Wednesday, December 10, 2008

33 Months


I've said this before but when we started this process, we expected a referral 6-8 months after sending our paperwork to China. When timeframes started to lengthen, I never dreamed it would extend beyond a year. We're now looking at three. Each month as we 'celebrate' yet another month since our LID, I can't believe how much reality has differed from our expectations. What really strikes me this month is that after 33 months, we still can't say for certain if our referral is 3, 4 or 5 months away. In a weird way, to write that is frustrating and exciting at the same time. We really are getting close and the thoughts that we have about how hard it is for us to wait are still there but quickly shift now to thoughts about our baby girl who has likely been born and what this situation must be like for her right now.

And now on to my monthly mental exercise...It looks like the cut off date is going to be February 23rd this month. That's a six day batch which leaves only 15 LIDs to go until they get to ours. (!)If the CCAA maintains their 5-6 day per month average, we could see a referral in March. However, looking at the RQ polls, it's hard to ignore the huge number of people logged in on Feb. 28th and March 7th. It is quite possible that those LIDs will each constitute a referral batch all on their own. So I have to face the reality that we may not see a referral until May.

Here are my predictions for the next few months. I'm trying to prepare for a worse case scenario and just hoping that it can't get any worse than this.

January-February 27
February-February 28
March-March 3rd or 6th
April-March 7th
May-March 10th or 13th

I really hope that it ends up better than this. I will be particularly curious to see if they can match Feb 28th or not next month. (In fact, CCAA-I dare you.) If so, you'll have to scrape me off of the ceiling but I'm not holding my breath.

We received official notification from our agency yesterday that the orphanage 'donation' has increased by $2000. We knew this was coming but hoped that we would be able to sneak in under the wire and avoid paying the extra $. In the end, if children receive better care and more orphanage directors are encouraged to make children paper ready for adoption, then it is a good thing.

3 comments:

OziMum said...

We still haven't heard a whisper from our agency re: the donation increase.

I hope you do get in, in March. Although CNY is in there - which could hold things up just a little. Fingers crossed! March is a great month ;) (yes, my birthday is in March!!)

OziMum said...

We still haven't heard a whisper from our agency re: the donation increase.

I hope you do get in, in March. Although CNY is in there - which could hold things up just a little. Fingers crossed! March is a great month ;) (yes, my birthday is in March!!)

Kim said...

Happy 33 months..
You are almost there..
Last Christmas without her..
Hugs..