We are pregnant!

Psalm 118:24 "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!" really, really hits the ONE house today!


Today our DOSSIER goes to CHINA!!!!
DTC: 4-6-06 (Dossier to China)

Since mid October, when Bart gave the okay to start the adoption process, we have compiled a lot of documents, pictues, forms, and letters to make up a "dossier". We made it through the homestudy with no problems. We were fingerprinted twice, poked for bloodwork, and had mugshots done for this, as well as a whole bunch more that would bore you. That was not the bad part, it was the waiting for this and that to be ready so we could wait some more!
Point is, today our paperwork is flying to China. I am sure it is wrapped in a gold or red (good luck color in China) ribbon to make it feel special. I am smiling BIG. We are now what adoption lingo calls "paper pregnant"!

Having been through pregnancy 3 times before, I of course want to compare it for a second.
NO morning, afternoon, evening, sickness.
I don't have to go to the bathroom every 1/2 hour.
No weight gain.
I can still have a drink if I so choose. And tonight I will. I saved the bottle of wine I bought in Paris just for this day!
I am getting ahead here but.... no labor .... no heartburn.... and in the last months I will still be able to paint my own toenails!

So now what? WE WAIT! How could I be sooo excited just to get to a stage where we wait? Strange but true. The wait times have increased. They were once 5-7 months and are now 9-12 months. No big deal. We wait. First thing is we hear of our LID (log in date). This is the date China says, okay you're in, now wait here with the others in the "waiting" room. Then after we get to know this group through e-mail, yahoo groups and word of mouth...we move to the review room. This is where our paperwork is critically looked over and pictures are laughed at! There is all possibility of something being rejected and having to be redone. If that is the case...this is where is will happen. (pray this doesn't). So now that we've made it past the firing squad and no shots were fired, we land in the matching room. So what do you guess they do here? MATCH a little girl with the ONE house family. A referral will come in according to our LID date. Our agency will call us, and then the fed-ex stork will come the next day with pictures and a lot of stuff written in Chinese. (Can you image deliverying that package?) After all this is said and done we still wait for our travel approval and appointment in China. This usually is 6-8 weeks. We get about 1-2 week notice before we travel. We get packed and ready to go get our daughter from her "homeland" country. We spend about 14 days in China then come back to the ONE house and bond with out any jetlag!

Today is a great day! We are on the road to bring home our KATE!