Getting to be referral time again

The buzz is that referrals have been mailed from China and are up to November 21st 2005 and we will be just 15 days away with our LID of 12/6/05. They have been referring a week a time lately. There was a hint of excitement over a rumor that referrals would be up to and include November 22nd. There are a ton of people logged that day so that would have been huge. Also it would mean that an October referral was in the bag for us, but alas it was not meant to be. So we continue to be on the cusp for October and really thinking that we will see our picture in November...bummer.

But there was quite a bit of good news today on other fronts. My new office is ready and I will be moving in next week. This is such a relief after 10 years of commuting and now my commute will be less than a 1/3 of what it was. the 2nd piece of good news was that Sienna was called for enrollment at her new preschool where we have been on the list for 8 months. I had pretty much written this off but her getting in solves so many potential issues with temple preschool which includes being closed often and lack of infant/toddler care for our new little one to name a few.

Also it looks like I may have nabbed a giant fish and right now I am getting all kinds of kudos for this prospect at work. If this goes it is a $15MM-$30MM relationship in loans and a huge depository. This would literally make my year and take off a lot of pressure while we are in China. Keep your fingers crossed. John had a great job interview so hopefully...I don't want to jinx anything. Keep you all posted.

The top of the quilt is done!

Thanks to all who contributed material for Brooke's 100 good wishes quilt. I am waiting for the fabric to come for the backing and then the quilt will be sewn by a professional and bound with red fabric (like piping all around). I want to thank Alice Smith who helped me for several hours on 4 occasions and taught me how to quilt. This was a challenge as I have not sewn by machine since 7th grade. But I love the result and hopefully Brooke will too! On to Sienna's quilt!

Hi all:

Here is a picture of our 100 good wishes quilt in process. There are 100 fabrics in all those squares. We are excited to get moving on completing the quilt. This has been a real learning experience for me.

Thank you to all of you that contributed to Brooke's quilt and wish book.

Next project will be one for Sienna. I have collected 57 of the 100 squares needed for Sienna's so if you want to contribute a 9X9 inch square of material and a wish with a swatch of material on it we will include it in Sienna's quilt.

Love, Karen

The new group of matches arrived last week and they matched through Nov. 14th. We are getting closer with only 21 days ahead of us. If they do 7 days each month we will be on the cusp for an Oct. referral. We hope we hope for Oct. Our agency says Sept/Oct. I think that is a little optomistic.

Other news, we just got back for the Kiwanis Convention in San Antonio and had a blast. Except for 5 days of really bad hair days we enjoyed all the festivities including an evening a dude ranch, a Clint black Concert, a dance show, an old western town, a wild animal park (where the animals come right up to your car window), a large cavern and the Alamo. We are happy to be home though but we loved S.A. and our hotel located right at the river walk...very cool!

Summer plans

Given that we are again extended I have made plans to be a delegate for my club to the Kiwanis International Convention in San Antonio. I am taking John and Sienna and we plan to have 5 days of fun. After which I will be returning for a minor bunion surgery (yuk). My company has also leased me a new office 9 miles from home which in LA is terrific as far as commutes. So I will be saying goodbye to Pasadena and ten years of commuting 30 miles each way. I am still trying to arrange for a new preschool for my Sienna to attend in the fall.

The not so good news is that John was recently laid off so we are taking our lifestyle spending way back while still saving for China. In a way the extra time is allowing us to save the $ we need without too much added stress.

I am working on my 100 good wishes quilt with a friend since I now have the 100 squares+. I have decided to start collecting for my Sienna and make her a quilt too. The baby's room is coming along and we did painting, pink, and did beadboard. Cleaning out the closets and old furniture was a big chore as this was our spare room and storage facility. We were given some wonderful girls furniture by my aunt and uncle who are scaling down. Just a few lady bugs on the walls and we are done.

So we have a lot of plans this summer while we wait and hopefully the time will go by fast!

come on!!!

Well here we are a month later with referrals only till November 7th, 6 days. Our agency didn't recieve any referrals as their next LID date is 11/8/05. There are only 29 days left to refer before us but could this go any slower? I am not expecting much better for the rest of the November LIDs. So we had two 6 day batches in a row which means 29 left/6 day on avg referred=5 (July, Aug, Sept. Oct. and Nov) months until we see that face. Travel 6-8 weeks after referral puts us in China for Xmas. Wow...who would have thought! That will also mean 23 months of waiting for the referral by this Nov, yikes!

The Roller Coaster

Well we began the month with some hype about this being a large referral batch and ending the month with the rumor of only a 6 day batch. If this is true then it looks like Oct/Nov when we are referred with travel in December. Earlier this month we thought we might see a referral in August....Wow. However, the referrals are not in so anything can happen at this point. I am personally expecting at least 3 more groups ahead of us so I am really not expecting anything until October. At least it will be cool/cold there then.

Other news...The office lease for my new space is being signed on Monday with a commencement date of August 1st. So I will be in August. The bad news is that the really great day care I have Sienna on the list for doesn't have openings and it looks doubtful she will get in. So now we have to go to plan 2. Plan 2 calls for the temple day care with days off for the last two weeks of August, the high holidays and sukkot. 14 days of vacation in total! Now here is the really big bummer. John is out of a job as RESMED ran out of work due to declining sales. So if he doesn't have a job he could be watching her in August instead of me taking vacation time. Hopefully, he will be working by then... He had a job interview today so keep your fingers crossed. The good news is that we have some options. Let's see how it all plays out!

I have almost the 100 squares needed to start the good wishes quilt. I will have to post some of the awsome fabrics and wishes that I have collected so far, mostly from swaps.