Five years

Yesterday marked the official five-year anniversary of being logged in with China as a family awaiting an adoption referral. At that time we thought we'd be waiting about 15 months ( up from seven to nine when we began the process). I remember the depth of my depression that December when we were told the wait was predicted to be at least three years. From that time on, things began to get worse and we discovered online communities that could give us a realistic picture of what was to come. The predicted wait had long since expanded past five years, but I held out hope because officials in China had promised the wait wouldn't get past five years. They don't like to break promises but I guess some nuance must have been lost in translation. At least things have begun to get a little better. We're still holding hope for a referral before the end of this year.