WOW - Some great news today

The CCAA has issued an earlier-and-bigger-than-expected batch of referrals, and agencies around the world today are calling families whose dossiers were registered up to and including February 28, 2006. This is especially exciting because February 28, 2006 was a very large day with lots of families logged in around the world. I expected them to reach just the 27th.

So just 14 days remain for them to process/assign before they reach our log in date of March 14, 2006 and match us with baby sister. Our "30-day countdown" (when they were matching families with mid February 2006 log in dates) began in mid-September so we are halfway there.

Our agency has notified us that they expect us to be matched in the late March - late April timeframe -- they do not give a firm prediction like this until you get very close and they are confident. After you get your match, you have lots of preparing and packing to do and then travel about 5-6 weeks later.

We also had a great time at our official "pre-travel meeting" last weekend and received lots of information (what to pack, what to expect, what we do each day of the 12 or 13 days we'll spend over in China). It was also fun to catch up with the other families we will be traveling with.

Later this week, we will be welcoming a dwarf hamster to our household so, if you are lucky, you will see some photos of him/her on the next post. If you are critter-averse, then you'll want to skip over those photos.

Check back here each month to see how China is moving through those remaining 14 days before they reach for our dossier and match us with our baby (they typically knock off about 4-6 each month -- slow, but at least steady).

Happy New Year!!