Defeated

Tide Guy & I traveled with the Tide to Columbia, SC. They beat us. All the experts predicted Bama would win, but would have to struggle. They were half right and half wrong. We lost, but did struggle. Bama played horribly and South Carolina capitalized on all of our mistakes. This was our first regular season loss since 2007. The South Carolina fans are not good winners. Well, actually, the adult fans are not good winners. The students were whooping and hollering like they should. The adults (age above 35) yelled and screamed obscenities at the Bama fans. No class....at least from the adults. Disappointing.

On an up note, we met Verne Lund*quist (CBS college football commentator) at our hotel. We talked to him three different days. He was the nicest guy and talked to us for a long time each day.

Via UPS, we mailed in all of our paperwork except for the completed home study on Thursday, October 7th, 2010. Of course, our deadline was October 10, which was a Sunday and Monday (the next day) is a holiday. We barely made it.....again. Our home home study still isn't complete, but we included a letter stating it would be in the mail soon. Maybe in 18 months, we will not wait til the last minute again. Maybe in 18 months, we will be very close to referral?? I doubt it.

Fall is here. At least on the calendar. We still have temperatures in the high 90s. The mums are blooming and will probably be dried up and dead by the end of the month.

Lots to do today. I am still unpacking from South Carolina. I dropped Tide Guy off at the airport on the way home from SC, but am picking him up at another airport Wednesday. We are going to see Carrie Underwood and spending the night in Nashville. We will be home Thursday, but will leave again Friday for a weekend in Tuscaloosa for Bama's homecoming game.

More later,
Tide Gal

Referrals Slow Down, AGAIN

Bama beat Arkansas. Barely, but we won. It was a great come from behind win, but it was scary.

In the last post, I mentioned that China was slowing down the number of referrals. It appears that is a correct statement as it seems only 3 days were referred this batch. That number should be confirmed within a day or two. A huge difference from the 2 weeks referral a few months ago. Ugh. If the two weeks trend continued, more babies would be brought home, the "line" would move faster, and we would travel to China much quicker. A 3 day referral slows us down tremendously.

The weather is cooling down and fall weather seems to be right around the corner. It is time to find mums and pumpkins.

Roll Tide,
Tide Gal

The Boys of Fall and Paperwork

Well, it is a rainy day here in Alabama. I'm glad that Bama plays Arkansas away today, so we don't have to travel to Tuscaloosa or sit for the game in the rain. There is a lot of hoopla surrounding this game because of Arkansas's quarterback. I think he is good, but "the experts" are saying Bama will still beat Arkansas. Of course, I think they are right.

In the adoption world, after a few months of positive referrals, China is back to it's old tricks. Right now, we are all waiting and there is no word this month. Some have speculated they are close to their quota this year, so they have to back off. Who knows.

We are through with our home study and our agency has all of our paperwork. Right now we are just waiting on clearances, then we can do our fingerprinting and submit the rest of our paperwork. We have to submit copies of various things like marriage license, driver's license, and birth certificates. Eighteen months ago I made several copies of everything so all we had to do was organize them. Of course we've moved since then and things have been misplaced. Yesterday, I finally found the copies and I just need to double check the list.

Here we go!!!

We have officially started our home study process. Yesterday, the social worker came to update our paperwork. Since this was our third visit, she completed her questions in a matter of a few minutes. Then, she walked through our new house. Done. Easy peezy. We did ask some questions about domestic adoption which we will probably consider and do quickly. Once she writes her update, this portion of the home study will be complete. It will then be mailed to USCIS with other paperwork and we should receive our fingerprint appointments soon.

It seems like China had a few good months as far as the number of referrals. But, we should have heard something this month and there are no rumors floating around. So, they may be slowing down again. Speculation is China is close to the quota of referrals and they are slowing down so they don't refer too many. We may never know.

In football, Alabama is now 3-0, but we play our first SEC game against Arkansas on Saturday. Since it is an away game, we will stay home and watch it in our media room.