Ladybugs and referrals...but still not ours.

You may or may not know that in the world of Chinese adoption, ladybugs represent good luck and good furtune. It is said that ladybug sightings are often reported just prior to referrals being issued. So here's our ladybugs......Ladybug shoes and a ladybug music box that plays the theme song from "Love Story". I always swore I wouldn't get too ladybug crazy, but I have to admit we also have a little ladybug towel for Olivia. That's it - no more ladybug stuff.....except for the little shirt with ladybugs on it and that's it, really. So, the news on the various China adoption boards is that as of today, the CCAA has updated it's web site to say that they have just issued referrals for families whose Log In Date is between April 26 and May 13. Those families are ecstatic and will receive the referrals this week. Where does that leave us? I wish I knew. One would logically think that because our LID is May 31, that we would be in the next group of referrals, however, there are 2 things that still make this uncertain. One is that I know that there are an extremely unusual number of families with LID's between May 14 and May 31st. This means that they may not be able to process that many in the next group of referrals. The second thing is timing - the CCAA closes for one week at Chinese New Year, which begins on Jan.29 and they will reportedly close for another week to relocate to their newer, larger offices in Beijing. If there are less than 2 working weeks for them in February, it is likely that they may not even issue referrals again until March. I thought I would be just about psychotic about these delays by now, but strangely enough, I'm surprisingly calm. I think I've finally come to a place where I have truly accepted that it will happen at exactly the time it's meant to. I know that a beautiful little girl is waiting for us - she just has to wait a tiny bit longer. In the meantime, we just hope and pray that she is loved and cared for.