The Odyssey

The referral rumors hit a frenzied pitch last week, with speculations and calculations spinning out of control. I think I had a touch of Referral Flu on Friday - I was literally nauseous and achey. I had to leave a party early because I felt so bad. I slept most of Saturday. I seriously think it was just a 24-hour thing...but the stress from last week was enough to make anyone ill.

Rumors speculated that referrals would be made for famlies logged in as of May 17, May 25 and mid-June. Oh, for the halcyon days of late last week when mid-June was a dream...a pipedream.

Turns out, the CCAA went with Door Number 2: Referrals were made for families logged in as of May 25. For those of you playing at home, our log in date is June 28. And for those keeping score, they managed 12 days of referrals in one month. Granted, February is a short month, made even shorter by the Chinese New Year. But at this rate, we could receive our referral in May.

Now it's possible we could hear earlier. There's a theory mixed with a soupcon of rumor that June 2005 was a "lighter" month, with fewer dossiers logged in than in March, April and May 2005. If that's the case, things could and should pick up and our wait would be shorter - shorter being a relative term at this point!

Here's what you have to know: We don't know anything. We've heard the slowdown is because there are more families than "paper-ready" babies. We've heard that the CCAA is focusing on increasing domestic adoptions. We've heard that the CCAA is working to insure the babies aren't being trafficked. We've heard a lot, but haven't really been told anything. Seriously, no one knows why, we just know we have to wait.

Our adoption truly is an odyssey. I believe Homer (Simpson) said it best: "This is the suckiest bunch of suck that ever sucked."