The Process

This photo depicts international adoption quite accurately. We have had our share of ups and downs in this process beginning over 2 1/2 yrs ago.
In May of 2005 we sent our application to CASI Foundation for Children in Boise, Idaho. We were approved and we began collecting and preparing our "dossier", lots and lots of paperwork complete with fingerprints, a homestudy, and an I-171H (approval from USCIS or the US Govt.). Our dossier was mailed to China on Dec. 15, 2005 and then logged in (LID) at the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) on January 4, 2006.
So besides redoing some of the paperwork and fingerprints (more $) we've been waiting for the day when we get "the call". When our referral arrives we'll get a call from our agency telling us the basics and then we wait for the Fed-Ex truck to bring photos and more details.
The CCAA has finished matching those with LID's through Dec. 14th so we continue to watch and wait.

Great Poem

Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously
My own.
Never forget
For a single minute:
You didn't grow under my heart
But in it.

--Fleur Conkling Heyliger

Why China?

Why China? you ask. Well, the short answer is, that is where our daughter is. We've been led on this unexpected path and continue to wait for an completely unanticipated length of time for a referral for a little baby from China. We've requested a girl as young as possible and with a LID (log-in-date) of 1-4-06 we are hoping for a referral in March '08, at the latest.