time

Spring/Summer 2005: Decided it was time to expand family and adopt again. But from where? Our agency no longer had a Guatemala program. We considered Colombia, but our wait would be almost 2 years and our ages would qualify us for a toddler. We're we ready for that? (Yeah, all that makes me laugh now.) China's wait was 6 months, and more than likely we would receive an infant girl. We decided to go with China. Sent in our application to our agency in August 05.

Fall 2005: Learned that the wait time in China was getting longer.

February 9, 2006: Our official Log In Date (LID) with China. By this time the wait had stretched out to a year.

Summer 2006: The China program continues to slow down. All kinds of reasons are given, and everyone continues to have hope of a speed up. Surely once this or that happens everything will return to normal, right?

Christmas 2006: Still no baby.

February 2007: Feeling hopeful. Logged in for a year. Surely, it couldn't be much longer? Surely we would see our child in 07, wouldn't we?

April 2007: Hope has all but evaporated. China has a massive slow down. We need to redo our immigration paperwork before it expires. Our agency becomes licensed in Ethiopia. Decision time. After careful consideration of a number of factors -- not just wait time -- we decide we need to switch programs.

Our agency is very careful and makes sure we understand all the implications. I still remember one employee telling me, "You know you will get your China referral before you would get one from Ethiopia, right?" I was very good and didn't laugh in her face, but it was a close one.

July 2007: Sent in our completed dossier for Ethiopia to our agency requesting 1 to 2 children of either gender, 0-36 months old.

August 2007: Agency sends dossier to Ethiopia.

September 10, 2007: Receive referral for 3 yo girl and 14 mo boy.

November 2007: Travel to Ethiopia to bring home our children.

Fast forward

September 2008: Rumor has it that LID 2/9/06 is the cut-off date for the next batch of referrals from China. One whole year later we would have received our referral for a Chinese baby. One whole year. Over 3 years from the time we originally started the whole damn process. I can't imagine what kind of mental case I would have been by now. And, while it would have been wonderful to receive a referral for a beautiful, sweet Chinese baby girl, I cannot even imagine not having S and E. I cannot make my mind fathom their lives growing up in Ethiopia. I cannot imagine having only 2 children instead of 3. And going through infancy again? Btdt.

International adoption is not easy. It requires the ability to roll with the changes and to make hard decisions. Faith and courage are necessities. I thank God everyday for my 3 children and the mysterious ways in which they came to us. I have no doubt that they are meant to be ours and we are meant to be theirs.

So now I can say:
Hallelujah! to all those February 06 families who are about to FINALLY receive news about their children in China. It has been a long hard road that will soon end with a long flight. Blessings to all of you! And blessings to all of those children who are about to have families. It's all good.
:)