Slowed to a crawl...

Well folks it's officially depressing.

The matches are now up to February 17th of 2006. Ugh!

It has really slowed down, and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any impending speed up.

If you are a glass half full kind of person this means: that I have loads of time to work on the quilt, try to learn some Chinese, organize my house (and we all know I can use that-ha ha!)

I have been thinking of doing a "Clean Sweep" type approach to each room- if you haven't ever seen the show.... you go through and do a toss, a keep, and a sell pile. then you look again at the keep and have to get rid of about half again. anything you don't sell that is still good you donate to charity.

Not much else new with us, except we did have a fabulous vacation this summer to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary! YEAH!

Sorry, no pic's forthcoming. We are having bogged down comp issues. (Computer's... can't live with them can't live without them) Once we get that squared away I'll be able to work with pic's again.

Well, this was just a quick note for anyone who is still checking in...

Latest matches received

The most recent referals went out this week so just wanted to take a moment and congratulate all the new families!

Families who were logged in by Jan. 25 '06 have now received their referals!

small world

You know how you run into people from the college you went to or from the same neck of the woods....

well for me lately it seems to be running into people who are also adopting from China.

Yesterday, at work, I ran into a gentleman who is "getting close" to referal. He and his wife live in Tennessee, but he was in town for business I believe.

They are using the same agency as we are, CCAI, and probably will get their referral by August.

It was awesome to see his excitement, and I am excited for them too!!

I am living vicariously through others until our turn!!!

Latest Matches Are In!

One of the things I get to do is check in on all the blogs of other people who are waiting for their child from China.

I know our turn is a LONG way off, but I keep up with which dates are being matched, etc..


Families logged in up to Jan 9, 2006 have now been matched.

Congrats to all the families who just received their matches!

Nothing new.....

Nothing is new here... The wait for our child is going to be ....forever. Well at least it feels that way. No one has any real estimates on what's going to happen with the wait time. A couple of years ago it only took 6 months. Now the wait is really backlogged. The people who are getting matched right now logged in early '06.

So it has really slowed down. :(

Some couples here in GA recently did their China trips:
http://waitingforzoe.blogspot.com/index.html

http://w8ing4olivia.blogspot.com/


other news on the home front... I got a haircut! Yes I know everyone gets them, but for me it was a big deal as my hair is officialy above the shoulders now! Actually its right to the nape of my neck ( and Scott hates it... he hasn't said so in so many words, but... "why did you cut it so short?" means...) Those who know me know I have had long hair for years and years and just in the last few have been working my way shorter and shorter. Scott loves long hair, but he isn't the one who has to take the time to dry it! When it was down to the middle of my back (brastrap length) it took an hour to get it to dry! I'm now down to 10 minutes!!!!! You never know I may let it grow longer again, but not quite yet! I tend to average a couple months between cuts anyway as the way my stylist has been cutting it grows out well. Only time will tell!

SQUARES #19-24!

"Good Luck"

The below squares were sent from my Aunt Pat Brodie. She sent a great booklet to help explain how to make the quilt! When Scott and I were home for Thanksgiving, I cornered her and begged for any ideas she had as she is an experienced quilter and I have never done one in my life! Thanks Pat for all your help! And we love the nice bright colors of the fat squares you sent!

Thought for the day!

I was just updating the blog- yes, which I know is long, long overdue!

I was feeling a bit quirky today so I thought I'd share a poem I have loved since childhood.

THE PURPLE COW
by: Gelett Burgess (1866-1951)

I NEVER saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.

SQUARES #15,16,17, AND 18!

This is a beautiful fabric! And we love the sentiments!

We knew we would have to find something that really stood "fore" Daddy on the quilt, we are so glad you found this material! We think your play on words is super cute!


You know how much I have always loved Pooh!

As I have said before I have a frog fetish! I just can't help it they are so cute!

In Chinese culture the butterfly
symbolizes love and it is said if a
butterfly lands on you, you will have
much happiness.....by placing a butterfly
on the baby quilt, our wish is that you
will always be blanketed in happiness
and love....

Of course we couldn't leave out other fabrics

that would have meaning to our family and

yours....

Golf- "Fore" your Daddy and because

Mommy and Daddy are so "fore"tunate to

have you

Pooh-Because it rhymes with "we love you"

(and for my favorite sister, your Mommy,

whom I have called "Pooh" forever)

And Frogs-because we are so "Hoppy" that

you will be part of our lives.

The above wish page done is by my "favorite" sister Christina! Those of you who know us well, know that Christina is my only sister- it's a long standing joke in our family!

Thank you so much Christina, Christopher and Dillon! We love how you included the family photo on the wish page (Go Red Sox!) I love the idea so much when I put together the album with all the wishes I am going to try to include as many photos as I can find from the givers of the wishes!

-ps thank you for the beautiful silk memory album that you gave us to start the wish book!

LOGGED IN!

We received awesome news last night!

We have our log-in date!

YEAH!!!!!!

Scott checked his email after getting home from work and we were super suprised!




From: Jessie ____

Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 11:20 AM

Subject: Congratulations! Your dossier has been logged in by the CCAA!

To: Scott & Jennifer Cloutier
Re: CCAI Log-In Date & Packet

Congratulations! Your dossier has been logged in by the China Center of Adoption Affairs.

Your official dossier log-in date (LID) is: 12/24/2007





We couldn't believe it! To find out on New Year's Eve that we were logged in on Christmas Eve!


Talk about having a great holiday! We really celebrated last night! Scott had bought some champagne in anticipation of the upcoming news, so we brought that with us when we went over to our good friends the Jones' house last night to ring in the new year.



It is the best Christmas/New Year's present ever! (Be warned Scott, I may expect something every New Year's Eve from now on -ha ha!)


We really couldn't believe how fast we got logged in! It was only sent on Dec 17th, and they only received it on 21st! When we were told 2-4 weeks to be logged in and maybe up to 8 weeks to get notified of the date, I got a best case/worst case scenario in my mind. I figured best case we'd know by Jan 14th and worst by Feb 14th. I can't believe it was so soon! After all the USCIS paperwork took 3 months! And that is from the good-ol-USA! Go China!