Lessons...

Well, this adoption experience, while apparently far from over, has taught me so much about adoption realated issues and process, now it seems I'm having a lesson in patience. When we first began this process, based on what all the parties involved, as well as folks who've already traveled this road have told us, we thought we would have a referral in Nov/Dec and travel to China in Dec/Jan. Oh, how naive we are. What I have also come to learn, is that the CCAA does things in their own time and no one seems to understand the rhyme or reason. Once we got a Log In Date, that pretty much means 'you've taken a number, now wait your turn'. Anyone who knows me knows that waiting is something I'm really not built for to begin with, but I figure, 'when in Rome', so we start paying attention to what referrals are coming out when. For expample, in September, anyone with a LID of Jan.28-Feb.24 got referrals. So we figured that if the CCAA is processing approximately 24 days of dossiers each month, we used that to count forward and calculate when we would get a referral with a May 31 LID. The problem with that theory is that in October, they only issued referrals for about 20 days, which meant we would get bumped back a month. We just found out that for November, the CCAA has just issued referrals for LID's from March 17-31 only. Again, I'm just guessing, but now it looks like we will be lucky to get referral in Feb. and travel in March. The latest information is that the CCAA is going to be moving to larger offices, so that move will likley slow things down a little again. Yes, it's a bummer and disappointing, but thankfully, our friends and family keep reminding us that it will happen when it's meant to and that the perfect little girl will come to us in due time. I'm hooked up with an incredible group of supportive people who have been through this process, some 2 or 3 times, as well as folks who are waiting just like us, and some of them waited over a year from LID to referral.

So the lessons I'm taking away from this are:

1. The CCAA will get it done when they're darn good and ready.
2. The weather is better in China in March/April than it is in Dec/Jan.
   
3. Good things come to those who wait - I really gotta go with this one.
4. Patience is not really a virtue - people just like to say that.
   
5. You can't hide broccoli in a glass of milk.
6. Cheesecake can make almost anything better.

Thanks for listening - I feel better now. Gotta go to the bakery.