A year or two ago we pulled the pin on this adoption.  It was time to update our file, which meant full medicals including heart x-rays and whatnot - an expensive and time consuming process.  It seemed unlikely that it would be worth our while, so we withdrew.

Out of interest, today, I looked up where allocations are up to now. Children have been placed with families whose files were received in China up to 8th October 2006.  In the last 4.5 years, they have got through 9 months of files.  Our log in date was 25 December 2007.  At that pace we would have been waiting probably another 8 years.  I would be 52 years old.  Yeah... not gonna happen.

We feel a bit sad about it, but not terribly so.  We feel like we did what we could, and there was nothing we could have done differently. We learned so much in the process, we discovered a heap about China, and we learned a bit of the language as well.  In the long run, if we weren't needed, that's a good thing.  I have a nagging feeling however, that families are still needed for babies in China, there's just something terribly wrong with the system.

For an update on the China situation, and to make your blood boil, I refer you to Emma and Aaron's blog.

In the 2.5 years that our file has been in China, referrals have progressed by about 3 months. So at that rate, our baby is approximately 20 years away.

Emma and Aaron are a few months behind us. So using that logic, Sebastian will be grown and left home before their adoption comes through. But they are expected to withdraw and start the process again from the beginning.

Sometimes there just aren't enough swear words.

Looks like allocations this month will take us up to 25 January 2006.

Referrals?

It looks like referrals are coming shortly. The rumour is that the cut off date is 22 January 2006. That's 10 days allocated - the previous allocation was only 3 days. According to my spreadsheet, at this new quicker pace, it will be only 7 years until we see the Panda.

Oddly enough, 7 years sounds like good news at this point.

I made a natty little spreadsheet today. You enter in the most recent date allocated, and the date allocated prior to that, and it works out how long it is until our LID, then calculates - based on that rate of allocations and the days between referrals - what date we will receive our allocation.

So apparently we will see our next child on 31 July 2026.

Referrals are up to 12 January 2006. Currently the rate of referrals is 3 days every month. :(

I'm feeling a little more heartened after reading the IAFQ (International Adoptive Families of QLD) magazine this month. There are plenty of families where the older children are 16 & 13 or whatever, and the parents are close to 50. We would hardly be unusual in that regard. And at least we won't be paying 3 sets of school fees at once... plus Gemma will be old enough to babysit the Baby Panda and drive her to swimming or whatever, while I rest my weary bones.

Allocations are up to 9 January 2006 and our LID is 25 December 2007. Wow, that only leaves about 1800 days to get my 100 Good Wishes Quilt ready... better start planning!

My friend Stephanie, Quilter Extraordinaire, sent me a beautiful necklace in honour of the Panda's quilt. Click on the link to our quilt blog (to your right and down) to see it. You can see she also has plenty of quilting projects to keep her busy while she patiently waits for me to get my arse into gear.