as soon as we get it!

Surgery Date

Bryan was able to get a tentative date of October 6th for his ankle surgery. We were hoping for sooner, but after some thought this seems like really good timing. (What a surprise the God provided a date that is good timing - lol!) If, by chance, we happen to get our match this month Bryan can cancel the October 6th date and go back to the December date when we arrive home from China. If we don't get a match this month he can go forward with surgery on October 6th and hopefully have a good 8 weeks to heal before we travel to get sweet Lucy. In theory it sounds pretty good!

If China stays consistent to what has been happening the past few months matches should come out around September 30th. Two weeks. Wow. It's hard to believe there is a possibility we will get to see Lucy's face in two short weeks!

Joy and Disappointment

My heart is a mixed bag of emotion. China sent matches of precious little girls this week - joy! I was able to  watch many friends get the first picture of their daughter and see those sweet little faces! Complete joy! One friend received twins - two beautiful, beautiful girls. My heart is full of happiness for them all - a few I've known since we began this process back in 2006. I love getting to see my girls united with their sweet daughters and share in their elation!

Unfortunately, China only handed out matches for two more days. They were at July 12, 2006 and it seems as though they've given matches to people who had their paperwork logged in on July 13 and 14, 2006. Two days. They matched two itty bitty days. Our log in date is July 22, 2006 so in order to get to us in the next round China will have to match 8 more log in dates. That many days generally don't get matched in one month. It has happened, but only very rarely. Stink. So it's looking more like we may get a match towards the end of October (barring any unforeseen setbacks).

I have to admit, I was extremely disappointed when we realized only two days had been matched. I was really hoping for an end of September referral. Knowing Lucy has been born and is waiting for us in an orphanage makes me want to go now and snuggle her in my arms! Knowing I will probably have to wait another month to do that is so discouraging. But, in true perky form, I have been looking for the silver lining. Nothing can trump having Lucy here with us, but if there are any silver linings to be found they would be: 

1) We will most likely travel in December. If travel assignments continue to be given has they have with the past two groups we will be traveling from mid December to the end of the month. Now, I am definitely not crazy about being in China for Christmas, but it would be nice if Jaden didn't have to take 2 weeks off of school and have to make up all that work. If we travel over Christmas break it may make for an easier transition back home for Jaden. He doesn't go back to school until January 5th, so we'll even have some time to recover from jet lag and spend some time together as a family of 4 before he heads back to school. 

2) I will get a whole semester with my new little group of 1st graders, which I think will be a much easier transition for them and for me before I go on maternity leave. 

3) Bryan will use up the rest of his vacation time for this year in China, but he gets new vacation weeks at the first of the year. He can use some of his new weeks to makeshift a little paternity leave before heading back to work.

There is one major downfall. Bryan hurt his ankle at work and needs surgery. It's under workman's comp which is good, but instead of being able to schedule it at a time that works best for our family, Bryan is pretty much at their mercy. He did get the workman's comp doc to put it off until Dec. 1st (when we thought we'd travel in Nov.), but now we need to bump it out another month and the doc won't schedule it in the new year. He either has to go in for surgery ASAP so he'll heal in time to travel to China or get the surgery when we return and pay for it ourselves. Please pray that he can get scheduled for surgery soon and that he heals quickly.

Ultimately I know that God is sovereign. He is in control of all things and He is taking good care of our family. He has known the day that Lucy will be placed in our arms from the beginning and that timing will be perfect! I love looking back at how he brought Bryan and I together, how he brought Jaden to us and now how he is bringing Lucy to us and us to Lucy. This wait is no surprise to Him, the awesome God who holds the oceans in the palm of his hands and measures the mountains on a scale. He always has been and will continue to shower his children with mercy and love - we are so grateful for his kindness!

On the Radar!

We don't hear from our agency very often. Honestly, there hasn't been a lot of need for communication once our dossier was accepted. Other than when expired paperwork needed to be renewed it's been somewhat of a one way relationship. That's what made this past week so significant. We got a bit of blessed communication that tells us we are on CCAI's radar. The Pre-Placement Packet. PPP. P3. Three beautiful P's that I have been waiting for!

The Pre-Placement Packet is not monumental in itself - its a scrawny little fella really. But CCAI only sends it out when they believe you are one or two months away from match. I have believed an hypothetical timeline that has changed a number of times over the past five years. For a few months now it has seemed like we will be getting a match in September or October. To get the PPP and know that CCAI also believes we'll be getting a match in one or two months... well, it does something magical to the soul! It gives weight to my hypothesis and has brought elation to the Hill household! To think that we could be holding a picture of our sweet little Lucy that we've been dreaming of for over 5 long years in a couple of months. Wow. My heart is beating faster. We are on the radar!

Matches Are In!

China matched the next set of families with beautiful little girls last week! They matched 6 more log-in days (LID), from July 7, 2006 to July 12, 2006. There are 10 more days until our LID which is July 22, 2006. TEN MORE DAYS! I don't think we'll be in the next batch of matches that should come out the end of August. My best guess is that we'll get our match and finally see a picture of sweet little Lucy's face toward the end of September or the end of October. If so we would be traveling to snuggle her in our arms in November or December. We are getting so close!

In other news, we finally moved into our new house! We closed on July 15th and spent a couple of weeks painting, updating, cleaning and fixing before actually moving in this past Saturday. There is still a long way to go, but it is taking shape quite nicely!

We are determined to make the most of the last days of summer break. It's hard to believe it, but it is our last one as a family of three!

Done Deal

Everything seems to be a go with the new house! Our inspector found that the roof was in desperate need of replacement and after some deliberation the sellers insurance will be taking care of it. What a blessing to start out with a new roof! We close next Friday. Can. Not. Wait!

We had to update our homestudy to reflect our new address. As soon as we had a signed contract I connected with our wonderful social worker, Shirley, who came right out. We are going to call her speedy Shirley! CCAI, our agency, sent the paperwork off to the National Benefits Center in Missouri who will in turn send us an updated I171H form. We need to have that form in hand the day we get "the call" or our travel can be delayed. If you think about it please pray for speedy processing. Typically it takes 2-3 months, but we are praying we'll receive our form in a month.

Only 3ish weeks to wait for the next set of matches from China! Not that I'm counting. Praying for a really big batch this month. Every day they match gets us that much closer to seeing Lucy's face. My heart skips a beat every time I realize how close we are to seeing her and holding her in our arms! It's hard to believe five years of "pregnancy" is coming to and end. Thank you for all of your prayers and support through it all!

Six Days Down!

China has matched the next set of families with babies!

This month they matched families with LID's (log in dates) of July 1-6, 2006. Our LID is July 22, 2006 so there are 16 log in days left until we are matched with sweet little Lucy! It seems as though it will take about 3 months (give or take) to get through those 16 log in days, which means we could get "the call" that we've been matched toward the end of September. We are so close!

This particular set of matches was especially meaningful for me as two dear friends received "the call". When we started out on this journey our agency put us in contact with other families who share a LID in July 2006. We thought we'd chat online and get to know each other for a few months before traveling together to China. Here we are, years later, a tight knit group affectionately known as the MaMa Sisterhood. The first ones in our group have LID's on July 6th and yesterday they became mothers, one for the first time and one for the third time. After all these years of laughing together, crying together, struggling together it is like a taste of sweet victory to finally see my sisters meet their little girls! The beautiful thing is that every month until we get our call we will get to watch each one or more of our sisters come to the end of this very long wait for a match! In our group there are families with LID's of July 7, July 14 and then there are three of us ending the month on July 22. Just 30 more days to wait for the next set of matches!