Tick-tock, tick-tock

Referral phone calls have reportedly started happening in other countries, which means the referrals should arrive sometime soon in the US for agencies here! At that point they will have to have things translated, and then the phone calls will start happening. There are confirmations from other countries that people whose LID's (logged-in-dates) are the same as ours have gotten calls, so it looks like we will definitely be getting a call and hearing about our new little one SOON!

Can you believe it?

I can't.

It's only been three years... I'm not sure I'm ready... ;)

Rumors abounding...

It is looking more likely every day that our referral is going to happen next week!

I don't really know what to think about it. It has been such a long process, can it really be coming to fruition? We're going to have three kiddos, what's that about!? How are we going to get everything ready to travel 6 weeks after the referral comes in?!? This is crazy, and so different from the first time around. Four years ago, we were on pins and needles anticipating "the call", and preparing far ahead of time for the trip. Now we feel like this is roaring up on us and we're so caught up in raising our two kids that we don't have time to prepare for it.

Please pray that we would be able to clear the decks next week when the agency needs to call us, if indeed it does happen next week, and that we would have the clarity and energy to get things ready to go.

Heads-up

Just to let anyone who watches this space know ahead of time…

… a change is coming!

I’m not sure how or when, but the face of bredenbergs.com will be changing soon.

You’ve been warned…

YOU MIGHT BE ADOPTING FROM CHINA IF…

...you know that I-600 & I-171 aren't highways.

...you've been expecting a baby for over 3 years.

...you understand that it's 2006 in some parts of the world.

...you've "paid for" 3 citizenships, but never brought anyone into the U.S.

...you know that waiting for China has nothing to do with Dillards or dishes

...your homestudy is followed by a number (i.e. #3 or #4)

...you never know how many days next month will have

...you know that babies come in batches

...you've been fingerprinted four times, but never committed a crime

...you automatically assume everyone who is expecting is having a girl

...you own new clothing in 3 little sizes for all 4 seasons (because you don't know when or how big)

...you look twice when you see a lady bug

...you're more interested in what will happen in March 2006 than in March 2009

...you know people who understand when you talk about 2 day months & 5 day months

...your due date hasn't changed by days, but by years

...you know who the Rumor Queen is ... AND ... you don't know who she is

...you know that forecast doesn't have anything to do with the weather

...you've waited so long, they re-checked your fingerprints to see if they changed

...trying to understand why they're printing you again, you study your own fingerprints and wonder if fingerprints grow wrinkles

...when you speak of "that time of month" you're talking about CCAA updates & referrals

Peekaboo!

Hey... what am I doing on Blogspot?!

I used to maintain my own website...
on my own server...
that I built...
all by myself...
and kept running...
and had to maintain...
and had total freedom with...
and had to maintain...

Oh yeah, the maintenance thing.

*Sigh*

It has finally driven me over the edge. I'm tired of upgrading software, applying security patches, dealing with internet connectivity issues, and all that stuff. So here I am...

...on Blogspot.

Yes, that means most of our old posts are no longer accessible.

Yes, that means you have to look at a fairly generic template for now.

Yes, that means the URL is harder to remember, at least for now.

But look at the upside - with less maintenance to do, I can spend more time on actually posting.

Or at least, that's the idea...

Cheers!

I've been hacked!

That got your attention, didn’t it? It’s true, just not in a computer sense.

I’ve always been a bit of a hacker, in the most traditional sense of the word, in trying to figure out how things work and get them to do things they weren’t originally meant to do. I’ve even played a few practical jokes on people using their high-tech equipment, but nothing ever malicious.

Well, it appears Peter is going to take after me. Amy brought the kids to see me at lunch today, and while Sydney was eating her Jelly Bellies out of the little coin-operated dispenser on my desk, Peter figured out how to get the dispensing handle stuck in between stops so he could twist it back and forth and get them without a coin. He was quite pleased with himself until I told him he couldn’t eat them all.

I tell my co-workers that dispenser represents the kids’ college fund, and at this rate, things don’t look good…

We’re baaaaack!

Ok, so guess what? The blog is back!

I can hear it now...

"But, but, you haven't updated it in over a year!"

Well, yeah, but there's always today...

"And people have stopped visiting! How will anyone know to come visit?"

Um... I'll call everyone who used to visit. All two of them!

"But, but, it was never any good in the first place!"

Well then, I don't have much to live up to!

Seriously though, the blog is about to get really good again! Why? Because there's another adoption trip on the horizon. Seriously! Fer-real!

We don't know exactly when it will happen, but our paperwork has been in China for two years and ten months now (and yes, that's about five months before we knew Peter was on his way), and it is looking like we could have a referral (that's the part where they send you a picture and a name and a location) by the end of this month! There are no guarantees, but at this point it is looking like the latest it will happen is late February or early March, and that's like... right around the corner! Like, oh my gosh, right around the corner!

So, there are a few things to take care of before then, and one of them was having a place to once again post progress reports and be able to update everyone back home on how things are going when we finally travel to China.

Voila!

It's a slow start, but this train is only going to pick up speed, and we're in for a crazy ride, I tell ya!

So bookmark us, add our feed to your reader, or just add us to your proxy's blacklist (no, no, don't really do that last one), and keep your eyes peeled!