Still cooling my jets

Well, it has been a nail-biter this month.  They are later than usual with referrals for July, by about 10 days and during those 10 days, things have been really silent, no rumors at all.  Things finally broke today and it has been posted by China that they have referrals on the way for LIDs through 9/19....my LID is 9/20.  Yep, missed me by a day.

The good news is that I WILL be in next month's referrals and this gives me a few more days to prepare.  I am in the process of extending my paperwork so I can get to China and back before it expires.  Since it now seems likely that we will travel to China in November, the extension is definitely necessary.  And I think I have some painting to do...

A word about the Red Thread

As my wait comes down to days and weeks rather than months and years, a word about the red thread legend and adoption from China.  I have not bought into a lot of the trappings, but this particular proverb (shown above) did strike a chord with me.  My interpretation (and of course I had one) was to assemble a bracelet of small red glass beads which I donned on 9/20/2006 and have worn every day for the last 5 years, 9 months and 18 days.  I looked at it every day even when I was putting thoughts of the adoption on the back burner to maintain my sanity during this horrendous wait...it's been a good reminder. 

For more about the Legend of the Red Thread (aka the "red string of fate"):  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_string_of_fate

The thread is growing shorter as my match date/referral date approaches!