Mike and Leigh's UnBlog

The Skinny

The information parents waiting for their babies receive here in the States is spotty, at best. I imagine that all of it reaches us after enduring several rounds of the 'telephone game.' However, what we do know are the dates other families submitted their materials and when they get their referals.
In trying to calculate when we can expect Mary's referral, we will use little more than my sub-fourth grade math skills and some guesswork.
Families whose materials were in Beijing and approved at the end of May '05 are receiving their referrals now. The Chinese do two rounds of referrals per month but only send them to the US once a month. So, because we were logged-in at the end of July '05, if this schedule holds, we will get our referral in June and then travel in August.
All of this is subject to change and we have come to expect the unexpected.

posted by Michael Fresina @ 2:13 PM 0 comments

More Information??

Since hearing about our delay last week, we have been asked a million times what the 'new' date is and why we've been delayed at all.
There are any number of explanations for why/how we fell victim to this delay. It could be something unsavory and conspiratorial as the Chinese government holding thousands of waiting American families hostage, leveraging us for some political gain. They might look at our representative democracy and really believe that the independent citizen has some say over what goes on. More likely, I think, is that the agency we all deal with in China is overwhelmed, under-staffed and under-talented.
So, at this point, I'm not going to make any predictions about a date. If I were guessing, and not agering, I would imagine we will get our referral sometimg in April or May and travel eight weeks later.

posted by Michael Fresina @ 11:53 AM 0 comments