Happy New Year and The Wait

Well as we welcome the new year, we have to be a bit more realistic about the wait. I continue to hope that things speed up but I do not see any signs to this.

Recently, the CCAA (the dept that handles adoptions in china) announced new regulations for China. This has been all over the news. See Rumor Queen link for full regulations. Are we affected by them. Well our agency says since we are logged in already, they say we are okay. Are we really? I'm not sure, I hope so. We (both Bill and I ) have started our weight loss plan. One of the new restrictions is over BMI. I'm over the BMI -- just a bit. I'm hoping I can loose the weight before we are reviewed. If China has a problem with us, they will notify us for updated medical. I figure we have at least 6 months before we are reviewed. So in case they ask, we will have our ducks in a row.

Also, regarding the wait. On the Rumor Queen link she posted a calculation to figure out how far away we are from referral. We are basically 348 LID dates away. It has taken 2.3 months to get through a month of dates. 348 x 2.3 / 30 days = 26 months from referral. That is from TODAY. So given this, referral won't occur until 2009. Yes 2009. I'm sick to my stomach about that. I knew this would be a long process but I didn't figure 2009. I thought I was informed. I researched, I searched, I read. I was informed as I thought I could be. I typically don't things half-assed. Well, now I feel like I knew nothing. They have only referred 6 months of dates for the past 15 months. I didn't know that. Our agency didn't tell us. Do I think they lied to us....well they quoted us what the recent referral time was and told us it could change. We were quoted 14-16 months of waiting. We were so excited about the possiblity of new baby, that you sort of ignore the bad news and think only of the good. It has never been this slow before. Bill wants to be optimistic about the wait saying things will speed up. I think he only says that to keep me sane.

I still believe China is the right choice for us. What are alternatives?

1. Domestic Adoption? I'm really not up for our own adoption system here in the US. It is way to open for me. [note, it might be right for others but not for me]. I also couldn't take the heart ache of a possible birthmother changing her mind.
2. Foster Care -- we have talked about this as well. again, i'm not sure I could handle loving a child only to have to give the child back. [again, this is right for some, but not for me]
3. Infertility Treatment -- go back to trying again. Well I just gave up my insurance which covered infertility treatment 100 percent. I would need some major surgery to possibly fix the problem. If i have the surgery and it doesn't work -- they I'm knocked out of china because you cannot have major surgery. The surgery they want to do is not a guarantee of fertility.
4. Another country -- Vietnam and Ethiopia are the ones I would be interested in but I'm not convinced it is the right move.

so for now we wait........and wait......and wait....