Clear As Mud

I'm going to try to get through this post without cursing.

Still nothing definite on the Swine Flu impact. China did post an offical announcement but it is difficult to decipher Looks like those folks that already have a referral and travel approval might be able to travel at the discretion of their agency. Anyone with a referral but doesn't yet have travel approval might have to wait who knows how long. It is still unclear what impact this will have on referrals. Oh, and it's now a holiday in China so we won't know anything more until next week. My heart goes out to those that have a referral but can't travel. Having that picture and not being able to travel would be the last bit of torture I could stand.

Some think maybe China is leaving it open to see the state of things when they return from their holiday weekend. Now if we could just get our media to shut the hell up maybe things will seem better next week and we can just freaking get on with this!!!!!

Swine Flu

Just when we thought nothing else could get in the way of our adoption. There are reports that China has halted adoptions due to concerns of the swine flu. I don't have any concrete information regarding what this means and how long things may be halted. Even if we are "next", it seems we won't hear anything in the next couple of weeks like we thought.

I know there are logical reasons for this and yes, I know that things will work out. Logic isn't working today. In the last three years, I have "looked on the bright side" more times than I can count. Not today. Maybe tomorrow but not today.

UPDATE: 9:00 PM Central time. Some agencies are now saying this rumor isn't true. Some are insisting it is true. Who knows? It's been an emotional day and I'm tired. Maybe we will know something tomorrow. I want off the roller coaster.

Matching Has Begun?

Some agencies are reporting that matching has begun. That means they have started the process of matching babies with families. There is a chance that right now, someone is looking through our paperwork and matching us with our child. For a more detailed explanation of how the "matching room" works, you can go here.

There are a couple of agencies thinking that the matching could get as far as 3/14/06. THAT WOULD BE US. I am not sure if they have some information from CCAA that has them thinking that or if it's just a guess. Either way, it's crazy exciting.
By the end of next week, we will hopefully know if we are in or not and could even have a picture!!! My personal feeling is there is about a 50% chance that we will be included in the early May group.

Luckily I was busy at an out of town conference last week so I was able to stay somewhat distracted from obsessing over whether we are in or not. I was also able to spend some time with a good friend that Jon and I have known for years. He wrote the nicest reference letter for us when we started this crazy process. When I told him goodbye at the airport, I said "Next time you see me, I could be a Mom!!"

Are We Next????

The "official" cutoff for the last group of referrals was 3/8/06. I say "official" cutoff because it looks like some families from 3/9/06 got referrals, yet some people from 3/7/06 were skipped. Just when this could not get any more excruciating!! My heart goes out to the 3/7/06 people that were skipped and I really hope they find out something soon!!

So, that means they need to get through our friends with an LID of 3/9/06 - 3/13/06 AND THEN IT IS OUR TURN!!! 3/11 and 3/12 were weekends (yes, I know the 2006 calendar better than the 2009 calendar) and it appears 3/9 and 3/13 are fairly light days.

Anyway, all of this means that we could be next or the group after that!!! I think the next group of referrals will arrive in about two weeks, around May 1. That is just crazy with a capital C. Right now, someone in China could be taking our dossier down off the shelf and blowing the dust and cobwebs off. (This is the part where I don't allow my mind to think about all of the things that could have happened to that dossier in the last three years.)

So for now, we just keep waiting, wondering and praying that LuLu is safe. Well, that and trying to accomplish all the things that we procrastinated on for the three years.

When our referral arrives at our Agency, they will call us with the basic information and will email us a picture. They will have everything translated and will overnight the complete information. We will have more paperwork to do and our Agency will work to get our travel dates set. Typically, travel happens approximately 6 weeks after the referral. So, we will likely be in China sometime this summer.

We still haven't decided on a name so it's still LuLu. (And according to my sister, it will always be LuLu.) We have a short list of names but I don't think we will know for sure until we see her and see her Chinese name.

So stay tuned, it's getting exciting!!

P.S. A great big shout out to Nancy. We have gotten your last couple of notes and Jon and I REALLY appreaciate them. Your excitement means so much to us.