Rumors about matching!

Well, finally, the rumors have started again that the CCAA is matching! So now the question is how far will they get? Will we be included in this batch? Oh boy, the suspense! It's hard to believe that after 37 months we may finally get the news we've been waiting, hoping, praying and dreaming for! The process will take a few days and then a few more days before the information finally arrives in the U.S., hopefully we'll know something the first week of May! Wow!

While we wait...

It's hard to believe that the month of April is half over! I'm not sure where it went but it's going by fast!

First, I need to finish the entries about the Good Wishes Quilt! We had 118 different squares donated. So that added one more row to the quilt. I chose three more fabrics:

Quilt Square #119



I liked this fabric as it reminded me of a jacket print that I fell in love with!


Quilt Square #120




This impressionist looking patch of tulips are the same colors as the tulips that will soon be blooming outside our kitchen window. They are one of my favorites, they are called "Gudoshnik" which is Russian for "artist".


Square #121



And finally, if you've not been to my house in the summer, I love flowers of all kinds and we always have lots of huge sunflowers that come up everywhere!


So the final result is absolutely stunning!



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With lots of scraps leftover, I had more than enough to make a smaller version of the 121 Good Wishes Quilt to take with us to China, I can hardly wait!

I have re-discovered sewing and have made another baby quilt, and am finishing up yet another! It's been a blast! And it's so much faster than scrapbooking! Don't get me wrong, the scrapbooking is still my passion but this is pretty fun too!

And we continue to wait for news...we don't really expect to hear anything until at least early May. We don't know that we'll be included in the next batch but we are hopeful! If not May, than hopefully June.



We decided that we have enough time before we travel to raise a flock of 28 meat chickens. They arrived last week and today are a week old. They will be finished in just 5-6 more weeks! I've never seen anything like them. Due to their breeding, they eat all of the time! So they have to be fed in a special way as to not overeat and essentially eat themselves into a heart attack. We feed them from 7:30am-7:30pm and then take their food away overnight. Let me tell you they are starving by 7:30am and literally do somersaults to get to their food when I put it back each morning.

Now if only the weather would straighten up so we can get in the garden!

Did you know?

Our adoption agency just sent out this information which I find absolutely fascinating!

International and Domestic Statistics
THE WORLD

* 132 million children in the world have lost one or both parents.
* 87.6 million orphans live in Asia.
* 43.4 million orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa.
* 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean.
* Almost 1.5 million children live in public care in Central and Eastern Europe.

THE UNITED STATES
More than 500,000 children are in the United States foster care system. Approximately 129,000 children are currently waiting to be adopted from foster care. On average, children waiting for adoption have been in foster care for 43.8 months (more than three-and-a-half years). Approximately 25,000 children “age out” of the foster care system each year.

ADOPTION
Between 118,000 and 127,000 children have been adopted in the United States every year since 1987. Of these adoptions, approximately 20,000 are international, 50,000 are from foster care, 25,000 are domestic agency adoptions, and 25,000 are private, independent adoptions. More than one-third of Americans have seriously considered adopting, but no more than 2 percent have actually adopted. Only 4 percent of families with children (1.7 million households) contain adopted children.

For more information: www.adoptmore.com

There are a lot of children out there looking for their "forever families"!

Two days...

It appears that the CCAA has matched two days this time around. While it is disappointing, I can't say that I'm surprised. One of those days was very large with a whole lot of people who are finally matched with their little ones. So here we are, waiting for at least another month, hoping and praying that it will soon be our turn! By the way, did anyone notice the ticker at the bottom of the page started at the beginning again?...at 3 years, 2 weeks and 4 days...that's really not funny. I'll be getting that changed!