Is it the end of June yet?

It's only June 7 and I'm already feeling anxiety about the next batch of referrals. Last month (end of May) they referred June 7-15, 2005 for a total of 8 days. That's 3 more days than they referred in April, but it's still really slow. The rumor mill is speculating that the next batch of referrals (due in a couple of weeks) will only go up through 6-23-05. So now I'm setting my sights on a September referral with travel in November. If it's any earlier, it will be a nice surprise, but at this rate September seems realistic to me. I guess the thing that bothers me the most about this whole process (besides the obvious longer than expected wait) is the fact that EVERYTHING is out of our control. As a self described control freak, this is definitely out of my comfort zone. Daren's parents are visiting from England in September, so hopefully we'll have a picutre of Lily by then.

On a brighter note, our friends Rob and Carole, just returned from China with their little girl, Claire. They are using the same agency as us and we met them when we took our Chinese classes. (Hmmm, I wonder if I will remember ANY Chinese by they time we actually go to China?) Anyway, Daren picked them up from the airport and was the first person to see the new family in Portland. I made them a lasagna dinner on Sunday and we brought it over to their house so I was able to meet Claire then. She's a beauty! Her first birhtday will be 6-27 (the day after Daren's birthday). Holding her was so wonderful, it's the closest yet that I've been to actually getting to hold an adopted Chinese baby so young in age. She knows patty cake, can blow raspberries and in the past week has learned how to play peek-a-boo from her new daddy. It was such a joy to play with her and before we left I told her that her friend Lily will be here soon and that I know they are going to have so much fun playing together.