June 16, 2001: Things are not speeding up...The June 2000 group hopes to get their referrals this coming week, but that puts them at 12 months from Dossier To China (DTC) to referral. Because of our Vietnam adoption, we are glad for the extra time to get our second daughter settled (and her parents and sister adjusted to being a family of four) before we adopt this next baby from China. However, I still find myself wondering about her all the time!
August 20, 2001: Our agency's August referrals came today! It looks as though the wait has stablized (for now) at 12 months to referral. Most groups are traveling only 4 or 5 weeks after referral, which is great! With our Vietnam adoption very much up in the air, the timing of both adoptions, as well as how close in age our two younger children might be, is getting very interesting. With Cathryn, we were getting close to the end of our wait by August, but April 2002 still seems a long way off. Something tells me, though, that it will go very quickly!
October 29, 2001: We are officially half-way through the wait. Our dossier was probably received in China (logged in) around 4/25/01, six month ago. Our agency received referrals for their late September group (their referrals came with most of the October groups) today, so that makes 6 groups down, 6 still ahead of us. The bad news is, while the wait is between 12 and 13 months right now, it is expected to get even longer before we get our referral. Right now, I am optimistically expecting a referral by June 2002 (14 months after our dossier was sent). I hope we are home with Baby Lara by the end of the summer!
December 23, 2001: We are down to 4 groups ahead of us! It looks unlikely at this point that we will be able to complete a Vietnam adoption before getting close to adopting Lara, so if we don't receive a referral from Vietnam by mid-January, we will be putting that adoption on hold until after we bring Lara home. We are disappointed over how Vietnam has worked out for us, but we know God has it planned better than we ever could. The good news is, China doesn't seem to be slowing down further, even though the reports were that the December 2000 group was huge and would take months to match. It is late December, and the first half of that group has already received referrals. Hopefully, all the December 2000's will be matched with their babies by the end of January. So...right now, we are hoping for a mid-to-late-May referral and travel hopefully in late June or early July 2002. It is quite amazing to think of Lara as mostly likely a 4-8 month old baby already. I think of her often, and pray, as I did for Cathryn, that God will let her know He is there for her, that she is safe, warm and loved, and that God will prepare her for our family, even as He prepares us for her.
March 7, 2002: So much has changed since the last update! We did get a referral from Vietnam, and our baby boy will be coming home in early April! In addition, after 5 years of infertility and being told that we would probably never conceive, I am pregnant (due Oct. 2)! While we are thrilled to be expecting these two babies, we realize it means our China adoption will probably need to be put on hold until after the baby is born, at least. This is very hard for us--our baby from China has been in our hearts for over a year, but we know she will come home when the time is right, and we want to be able to give her all the attention she needs. We won't make any official decisions until after our son comes home. We will see how the pregnancy is going (although so far, ultrasound shows a rapidly growing baby with a beating heart!) and go from there. When it rains, it pours! We do feel incredibly blessed!
February 2003: We ended up pulling our previous dossier, and our now preparing another one. We hope it will be sent to China this spring! We expect a referral sometime in winter/spring 2004!
August 2003: Our dossier went to China on April 16, 2003! Right now, the wait for a referral is getting shorter again! We expect a 10 month wait! We'll see! You never know what can happen with that waiting thing! Right now the wait is at 11-12 months. Most agencies (including ours) just received their August and September 2002 referrals. If the wait continues to shrink, we should be matched with our baby in January or February 2004. Travel would be 4-8 weeks later. We are getting excited--our baby is most surely born! She is always in our thoughts and prayers! We know the next few months will pass so quickly with all our little ones here to keep us busy! Cathryn starts pre-K next month. John-Marc is 21 months and VERY busy and adorable. Matthew is 10 months--also pretty rambunctions and sweet as he can be! We feel very blessed!
January 2004: Well, the last few months have flown by and yet it feels that we have been waiting forever for Lara! We found out in mid-December that although our paperwork was mailed mid-April, it was not logged in (registered) in China until May 10 due to the SARS closure. As a result, our agency didn't get referrals in this last batch CCAA mailed out (beginning Dec. 31) and we are expecting to find out about our baby hopefully in early February. Travel is taking longer right now, with some families waiting up to 3 months to travel. For this reason, we are not too disappointed about our referral being delayed as we hope the "traffic jam" will disipate, allowing us to travel more quickly after referral. We will see. We know Lara is going to be one very special little girl and that she will come home in God's perfect timing. |
