If you have been following along, my husband and I are on the journey to adopt our first child from the People’s Republic of China. It has been a relatively easy process so far. I mean, sure, there are days where I want to scream, cry, and pull my hair out but those have been few and far between. And, it was mostly during the paper chase phase.
To catch you up, we applied to our agency in September 2010. We began collecting documents for the home study in October and had our last visit with the social worker in early January. Our home study was approved on January 18, 2011 and we received our referral on that date, too. We were pre-approved to be her parents by China in late January. In March, we were approved by the American government to adopt a foreign orphan. On April 25, our dossier was sent to China. After an anxious 21 day wait, we received a log in date for May 9. This date marks the halfway point in the waiting process.
It also marks the first time in this entire process that I have started to believe that I will be a mother to this adorable, little girl. I have tried to be business like in my approach to this adoption, as I have experienced loss through infertility and domestic infant adoption. But when I received the email that I had a log in date, I burst out into tears. I cried as I left my husband a voice mail. I cried as I called my mom. I cried at radio commericals on my commute home. And, I cried while completing my required Hague training that evening. I actually began to have thoughts that this is really going to happen!
We still have a few more hurdles to jump between the two governments. China has to officially approve us as her parents. The U.S. government has to approve her as a foreign orphan (according to the rules set forth by the Hague treaty). We also need to be invited to travel by China. Only 6 more months and we’ll be done!
