Memory Lane - June 2003

I've found myself thinking so much about our wait for Ashlie this month. Is it because it's been 5 years? Is it because she's starting kindergarten this year? I don't know, but our first adoption wait has really been on my mind. We got her referral on June 30th, 2003, after starting the process for her adoption in October 2001. We had high hopes for a speed up in referrals by the time our turn would come, and rumors seemed to corroborate that when we learned that May referrals were going to come with April referrals (TWO MONTHS worth??!!) and they were going to come in April. We knew that our referrals had been signed and were sitting on the desk of the Director of CCAA. & then came SARS. After all the hurdles that we had cleared to bring our baby home, who would have thought that a new disease would cause us to wait even longer.

The worst part of the SARS delay was the "not knowing." Not knowing if it was truly just a delay, or if adoptions from China were going to end. and IF it were a delay, how long would it last? People speculated times from a few months to a year. I remember just trying to get through each day. I went to work and tried to work, and I would shut the door to my office each time I started to cry. I used great restraint the time one coworker said to me, "Hey, at least this is a lot easier that giving birth!" I know she regretted her words when I told her that this was the hardest thing I'd ever been through in my life.

I shared the rumors and my hopes and disappointments through posts in our yahoo group. Yesterday I went back to that old yahoo group and this is the post for June 24th, 2003:

WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!

No referral yet, BUT - the World Health Organization has lifted thetravel advisory for Beijing AND taken them off the list of SARS-affected areas list and, . . . . Most importantly, . . . .The CCAA has resumed operations!! They have published an newannouncement on their website - Their workday of June 24th is over,but it said that they will "Restart Mailing" the referrals on June24th! We will almost certainly learn who Ashlie is THIS WEEK!I am saying prayers of thanks and starting to feel nervous andexcited all over again.Yeeeaaaah!Jill

& yes, I shut my door to my office and sobbed those wonderful tears of relief. I prayed my prayers of thanks and I finally let my heart start to get excited again!!!

I'll share a few more posts over the next few weeks. (Just reliving my joy!!)