Well, it looks like next month for sure. The 12th is a big month and on the rumor site "they" are saying that some agencies are saying their 12th people are in but they don't know the cut off.

My guess is that they will get to thorough the 12th and we will be definite for June referrals. Time will tell.

End of the month

It is almost the end of the month and referrals should be out soon. China has a holiday on May 1st so all offices will be closed. From what I understand, historically they try to get the May batch out before they go on "holiday". Apparently, January 12th was a huge log in day. I'm not holding my breath for a referral in the next few weeks but it would be nice.
We are really trying to scrimp and save - with Brent's issue a few months back we used our savings. We have our homestudy update lined up for when we all get up to our new place. Hopefully everything will fall into place and we won't hit any more speed bumps along the way. I only have 19 more days of work left - my part time, time filler job has become a full time thing right now. Last week I clocked 47 hours 45 minutes. It doesn't look like we will have any new staff starting in the next week so I'm looking at the same for next week. After that I hope the last 2 weeks I hope I only work 30 hours/week. I have 11 kids in my group and 5 are "graduating" to kindergarten. I'd really like to get them all tested and have some fun in the last few weeks. I want to order a cake for my last day and "graduation" I'm really going to miss my kids! I love when one of them says "I love you Miss Carolyn" and I say "I love you too, XX" then all of them have to say it so I say all their names individually. They love hugs and cuddles and have really grown a lot this year. I wish I could post pictures but I can't. However, I will be glad when I don't have to work for a little while.
I'm going to probably start looking for a "real" teaching job in January. I know there are a few openings right now at the school where I used to teach. There are plenty of new faces for me there but I have so many friends still there - I'd love to go back. Hopefully in January there will be something for me there - if not for the next school year. We will see!
I have some cute pictures to post when I can download them. Brandon lost a front tooth this morning - he looks adorable!

Tough day

Today was my Uncle Bob's memorial service. I worked this morning for about an hour and a half then went over and helped out with getting the lunch ready. Luckily one of the ladies from the board offered to work the remainder of the day and I got to do some much needed family stuff - particularly with Brandon. He hasn't had much Mommy time lately and he really needs it occasionally. Hannah spends a whole day with me once a week by herself - sort of but he doesn't get time.

The service was very nice. The did a salute with guns that was a bit emotional. I thought that since it has been a month since he died I wouldn't cry. Wrong. They started the flag presentation with some Navy people coming up and some Air Force doing the salute then they did Taps. It was emotional.

Referrals are in...

but we aren't! I didn't expect a referral this month but one can always hope. The first rumors of the month said that 1/13 was expected to get in and the first rumors are always wrong. The cutoff isn't official yet but it looks like maybe the 9th so only 5 days worth. The 12th is supposed to be a fairly big day in terms of log ins. With 4 days until our lid it looks like this:
1 day = 4 months or August
2 days = 2 months or June
3 days = 2 months or June
4 days = 1 month or May

So, what do I think? I am hoping for may but realistically it is likely June. You just never know with China. So what are we doing? Getting our homestudy updated so we can get an extension on our I-171H which allows us to bring Sarah home and must NOT be expired before we return from China. Our I-171H expires on August 25. If we get our referral in May then we should travel in July. If we get it in June we should travel in August which is why it is important to have it updated.

I'll post our other news now - Brent has a new job and we will be moving at the end of May about 100 miles north of us. He has rented a house up there and the kids and I are staying here until Brandon is finished with school. We didn't feel it was fair to him to move right now for several reasons: 1. he is in a self-contained gifted class and we can't get him into one in ***. He would have to be placed in a regular 2nd grade class. 2. We already made a move in the middle of a school year and he didn't do very well leaving. I didn't want to do that to him again. This way he can finish the year with his friends.

Unfortunately the move means we have to fight to get him into another self-contained gifted class. He has scores that definitely qualify him from a psychologist that tested him. He has to take the district test there to qualify him. He does not test well in group settings so I've been in contact with the gifted department to find out how we can get this all done. If he doesn't do well on their test I *think* they will be able to justify his placement based on the other scores. It takes 4 weeks to get the results back. I'm going to start being the "squeaky wheel" in about 2 more weeks. I can't see him in a regular 3rd grade class when he has been doing 3-4th grade work all year long. We shall see!

Other news I'm on the count down for my job. 34 more work days! Yeah - I'm so tired of the high school issues I'm dealing with. One of the ladies called in and said her niece was sick and had to watch her nephew and hasn't come back or called in since the 1st. I hope she asks for a reference so I can say "Are you kidding me? You can't seriously think that after everything you have done I would give you a good reference? You might want to reconsider asking me!"

Is is May 22nd yet? Better yet, is it June so I can see my baby for the 1st time!?

April Fool's Day

Brandon loves jokes so this day was made for him. He got off the bus this afternoon he said "I have something to tell you." He handed me a piece of paper that said "Exspelled" on it. It was part of a loose leaf paper and was folded in half.

Of course, then I knew that it was a joke because
A) expelled was spelled wrong
B) the school would have called me
C) Brandon is not a bad child and would never get in trouble at school in any way that would get him expelled
D) when I said, "expelled?" he dropped his head very dramatically and let out a huge sigh and said, "yes". Now had Brandon gotten into any trouble at school he would avoid telling me as soon as he got off the bus and he would have started crying right away when he told me.

Inside he had printed "Aapral fool's" - yes, my child is very smart but can't spell very well. It runs in the family I think :)

I told him he should call his daddy and let him know but I told him that he should say he got suspended instead of expelled. Brent was at work and couldn't talk with him and about 10 minutes after he hung up with him Brent I got a phone call from Brent asking what was going on with Brandon? He was a bit upset that Brandon was in that much trouble.

Later we went over to my aunt's house for my cousin's birthday and I said to Brandon did you tell Gram what happened at school today? He let me tell them that he was suspended. They were shocked - Brandon loved saying April Fool's. Got Katie with it too a little later.

He had a good day!