Bye Bye Summer!

Well, the Olympics are over, and we're waiting patiently for the September batch of referrals. Neither we or our agency think we're 'in' this month, but if things went back to the volume they were between October 2007 and May 2008, we would be. Sounds like most of us in the adoption community are expecting the slowdown of July and August to continue into September. Beijing's Olympics have just recently ended, and the Paralympics are happening in September.

Interesting thing though: for the first time in years, possibly ever, CCAA split up Chinese New Year LIDs. They ended up providing referrals up to January 31st 2006 LIDs, and not the 2 days initially stated by our agency. Although numbers of families remained pretty much the same, psychologically, those extra 4 days do make a positive difference.

So, this means families with LIDs 9 days before ours now have their referrals. Since February 1-5 2006 were part of Chinese New Year CCAA office closure, that means we're likely to see referrals at least to February 6th, and some families are even speculating up to February 8th (none include our LID, the 9th, however). Because we're possibly so close, this has felt like one of the very longest months of waiting!

Ah well. I'm keeping busy while I wait. My China packing list is already complete!

An Email from Children's Bridge

To keep you entertained as the Olympics rage on, here's a copy of today's email from Children's Bridge, our adoption agency:

Hi Richard and Suzanne,

Good Morning, I hope you had a nice weekend. The CCAA has changed their website: The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before January 31, 2006.

This is quite discouraging as we were all hoping they would match closer to your LID date of Feb 9 for ON families and Feb 14 for SK and NB families. I am sorry to report that this is not looking very optimistic for a referral in September. I think it might be an October referral for the ON families, and November for the SK and NB families.

In this case travel would be in late November or early December for the ON families, and early January for the SK and NB families.

I know how disappointing this news is for you, but I hope you can still take comfort in knowing you are the next group. You have only 9 (and 14) days of LID dates, so let's keep hoping and praying that the CCAA can match at least 5 days per month. If you have any questions please ask.

Thanks!
Jenna Ryan
Children's Bridge

3, 3, 3 and 3

Noteworthy day: today marks 3 years, 3 days, 3 months and 3 weeks from the first "official" day of our journey, the day we went to hear the talk from Children's Bridge (CB) at Delky Dozzy recreation centre in Gatchell, and the day we decided to go with CB to adopt from China.
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Above is the illustration of wait times, as short as they were when we started this, in April 2005, and the near exponential rise since then. Interesting, eh?

A Pleasant Surprise

Well! Looks like the China Centre of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has provided 6 days worth of referrals, instead of the heavily rumoured 2! Bye bye January 2006: families with LIDs right to the 31st have received referrals! Although CCAA was likely closed between January 25 and February 5 2006, inclusive, there still were a very small number of LIDs recorded during that period. Mysterious. We're still 9 LID days away from our own, so September referral is unlikely, especially since CCAA is working with a smaller number of staff during the Olympics, but October is looking like a reasonable maybe. Yay!

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I've been reading tons and tons about China, and think I understand better some of the reasons for the slowdown. When we started this journey, I'd pictured China as a third world country, but so much has changed in the last 20 years, and the pace has been incredible in the last 10, and even 5 years. I think we'll be going to a modern, cosmopolitan, capitalist ('with Chinese characteristics', as the famous Deng Xiaoping quote goes), highly urbanized, vibrant country. I do hope we get to see some of the 'old' more traditional China too. What a juxtaposition that would be. The world had better get ready for China, as it is rapidly overtaking the global economy, and who knows where it will be in 10 short years...

Looks Like Only 2 Days...

Looks like there may be referrals only for those families with LIDs of January 26 and 27 2006. Two measly days!

Here's what I posted on Rumour Queen website earlier today. It certainly got some discussion happening.

"While lying awake last night tossing and turning and thinking about all this, I came up with the thought that the timing of Olympics and 2006 LIDs near Chinese New Year may be more than coincidental (not that it was a long term plan, but perhaps a plan over the last couple of months), so that CCAA can provide the sense of forward movement during the Big Os by providing referrals in September to the few LIDs that cover those dates (there are few if any LIDS during that time). I have no evidence to support this, so this may be just a midnight fantasy or an outcome of having too much time to speculate, but just think the timing is interesting…
Congratulations to those who will receive referrals this month."

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The bottom line is nobody outside CCAA really knows, and the lid is screwed really tightly on any news right now. Understandable, I suppose, as a lot of time and energy has gone into promoting China through the Olympics. Doesn't make any of this easier though! Ah well, we've come this far. We'll get through.

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Thanks Mom and Dad, Elaine, Mars and Tania, Christine and Ryan, Josee and Mike, Vanessa and David, Joanne and Franco, Marcus, Jenna, Tessa and Christy, Debbie, Tanje, Ann, Tracey, and y'all out there in blog land for your ongoing cheerleading. It's always appreciated!

The Dreaded Olympics

The Olympic games have made what should have been the most predictable months in our wait become the least predictable. If the games weren't happening, we'd be almost certain to receive our referral in September, or possibly October. But now, all bets are off. The rumours are mixed: some agencies say the China Centre of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) will provide referrals before the games, while others say no. And some agencies say CCAA staff will stop working entirely during the Olympics, while others say they won't. This means that August and September are a big question mark, as far as moving forward.

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I don't know yet if I'll watch the games. It would be nice to see some of the scenery they sometimes show along with them, but might be too hard. Hope all goes well for all who do attend, and that all can achieve their hopes and dreams!

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Meanwhile, I'm starting a list of things to bring to China in my mind, and will pretty soon commit it to paper. That'll be something productive to do. I'm sure once our referral is here or almost here, time will fly!