One Step Forward...

(we interrupt what was supposed to be a cool post with tons of pictures about our camping trip with friends for an adoption news update...)

I was wondering what it would feel like to actually achieve some 'progress' with the adoption, I kept trying to imagine it in my head… what emotion, what thoughts… but you know what I've found, that no matter what you imagine for those moments in life to be like, you never really conjure up exactly what it will be.

This morning, when checking my nearly 200 emails from 2 days of vacation I paused to stop online to see the latest updates from the Rumor Mill, when I spotted a gem, please see the picture to the right. Today we learned that our Dossier, received and logged into China along side thousands of other waiting families, has been officially reviewed and accepted as meeting the standards the Chinese government requires for international adoption.

So, let's recap for those playing along at home:

Dec 2005, decided to adopt, diving headfirst into agencies/country research
Jan 31, 2006, signed with a US agency
Mar 2006, finished dossier paperwork, except for the dreaded Maryland fingerprint clearance
April 2006, after 8 weeks of waiting, Maryland prints clear
April 2006, dossier translated and sent to China
May 8, 2006, our Dossier is officially logged into China
July 5, 2007, our Dossier clears the review room

For our family and friends, clearing review means that all of our paperwork was scoured with a fine tooth comb for incorrect dates, missing statements, incorrect forms, you name it. It can be a nervewrecking time while waiting. Making it a harder wait was the midstream change in adoption rules that China imposed, it wasn't clear if they really would 'grandfather' people in who submitted paperwork before the change. Though we qualified on all counts with the new rules, you never know how someone might interpret a medicine, a history, a statement, etc and whether you would be booted. Also, our fingerprints had expired, our homestudy had expired, our I-600A/I-797 was about ready to expire…

It took our Dossier 14 months to complete step 2 in China, but you have to take whatever milestone you can get in this process and quite frankly, you take it whenever you can get it. Hard to believe, when we started this process we expected a 10-12 month wait, I didn't realize the wait meant, for review! Thank goodness we were not at an agency that was misleading clients. Even though the 'current wait' when we started the process was 6-8 months, our agency told us to be prepared for a longer wait, perhaps 12 months or slightly more… I am grateful our agency let us in on the slow down they could see, though at times it's hard to accept the fact that it's now longer than anyone really thought possible over a year ago. If timing had played out like we thought last year, we would have received our referral for Magpie, traveled and been home with her by now.

Things change, you have choices, accept the change making the best of it, or make your own change. Though we've seen people drop out, change to a special needs child due to the wait or complete an adoption with another country while still in line for China, none of that felt right for us. We've chosen to make the best of what it is and for us, it's been the right choice.

One milestone down… one more to go, our referral. For those wondering and not in the loop, it could be later than this time next year for our referral. YES, you read that right, we could have more than a year to go, in fact, thoughts of yet one more holiday season without Magpie ring clear in my head. That's a long damn time from start to finish.