STORK WATCH 2009-The Monthly Cycle

No, I'm not talking about THAT one! I'm talking about the referral cycle and this is IT, folks! We've been at this adoption thing for 37 months now and there are certain phases (usually with corresponding RQ posts) that each month has in common. Since this could very well (and better be!) our last time tracking the stork with such intense scrutiny, I thought I would record the psychosis here just for kicks:

• Once word hits the web that referrals are starting to arrive in various parts of the world(April 3rd and 5th last month), we wait on baited breath for confirmation of a cut off date. (Last month it was March 8th, 2006. We are March 10th!)


• Next comes the fun part. Chinese baby faces hit blogland and we celebrate with and live vicariously through those parents whose dreams have finally come true and tell ourselves that this roller coaster ride will end one happy day for us, as well. (I shared the joy a few posts back...)


• Then, based on the amount of referrals CC*A was able to squeak out for the current month, RQ comes out with a PROJECTIONS post. She looks at what the CC*A has done historically (including the previous month) and comes up with 5 different cut-off date scenarios of for the next several monthly batches. Unfortunately, the recent trend is that referral batches fall somewhere in between the first two columns. The good news is that this month, every single possible scenario includes not only us but our friends who are logged in on the 13th!


• The next question that comes to mind is WHEN the next batch of referrals will arrive. RQ saves us the mental exercise by putting out another post on the subject. Here's what she said this month: The last 12 referral batches arrived at 28, 38, 28, 35, 22, 27, 37, 36, 18, 24, 39, and 32 days. The average is 30 days, the median is 30. We see 28 twice. The shortest interval is 18 days and the longest is 39. That would mean the soonest we’d expect to see them would be Tuesday, April 21 and the latest would be Tuesday, May 12. (Based on historical data, nothing says the CCAA has to stay in this window, just that historically that’s what they’ve done.) The most likely arrival date based on time between referrals would be either Friday, May 1 or Monday, May 4.
  
• Then comes the part of the month that I enjoy the least. It's when we have already eeked every bit of information that we could out of the previous batch and start to look forward to rumors trickling in about the next batch only to find that there are none. To add insult to injury, this is the time of the month when RQ resorts to reviewing vampire books... This is about where we are right now. Ugh.


• The next thing that we can expect this month are random rumors about the next cut off date. These early rumors are usually very positive and ultimately false. We know this and yet there is something in us that makes us want to believe that a speed-up is around the corner and that this month might finally be the month that the early positive rumors turn out to be true. My head knows this, but my heart hasn't learned it's lesson yet.


• Eventually, our agency will notify us by email that matching has begun. When that happens this month, I'll post about how (supposedly) we are matched with a baby. Ultimately, we know that Heavenly Father has chosen the child that will become our daughter but it's still fascinating to me to learn about what 'man' has to do in order to help accomplish that.


• Within a few days of the 'matching has begun' news, we start to see rumors coming from more reliable sources about a potential cut-off date. The rumors that come later in the cycle tend to pan out more often that those that come earlier so these really tend to get our attention.


• Then, we wait to hear on the web or from our agency that a package is on the way from China. There is never confirmation that the package contains referrals but we can usually guess by the timing that it is definitely the 'Stork' in the air.


• Next, once our agency has our referral in hand, we'll receive a 'Stork Has Landed' email and expect to get THE CALL from our agency within an hour of receiving it. At this point, I fully expect to be breathing into a paper bag and wearing Depends...
• During THE CALL, we will learn Meili's given Chinese name, her (probably estimated)birthdate, her measurements at the time of the report, the province in which she lives, and whether she is in an orphanage or in foster care. There are so many unknowns. It will be nice to finally have answers to just a few of our questions.

It will be a relief to exit this cycle and begin a new adventure in parenthood but our thoughts will never be far from those who continue to wait to become parents and the children who continue to wait to become part of a family.