Adoption Update

I thought that since I haven't had much to post here about Tod's operation (now that he's doing so well!!), I'd maybe go back and fill some of you in on where we stand with the adoption. I'll give only a little bit of background(in case some of you care, b/c some of you might not know much about the process. Basically, we've only waited this long to get the ball rolling b/c to adopt from China you must be 30 years old. We were able to begin the process in December b/c the paperwork tends to take about 6 months to get together, and the paperwork all together (called a dossier "dos-ee-ay") can not go to China before BOTH partners turn 30.

We have been gathering documents since December, we finished our homestudy JUST before Tod's surgery, and now we have ALL our documents (which include our birth cert's, marriage cert, financial statement, employment letters, etc.) FIRST notarized, the we send them ALL off to be certified (at the state level), THEN we send them all to be authenticated (at the national level). We've been sort of doing it piece-meal, so we've got everything at different stages, but basically we're JUST ABOUT ready to send everything to be authenticated. After that, we have to have our fingerprints taken (for the second time) in Charlotte. Once that is done, we sit back and wait for a document called the I-171. (Somewhere in here, our agency has all of our notarized, certified, and authenticated documents translated). This is the final step before DTC (sending the Dossier To China), and is the US Government's way of telling us we are cleared to bring back an orphan from China. Lastly, I celebrate my 30th birthday by sending our completed dossier to a far away land.

We sit back, and wait to hear from China as to what our LID is (Log In Date). That's the official day our WAIT for referral starts. The current wait tiem is about 8 months. It's been as low as 6 months recently, and I am hopeful the wait time will not be 8 months by the time we are DTC. After LID, we will get frequent updates (well, once the 6 month period has passed!) about what we're looking at for referral. Now, a referral is when the CCAA (the Chinese Governmental Agency that matches us with a baby) chooses a baby for the Seth Carley family. We'll get a phone call that will tell us her name, and some sketchy info on her history, where her orphanage (Social Welfare Institute) is, and then they'll send us a picture of her. This will likely be around Christmas of this year. Possibly January. No one knows, and I keep making everyone here crazy by trying to guess when Baby Magic (AKA Baby Seth Carley) will be born. Every day I say "She could be born today!". Tod and Phil just groan, but hey, it keeps me going.

Anyway, this is the longest "brief" explaination in my blog history, but now if you are still reading, you must REALLY care!

If you are interested in Tod's current status, I can give it to you here briefly (HONEST): Doing well. Looking forward to going back to work. Doctor's appointment soon to address the arrhythmia. Still has a big head. (hee hee).