I live by dates

For all those wondering how I know (or don't know) when we will get our referral, the CCAA - China Center for Adoption Affairs, posts where they are in the referral process. We all live and breath by these numbers - "when will we be matched." As you can see, dossiers that were logged in prior to Oct 31, 2005 have now made it through the review room and documents with Log in Dates June 28th, 2005 and before have their referrals - so, you ask - what does all this mean? Here's a brief explanation:

Paperchase - all of the paperwork (homestudy, birth and marriage certificates, police clearances, doctor notices, etc, etc) has to be notarized and authenticated at the state and federal level - and then with the Chinese embassy. We started our paperchase in June 2005.

DTC - Dossier to China - we were DTC (completed paperwork) the Monday before Thanksgiving - Nov 21, 2005.

LID - Log in Date - our Dossier is officially logged in to the CCAA on Dec 9, 2005.

Referral - when we get matched and get a picture of Leah - we'll most likely get some information like her current height and weight, where she was found, how old she is, etc.

TA - Travel Approval - once we accept the referral, we then wait for TA - usually around 6 weeks or so after referral.

So, as you can see, I live by dates. There is a small glimmer of hope this month because they matched 2 weeks of LID's. We hope hope hope things are speeding up. I've heard that July, Aug and Sept are smaller months (less LID's) but that Oct and or Nov are HUGE. So, I just continue to pray that they continue to speed up.

To explain the process of where our Dossier is right now - we are most likey in the Review Room. You'll notice that they have completed the review of documents with LID's of Oct. So, they are most definitely working on Nov now - and I've heard that a couple of people with Dec LID's have been asked some additional questions. Supposedly if something doesn't translate correctly, they will ask your agency some additional questions, or if they need clarification on something like health issues, etc they will ask. So, that is our next big hurdle, I'll breath a sigh of relief when our dossier is through there - and in the Matching Room!

The Matching room is where they actually have a stack of baby files and a stack of dossiers and match - it's a bit of a mystery in how they match - but everyone always says that you end up getting the exact right baby for your family. That is where I believe (as many others have said) that God has his hand in the matching - we know Leah is there - and we'll get matched with her!

More to come!!