A glimmer of hope?

I emailed an adoption agency about China's new laws for adoption. This agency only does Chinese adoptions and so I thought I would ask them about the new regulations. I explained our situation to them and this is the response I got.

"The new changes are going into effect May 1, 2007. We will have a better understanding of exactly how China will be enacting the changes once they go into effect. However, our understanding of the new regulations is that affected families will not be forbidden to adopt, however preference will be given to families not affected by the changes. Therefore, there is the potential for much longer wait times for affected families such as your own. The current wait time after submitting the Dossier is 13-16 months. This number could increase for affected families. I hope this information helps. Again, we will have a better understanding in June of exactly how the changes will affect families, so please feel free to contact me again at that time and I will have definite answers for how you would be affected. Thank you!"

So for now we sit tight and wait. I think I am going to have to learn some patience through this whole thing! LOL I ain't gettin' no younger! We may need to consider taking an older child or one with special needs. I am not necessarily opposed to this, but it could mean attachment issues and that sort of thing. I just don't know if I am qualified to handle that, and I know J has some reservations, too. With foreign adopted children, there is always the unexpected anyway. Issues may surface that were not disclosed, there are usually minor developmental delays, that sort of thing. Most work themselves out fairly quickly once the child is at home and given one on one attention. For instance, I know of a little boy who was recently adopted from China. He went home at about 16 months and was not yet walking and could not hold his own sippy cup. He began walking within six weeks of coming to his new home and just started learning to feed himself and hold his sippy cup for himself within the last couple of weeks. He is now 19 months old. Those type of things. Sometimes the kids are small and underweight and have poor muscle tone. Things that, with proper care, resolve themselves over time. We will already have those types of issues to deal with, so we will just have to think hard on that one. Sometimes "special needs" can mean something as simple as a cleft lip or a large birthmark. It is just hard to predict what that means.

Anyway, I haven't been doing much crafting this week, mostly because I have been scouring the internet for adoption information. I think I will try to get some done this weekend. We are supposed to get a bunch of snow tomorrow and Friday, so we will see, maybe I'll get snowed in. LOL