The Tipping Point

I am on pins and needles right now. There has been no news for a couple of weeks now and it's killing me!! This month will truly be the tipping point in regards to me knowing more closely when I will receive a referral. I know we September Log-in people say that a lot, but in this case it is more true than ever. What China determines to be the cut-off date this month, the number of referrals they complete, the number of days they process, will all tell me a lot about when I can expect to see a referral. If they finish all referrals for August, and they should since there is no one logged in again until the end of August, things will be on track, continuing as expected. If China chooses to stop part way through the empty dates, then this year's quota is definitely a much bigger slowdown than we even anticipated. It has been suspected that each year for over 5 years now, China has decreased the amount of referrals they will allow in any given month or year. However the number of files being submitted each year did not decrease at the same rate, creating the slowdown and an incredible backlog of files. So while they may have allowed a certain number of adoptions last year, there will be considerably less allowed this year. That is basically why the wait continues to get longer, the longer I wait. So frustrating for me, so sad for children who will never be matched with a forever family.