Bad Omen

The whole ladybug/Chinese adoption thing is kind of cute but at the same time kind of silly. Some people seem to take it pretty seriously. But I am not sure there are really that many people out there that really believe that ladybugs mean good luck or that referrals are on their way.

We got a good chuckle the other day when we were up in Gracie's room putting her Christmas presents away when we found the above dead ladybug on the floor.

It did get us thinking about the Olympics rumors that have been floating around lately. As you may or may not know the 2008 Olympics will be in Beijing, China this coming August. There is a lot of speculation out there regarding what will happen with adoptions during that time. The CCAA has not made an official statement so the rumors are all over the place. Some agencies are telling their clients that no referrals will be sent out after February or March and will start back up after the Olympics are over. Other agencies are saying there will be no travel approvals after May. Other agencies are saying that the only people whose consulate is in Beijing will be affected (The US consulate is in Guangzhou). There is also the issue of the increase in hotel and airline flight prices around the time of the Olympics. I think at the very least there will no adoption travel to Beijing during the Olympics which lasts a couple weeks. That would mean we could potentially miss the sightseeing portion of the trip.

At this point we are trying not to stress out about it too much as we really have no idea what is going to happen. But based on our LID and the potential for getting a referral in March, April or later we could very well be affected if there are any restrictions on travel. Seems like there is always something....we are just hoping for a couple big batches coming up so we can get to China before any of the Olympics stuff starts.