October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we have a local campaign going on called "Real Men Wear Pink". I think this is an interesting campaign since it has brought forth more men talking about how they play a role and our affected by the effects of breast cancer! Jack has brought a new twist to this campaign to remind us that real men play with pink! He has helped the women in our family and those who walk through our doors each week!
Today marks 10 months since our dossier was logged into China and our wait officially began. I must say we are pretty bummed out at this time. Rumor Queen had a post on Wednesday regarding the future of the wait time and it was depressing. Of course she is not God and is looking only at previous numbers and other sources, but it downright STUNK! They are saying the wait can get to 34-36 months! The CCAA has "said" they will try to match at least 15 days of LID's each month starting in 2008, but that still puts us at another 2 years if we are lucky! We chose China for a number of reasons, but one of those was their speedier rate of referrals and integrity in the adoption process... PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE (I know we are desperate !!!) pray for this process to speed up, especially for the children in the orphanages! They ARE out there and need to be in their FOREVER FAMILIES NOW! Please pray for Troy and I, especially for patience and understanding during this time!
On a better note, the CCAA is done with referrals through November 2005! I read somewhere that it took 6 months to get through November! CRAZY! I feel for all those families! It did take them only 23 days to review the entire month of August 2006 LID's in the Review Room!
Clue #1 was attached to his golf shirt and it read: I get hot when you turn me on. After checking the stove, shower and water faucets, Troy found clue #2 at... By the way, look at Jack sitting and listening so patiently. He is so dang cute!
...the gas grill! Clue #2 read: Jack's favorite outdoor food.
Troy immediately knew the answer to this one! Jack loves to eat birdseed which is kept in our barn like shed. Clue #3 said: Are you in the zone?
Since Abby brought her T.V., we now have a "Man Zone" in the basement! This was an easy clue, but the next one really stumped him. Clue #4: A mouse poops from this.
... yes, the trunk of my Matrix. (We call the Matrix "Mousey" since it looks like a little white mouse that ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOMS.) Troy got his 3 in 1 leaf blower that he has been wanting to add to his collection of tools "every man needs to have".
While eating our traditional Friday night Mexican food at one of our favorite spots (praise God for good Mexican food in Central Illinois!), Troy said, "I am going to bawl when we become parents!" This of course brought instant tears dripping into my enchilada verdes! I of course asked him "Why?" His response, "It is such an honor for God to select US to parent HIS children!" This brought more tears.
This chart is from Rumor Queens website and is a good reference to see how the wait has gotten longer over the years and the number of Log-In-Days (LID) matched has slowed down. I am not a huge fan of Rumor Queen considering her information is so disheartening at times, but she is a good resource to see when referrals might be coming available. Many families choose to post a link to her blog during referral time so you can see the children that have been given forever families.
Please keep the rest of us waiting families in your prayers. When Troy and I started the paperwork in March 2006, we were told the wait would be between 10-12 months after we got our LID. This whole journey has been a test of patience and learning to give up control. We were done with all of our paperwork in May 2006, but had to wait on our social worker to finish our homestudy (July) and the USCIS (immigration) to give us our fingerprinting appointment and process our 171-H. Most people are able to complete their dossier in 3-6 months, but it took us 8 due to waiting on other people! In the meantime, we have had a couple of moms consider us to adopt their babies only to decide to parent them instead. We know God's timing is perfect(even though we don't like it at times), but we are ready to parent and wonder how and when He is going to build our family!
... Jack Beckham! Jack is sporting a new haircut and soccer ball! Yes, it is pink and purple, but that is all the store had and we HAD to purchase one right away after his black and white soccer ball saw better days! Jack has a little more energy to play now that he is no longer a ball of fur!
It has been a while since I have posted the gifts we have received from our Winter Blossoms Secret Pal group! My computer has our pictures on it and it is running supper SLOW making it is a pain to post, but I decided to fire her up and play catch up today since I am stuck inside dealing with allergies.
Sorry that the survey in the previous post is not working properly. I have tried and tried to redo it, but have been unsuccessful! So far Vin Diesel is in the lead!
Many times when Troy and I go out, people tell Troy, "Hey, you look like ____?"Who do you think Troy looks like?
Upper left: David Evangelista
Upper right: Howie Mandel
Lower left: Robert Verdi
Lower right: Vin Diesel 
Troy and Amy
...and hopefully only 12-14 more to go. That is our prayer even though we are being highly optimistic if the CCAA continues at the rate they are currently going. Miracles do happen!
