Waiting, waiting and more waiting

Well here I am still waiting - we originally thought it would be only 6 months, from the date that we sent our dossier to China, until we got our referral. But the CCAA has really been taking 9.5 months to send out referrals - so 7/13/05 was our DTC - and 7/25/05 is our LID. So let's see that would put us to April 25th to receive our referral give or take a few weeks. This has been tough for me - waiting is always tough for me. Every day I read the websites and read the chatter going on in the Yahoo Groups - and it really doesn't help - in fact, I think it makes it worse. I need to spend less time on e-mails - hard to do though. The most recent information on the CCAA website is that they are completely done REVIEWING all of the July dossiers. We are now in what they call the MATCHING ROOM! So I guess our baby is in there too!! - so to speak. Cece and I started reading a children's book about China - geography, history, culture, language etc - it is really cool. We learned that China has over 1 billion people - it is very large (3rd only to Canada and Russia). The main language is Mandarin. Beijing is the capital. There are deserts and mountains with snow in China. Cece thought it was only warm there - but really I think most of China is very cold. I think Cece is really enjoying the book. Meredith bought Cece a book on Chinese Festivals and traditions - and Jack a video Big Bird goes to China - they are both wonderful gifts - and the kids really have enjoyed them. We have all learned things like - it is the Year of the Dog - Cece is a Tiger, Mickey is a Sheep, Jacquie is a Horse, Luke is a Horse [ but insists he is a Dog ;) ... so Cece let him be a dog. ] Finally, my Jack is a Dragon - guess what? Dragons don't get along with many of the other Signs - of course, Horses, are very compatible people. Anyway, we were on vacation in a hotel and I invited Jack to come over by me - and he said, " No Mommy, I don't get along with Horses, I get along with Sheep - so I think I better sleep with Daddy! Too funny.