why family is good...

Thanks to my baby sister for this year's birthday card - never laughed so hard... Just had to share... See, getting old is so much fun!

Tax Relief

On December 17, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010 (HR4853), extending the current tax cuts through the end of 2012.

The Middle Class Tax Relief Act also extends the adoption tax credit which currently stands at $13,170 for qualified families.

This is a huge relief for us and definitely one for those behind us in line. Just one less thing to worry about. Yeah!

Matches Arrived!

It's official - matches have arrived and the official cut-off is May 29, 2006. A 6-day referral batch. We were hoping for the CCAA to finish off May 2006 this month, but as is usual - disappointment abounds.

We now have 46 more referral days to go before we're matched with our daughter. Little baby steps closer. So close, but yet so far.

You Would Think I Would Learn By Now...

...that after 4 years of the constant ups and downs of this adoption that I should just keep my mouth shut when people ask me the dreaded question as to "when" we think this adoption is happening. I had finally started feeling kind of optimistic that maybe we'd have a referral this summer? Now, fast forward a few weeks since Thanksgiving and NO REFERRALS coming out of the CCAA. Rumors are abuzz that maybe no referrals until maybe January. The last set of referrals came out on November 1st, so it's been a while. As to the reason why - well, who knows?! It's the CCAA - because they can  is the reason why. Is there some hidden "quota"? I don't know - only the CCAA does. Is this frustrating - YES!

If you find my optimism, please mail it to me ASAP. Thanks.

We have it!

The other day we received our new I-171H form. This allows us to adopt a child(ren) from China. We are now good with our fingerprints and I-171H form until March 2012 so the CCAA better start making those referrals. And LOTS of them!

I'm not sure what's going on over at the CCAA, but they sure are taking a long time to match this month. It's enough to drive a person crazy! We were hoping for matches this week, but now have resigned to hope for maybe next week? We shall see...

Fingerprinting

Checking things off our to-do list. We just went in for what we hope to be our last USCIS (Homeland Security) fingerprinting (yes, this is our 4th time doing this - so unfortunately we're old pros at it!) which will then clear us and enable us to receive our lovely I-171H form saying we can be the parents of an adopted child(ren) from China. Yeah!

Now if only this next batch of referrals will come... I'm curious to see how far they're going to get. I'm hoping they will get through March 2006 and then can start on June next month. It's just little baby steps closer to our daughter!

Being Thankful

One day a year, we spend time with family and friends and have a turkey dinner and get to think about all of the things we are thankful for. For me, it's my wonderful husband, my family, his family and knowing that after 4.5 years of waiting - next year we will finally be a family. While I can't say when (hoping for some time in the summer - say lots of prayers!) it most certainly has to be some time in 2011. So, for us, we're hoping that this will be the last holiday season without our daughter. Now that is something to be thankful for!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.

I also thought I'd share in a few funny Thanksgiving cartoons that made me laugh.

Flight to Janesville

It was a beautiful crisp sunny day here in Madison, so Robert and I decided to fly to Janesville for breakfast. It was just beautiful. Nothing beats quality time with your husband!

Here are a few of the photos from our trip.

Matches Arrived!

Matches arrived today and "the calls" are being made tomorrow! It seems like the cut-off will be May 23rd, but we won't know officially until tomorrow. Yeah to all the families receiving their calls!

UPDATE: It is official - May 23rd is the cut-off. Only 52 more Log-in dates to go...

The Winds

Well, over the past few days we've been having a wild ride with the weather. We've thankfully missed all of the tornadoes that have blown around, but we haven't missed any of the winds. Thankfully, we're not in the worst area - I think it's a lot worse north of here. We've "only" had around 50 mph wind gusts. It certainly sounds like it's spooky Halloween outside!

And with the wind, other changes are afoot... I can't write about it yet, but will when I am able to (unfortunately, it's NOT about a referral - although that will be here before we know it. I hope!)

Well, it should be a fun Halloween weekend ahead. One of Robert's best lifelong friends is coming to town with his wife and 2 kids and we have our annual Halloween Bash with our neighbors. Yeah!