Update...there is no update!

OK, so I thought I would post to say that we got an update from the agency telling us that there is no update. For me, I guess it's nice to just hear something instead of wondering. Although, it's a little frustrating because there is no good reason that the re-accreditation is not being signed. Here is what was written and I'll let everyone else decide and/or make an opinion:

"As the holidays approach I understand that your concerns mount about when will you adoption occur. Adoptions are still occurring in Russia. We will have 6 families complete their adoptions this month, 11 waiting with children chosen to complete their adoptions, 4 families waiting to travel for the first time to meet their children and 3 families reviewing children.

While this is positive the referrals are not coming as quickly as any of us would like. We are still restricted due to the re-accreditation issue. With re-accreditation all adoption agencies are waiting for the ministry to issue re-accreditation certificates. We see no definitive obstacles preventing this so we think it is only a matter of their bureaucracy initiating this process. I do not have a prediction as to when this will happen accept to say that we are expecting this at anytime. How this affects you is in several ways. Usually we operate in over 30 regions but without this accreditation we need to process your adoption as an independent adoption and only a few of our usual regions have an independent legal process to move forward with adoptions. I believe that our current number of regions operating with an independent process is 11. You can see how that restricts referrals just by the number of regions. Being forced to operate currently under an independent process also affects how referrals are given and how we can present referrals to you, thus over half of the independent process regions require blind trips. This delay in adoptions is creating problems within Russia with a backlog of children in the regions filling the orphanages, shelters, and hospitals to overflowing. I heard that several recent child deaths in Russia have been attributed to this overcrowding. While there is internal awareness of the urgent need to open the adoptions up this delay highlights a reality of all adoptions in that they are political processed that can be insensitive to the needs of the children and more responsive to political whims or delays."

The kicker in there for me was that children are dying because of this. I know that Steve and I are not the only people sitting here waiting to be parents! There are children there that need parents and paperwork is NOT being signed because WHY? That's what's a lot frustrating. Perhaps I'm just a bit more irritated due to the holidays. Well that and I went to a party last night, oh forget the comment I was going to make. I wont' have a pity party here.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I have finally gotten in the spirit this year and I think our house looks great! We'll be having a house full on Christmas Eve. That should be fun!