WOW- I'm a blogger

Now that I have figured out how to create a blog I am so excited to tell you all so many events leading up to this point in our journey. My problem is that I am not very computer savvy and I am running out of time before I have to leave. I will do my best to fill you in. On Christmas 2004 Brent and I announced to our families that we had decided to adopt a baby from China. We did this by reading a book to our families called "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes" by Rose Lewis. Everyone was so supportive. It is true that it takes a village to raise a child and we were so touched by the love and support we received in regards to our decision. Jade is going to be one lucky little girl to be coming into a family that has so much extended love and support. Well from there we began preparing our "Dossier". That is just a fancy word for all the paperwork. It was amazing to me all of the paper work that needed to be done. It was overwhelming at times gathering information, having homestudies, having things notarized and authenticated - OH-not to mention the SHOTS!! I must admit my favorite part was gathering the letters of recommendation from friends. We have so many sweet and wonderful friends that wrote amazing letters we will cherish forever. We had a wonderful case worker named Teri Waite who patiently answered all of our questions. She has truly become a dear friend. She continues to give us advice and encouragement. Well once our "Dossier" was complete we submit it to our agency who turns it over to China to be translated and we WAIT!!! Thank heaven for small milestones. The next milestone that leads you to believe you are getting somewhere is to get a DTC. Date To China. Our date was. Shortly after that we are give a LID. This is your Log In Date. This in reality is your place in line to be matched. Our LID was June 8th 2005. After this milestone you wait for the MAIN milestone which is when you receive your referral. Your information and photo of your baby. The distance between the LID milestone and the referral milestone is LOONNGG!!! In fact ours was almost an entire year. We received our referral on May 25,2006. Wow -- how we endured that long wait I will never know!! I have included some photos of the matching room so that you can see the amazing process of matching babies with families. MATCHING! There is an ancient Chinese belief "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstances. The thread my stretch or tangle, but will never break."
Right there in the building pictured above, "The CCAA", there is a file of a little girl without a family. There is also a file of a family wanting a little girl! The magic, as some people refer to it, happens here. From what we know we know when your file is in this room you are at that final stage. You have come through the review room where all of our papers are gone over and are approved to adopt from China. The CCAA has people working at computers to match families! They have hundreds of dossier's each month. You can see all the dossier's they have to go through! We know that it is more than magic and that God has our daughter already chosen for us!