Happy Chinese New Year!

It's the Year of the Pig and hopefully the year we will become parents.

Enduring the long wait until Tessa's arrival hasn't been easy, but I know once she's in our arms we will have forgotten what these months were like.

It seems that the stretch of time for parents hoping to adopt from China will continue to get longer. We received this in a recent newsletter from our adoption agency, "The current wait from log-in date to referral for all families in the regular China program is 16 months and is expected to grow. Many families are curious about when this all started and what the reasons are behind the lengthening wait, and therefore this month’s “Update on the Wait” focuses on these very questions.

The beginning of this slow down was observed in October 2005, when the CCAA started matching an average of two weeks worth of login dates per referral batch rather than its previous four. It took a few months to realize the pattern would not be short lived.

When the CCAA had been matching approximately 30 days of login dates each referral round, they were able to evenly match paper-ready children with a month of login dates leaving the wait time at a steady 6-7 months. However, moving to matching only half a month in a referral batch means for every month of dossiers China received, it is taking them two months to three months to offer referrals to all the families, resulting in a backlogging of dossiers and an extending wait time.

Combine this with an increasing international interest in adoptions from China worldwide since October 2005 as well as fewer Chinese children available for international adoption, and it’s no wonder why the CCAA claims that the wait is expected to grow over the next 1 to 2 years.
This fluctuation is common in international adoption, and experience tells us that this rising wait time will eventually reach its climax and likely decline again. While no one can predict when the wait will reach its peak nor if the wait will ever be as little as 6 months again, we can confidently say that patience and flexibility are key to enduring this journey on building your family, and it will all seem worth it when you finally meet your new child. "

While patience and flexibility are important, so is distraction! So, Dustin and I are focusing on a myriad of home improvement projects. We are still working on the Dr. Seuss mural and I'm busy painting some furniture for Tessa's room. We have also been window shopping for bathroom fixtures and a fireplace to add to our lower level. Dustin is planning on doing some wiring in the house and later this spring we'd like to do some landscaping. Quite an ambitious agenda, but I know once Tessa's home, all of our time will be spent with her, grateful to have her as part of our lives.