Hi Sarah. Yes it is a rollercoaster. I don't know how old you are/how long you've searched. I searched for a total of 20 years!
My search with Kinsolving took a long time by their standards - year and a half. My case really was a hard one. It was a private adoption, I had been given some misinformation (which was worse than NO information!), and my mother lives halfway across the country from where I was born. Chris was actually able to get her name pretty quickly but it was finding her that took so long.
After 6 months we agreed to close the case because she couldn't locate my mother. But about a year later she got access to some new data bases (as I understand it) and was able to find her. At that point I had resigned myself to the fact that it would never happen. So I was so shocked and surprised when Chris contacted me again and said she had new information! I guess she periodically rechecks unsolved cases for just that reason.
Like I said, Chris is good. Basically the only hard information I was able to give her was my city and date of birth. I'm still amazed at how she did it! Feel free to email me any time if you have more questions. I'll be happy to tell you how it all turned out!
Lisalu910@yahoo.com