Late December Update!!!! OH MY STARS MORE REFERRALS THIS MONTH! Christmas 2008!

Woohoo! Another batch of referrals came this month! Maybe they are going to speed up! What a great belated Christmas Present! It moved 5 more days yesterday! They are through February 2006! Only 3 1/2 months and they are to June 13 but could take a year and few months still. The Rumor Queen thinks they are moving on referrals now to get two batches in before the Chinese New Year January 26. The CCAA closes for 1-2 weeks for the New Year Celebration so maybe another batch before the New Year in January! However, March is a large month so not going to get too excited about getting too far into March Referrals in January!

We had a blessed Christmas....action packed and we are so thankful as God reveals His goodness in our lives. We had a house full of The Thornbury's Christmas eve and a fun time was had by all and a fun filled white elephant gifting was the highlight. Then Mike and I were able to attend the Christian Church for their 11pm Christmas eve service with a nice drama and music celebrating Christ and our friend Scott Moening sang the beautiful song "Mary Did You Know?" The song really touched my heart as our baby will be born this year and the wait will someday come to an end with a beautiful baby girl who has ready been born in our hearts with so much love. I can't wait to have Jailyn here to experience her first Christmas. It was a special night. We had our whole immediate family in town. Scott made it home for the holidays before all the snow storms hit Seattle and just celebrated his 25 birthday on Dec 18. He left Dec 26 for the Dominican Republic with his Navy buddies for a vacation. Katie and Billy celebrated their second Christmas together dating and they seem as happy as ever and busy with lots of family and friend holiday celebrations. Billy's folks were in this week to celebrate with them. We celebrated our family's Christmas on Christmas morning with Mike's Blt's at 10am, gifts and celebrating with Katie, Scott, Billy and Mike's dad. Then the afternoon brought the Comley Christmas lunch and presents with my family. My neice and nephews are sure growing up fast and we all had a great time together as family.

We are blessed and look forward to an awesome 2009 and for God to reveal His will for our lives as we continue to see His plan unfold as we prepare for Jailyn to join our family. It will be God's perfect timing for us. It appears it is never soon enough and God is never early so we wait for His perfect will and continue to celebrate the blessings in our lives. 2009 will bring a trip to Amish country in January at a cabin at a Bed and Breakfast, a trip to Grand Caymen we won a time share trip from Mike's work in March or May, running the Flying Pig Marathon as a 4 person relay in May (Getting in Shape and running as TEAM Thornbury with Katie, Mike, Ronny (Mike's brother) and me running the last leg to run over the finish line, a trip to visit Scott in Washington State and a trip to Gatlinburg in the fall and then hopefully China sooner than later.

Happy New Year!

Orphanage fee officially raised...hopefully in 2009 this will speed the process

Just received word the adoption orphanage fee went from $3000 to $5100 which hopefully will mean a speed up in paperwork to get the babies paperwork ready. We knew increased fees would be inevitable as so much time has passed. If the money talks we could have a speed up and that is fine with me to have glimmer of hope to get our daughter sooner. So we will just have to see what will happen in 2009.

LID 06-13-2006 / December Update

Well another Christmas is fast approaching and once again a bittersweet time as we celebrate the holidays with family and friends. The house is decorated and the stockings are hung and Jailyn is in our hearts and her stocking is in the middle of our fireplace underneath baby Jesus in the nativity. The tears raced again down my face as I decorated the tree but God must have such plans for us as the wait continues with another Christmas without our daughter. I am thankful for my family and friends who are so dear to us and provide love and support. Hopefully only one more Christmas after this year without her. The website moved 6 days this month and we are up to February 23, 2006. And mathematically we still calculate a referral around April 2010. There are roomers that the China Adoption Affairs workers are being sent out to the SWI Social Welfare Institutes aka the orphanages to help in getting more babies paperwork ready. Also supposively the orphanage adoption fee is going up to hopefully speed up the process but once again who really knows. More money to adopt not a problem, bring it on China if it speeds things up! I spoke with our agency and they really can not tell us anything we do not already know. So we wait and believe all of this is part of a grand plan for our lives. I have changed the first song on our blog to Thankful. Because that is all we can be in this time of our lives as we are blessed and thankful for the blessings upon us daily.
I want to wish all our friends and family a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as the best is yet to come.
God Bless....love and prayers to you and your families this holiday season,

Reality is China is referring half the amount of kids it was in 2006

This information from the State Departments totally shows why there has been such a slow down since we started our journey in January of 2006....below is from the Chinaadopttalk blog posting.

State Department 2008 FY stats
November 18th, 2008
The State Department has released a pdf file showing worldwide stats for the 2008 fiscal year (October 1, 2007 – September 30, 2008).
According to the pdf, total adoptions from China on IR3 and IR4 visas were 3,902. There were 7 adoptions on an IH3 visa, which I believe means there were 7 adoptions that came under the Hague. At any rate, the pdf puts the total at 3,909, while their official stats page puts it at 3,254.
State Department numbers:1998 4,243 (per month, 354)1999 4,108 (per month, 342)2000 5,058 (per month, 422)2001 4,705 (per month, 392)2002 4,677 (per month, 389)2003 6,857 (per month, 571)2004 7,038 (per month, 587)2005 7,903 (per month, 659)2006 6,492 (per month, 541)2007 5,453 (per month, 454)2008 3,909 (per month, 326) or 3,254 (271 per month)
And, as has been pointed out before, back in 2005 special needs adoptions were less than 10% of the total, and they are currently over 30% of the total. So, NSN adoptions have dropped much more drastically than those numbers show.

I just hope and pray it does not slow down much more as there is optimism in the air that the website for Dec could potentially move 10 days as that will be a welcome site after only moving 2 this month!

Website only moved 2 days! AAGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

So reality is we are now in for a longer wait as it has slowed down again and mathematically it puts us back another month for referral. I like to look at the situation half full but reality is sure difficult! Having one of those dissappointing days..........It makes me angry when it slows down as hope gets dashed once again. The wait continues and now more waiting with only a small batch of referrals this month and moving only 2 days. The dates they have referred up to is now February 17, 2006, and our date seems so far away of being June 13, 2006. It appears we are so close only being 4 months away but in reality it is at least a year and half now and I don't even want to fathom it being longer. God give me patience as this journey lingers on so slowly. I hate it as when we started this process with China the wait was supposed to be 1 year and is turning into 4 years with only 2 1/2 years down......... AAGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Pray! Especially for me it is sooooooo hard..............As Mike says there is this hole in my life I just can not seem to get closed up full of loss and grief and it makes me cry for this journey to be so difficult to become a mom and not to know the joys of motherhood yet.
Pray for peace, patience, another holiday coming and understanding.......

November update still waiting/LID June 13, 2006

Well it has been another month and it appears the website is going to move 3-5 days. We get our rumors from a website called China Adopt Talk and the gal who hosts the site is known as the Rumor Queen aka RQ. The RQ is reporting that the cut-off might be February 20th. That would mean a 5 day move putting us back another month to referral in April 2010. That's sad that it's still such a small batch. It makes me sad when it slows down as the wait seems endless and so unfair. When there has been so much loss and time that passes so slowly and so much more time to wait before we see the face of our precious daughter. It's sad because loss is at the heart of adoption and it is a feeling that creeps up in the slow times and especially as the holidays approach and you just want to have your family completed. There is a triad of adoption loss we all feel~ birthparents, adoptive parents, and especially the child ~ will have to lose so much. I feel it everyday and move through it everyday. Some days are a piece of cake and then there are those days.......For Jailyn one day her loss will come and it brings tears to my eyes, this will mean she will have been abandoned and experience tremendous grief and have lost the opportunity to be raised in her country of birth by her birth parents. It means for her that she will grow up in a multi-cultural family and raised as a chinese american citizen. Her birthmother will have lost, whether by choice or not, the chance to raise the child she carried in her womb for nine months. Mike and I have had tremendous loss in the ability to carry and birth our biological child. This adoption process has not been easy emotionally to process the continual grief and then to wait so much longer than we ever dreamed but I believe we are all a piece of a puzzle and the pieces all fit together in the right time and we are not there yet but what a blessing it will be when the time comes. I get so filled with emotion thinking about our gotcha day. Our Adoption is about love. First and foremost, the love and the ability of a birthmother to love a child so much that she is willing to create an adoption plan for the child she carried for 9 months. A child who was hopefully created in an act of love and passion. I cannot begin to fathom the depths of that love, a love which will transcend time, and distance, a love that can leave a birth family wondering for a lifetime about a child they will not be able to raise. The love that Mike and I will be able to feel, the love of two families, one known and one only dreamed of. I figure that if we do our jobs as adoptive parents, Jailyn will grow to love and respect her birth family for the opportunity that they gave her. The love of the adoptive mother and father is priceless and what I know Mike and I are called to be to give Jailyn the love, support and wings to become all God intends for her !

Not to get to deep but I read another blog with similar thoughts and it was exactly what I have been thinking so I thought I would post this in my words and shared feelings of another as we are still waiting this month.

It all reminds me of the RED THREAD Chinese Legend Adoptive families live by as they wait for their daughters.

"An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch, tangle but will never break."

This time honored chinese legend underscores the belief that when a child is born an invisible thread connects that child's soul to all those people-present and in the future who will play a part in that child's life. As time passes those threads shorten and tighten, bringing closer those people who are fated to be together.

So we are truly a red thread family in waiting for the website to move this month!

LID 06-13-2006 / October Update

The China Adoption Affairs site officially moved another 6 days and was later coming this month because of the Moon Festival that China closes down for the first week of October. We believe we are still on track for a March or April referral in 2010 and traveling to pick up Jailyn two months after referral. Hoping it will speed up as many of the websites have been forcasting attrition rates for families pulling out of the China program and that is good news for us. Especially if it speeds things up and gets us ahead due to attrition. However it is sad that some people have given up. We are staying the course. September was a wonderful busy month for us as we went on our last we think tropical vacation before Jailyn comes. We spent a week in Jamaica and had a fabulous trip while Hurricane Ike plowed through Cincinnati with a big ole wind storm that knocked power out for days and we were so glad we missed the excitement. We came home to trees down and spoiled food in our fridge due to the power outage but it was all replace-able. We were blessed to be away and spared any hardship. Next year we plan on going to see Scott in Seattle and possibly go for an Alaskan Cruise and explore the Northwest. Then the next trip to China!!!! Woohoo! What a day that will be when we finally travel to complete our family! Scott survived his survival training in San Diego, lost 9 pounds, endured starvation and psychological torture . He is now officially moved to Seattle in the Whidbey Island area and now on leave travelling in Thailand for fun and relaxation. Katie and Billy were in Cabos Mexico while we were in Jamaica and had a fabulous action packed all inclusive trip with friends. We are so happy for Katie as it appears she has found her soulmate in Billy and they are having the time of their lives dating. Mike went to his St I's golf outing and came home a little more tired and soar from way too much golf for 52 year old and then I was off to French Lick this past weekend for my Mary Kay Fall Retreat. But most importantly we just celebrated our 7th Anniversary and we could not be happier as God continues to reveal His will for our lives together and we are truly blessed. So until our next post in November.....We love you and appreciate you checking in on our blog.

6~13~06 LID/SEPTEMBER UPDATE

We are super excited as the website moved 9 whole days in the month of September. Woohoo! It must mean the Olympics are over and the China Adoption Affairs Office in Beijing is back working (just speculating) and moving a little more with their referrals. They have referred healthy babies through LID February 9, 2006, and we are LID June 13, 2006. LID means Log In Date with the China Adoption Affairs office. When you officially get all paperwork in and are in their adoption system you get your LID. We started our process January 1, 2006, and the paperwork and wait and official documentation approval took until June 13, 2006, to be completed in China. The nine day move this month keeps us on track moving one week a month plus 2 more bonus days this month. As of today, I am thinking we are still on track for referral March 2010 with our Gotcha Day still in May 2010. My hope would be to have it speed up just enough to get her the end of 2009. That means let's get the months rolling by a couple weeks at a time for referrals. I know all things are possible so let's bring it on China!!!!!! This wait continues to be difficult but God has a bigger plan and I can't wait for Jailyn to join our family and I believe she will be born in the next 12 months.

Hope you like our newly designed Blogspot for our Journey for Jailyn. We used a group of blog designers from Blogovers with Love who design sites for a fee if you donate to their cause which are special needs children in China. My designer was awesome, Judi with DoodleBug Designs. Her link is on my blog. I wanted it girly and very pink and full of lots of hearts and love. As Jailyn has been born in our hearts from the day we started our journey......and of course it had to be pink and cutesy-wootsy!

Hope you like our blog and stop by to see the latest update every month.

Much love and hugs!

Naval Flight Officer Scott M. Thornbury Winging Cermony

We just celebrated an incredible couple of days with Scott in Pensacola, Florida, as he completed his Naval Flight Officer Winging Designation Ceremony at the Naval Air Station Pensacola Sherman Field. We are so proud of Scott. It was a very proud day for the entire Thornbury Family and extented family. We were able to tour and see the planes he has been training with for the past year and a half, meet his commanding officers and the young flight officers Scott has had the privelege to train with for the past two years of training and the highlight to Wing Scott at his Designation Ceremony. He is a graduate of VT-4 (Training Squadron FOUR) and selected to Fly EA-6B Prowlers. He received his orders to attend SERE School for the next two weeks in San Diego, CA, (pray for him as this is hard core navy survival training starting Sept 8) then off to Seattle in October to begin his EA-6B Prowler training. We are so proud of you Scott! We love you! We were able to spend time and celebrate with Scott at beach and have a mini vacation too. The picture above was taken after the winging ceremony with Scott, Katie, Mike and myself. Then as our trip came to an end a little God send of hope happened on the return home at the Greater Cincinnati Airport this evening. We ran into a couple and the grandparents of a darling little boy newly adopted from China on the shuttle bus to the car park. This couple had literally just brought home their new son from China having spent the past 2 weeks in country and the little boy seemed so happy and content with his new forever family. They were coming home from their China adoption journey with their son. What a nice little blessing to see the joy this couple had and knowing it will be our journey to a joyous homecoming some day soon. I told Mike "see it does really happen" as I got all emotional and choked up just by running into this couple. But more importantly we just had such a special time on our journey with our son. God sure works in miraculous ways to bless us and I know Jailyn will be just as proud of her new big brother when she gets here as we are of Scott for all his hard work and for serving this great country for you and me! Way to go Scotters! AKA Lieutenant Junior Grade Scott M. Thornbury United States Navy! Woohoo!

LID 6~13~2006/August Update

We believe our Journey to Jailyn as of August 2008 is approximately 19 months until referral if the referral process continues to move one week a month. That means referral in March 2010 and our gotcha date in May 2010. Woohoo! One more month closer!