August 30th
WOO-HOO....we got our LID! I just checked the agency website and it was updated today. So now we are officially eligible to be matched with a child - hopefully from the next list that comes out at the end of September. We have no idea how many other parents are on the waiting list, but we're praying we get matched the first month. Man - it's going to be a loooong month.
August 28th
Still waiting for our log in date (LID). Our agency told me that it typically takes 2-4 weeks for China to notify them of the official LID, so hopefully we'll hear something soon. The next referral list comes out towards the end of September, so I'm hopeful we'll be logged-in for that. Our agency posts the LID's on their website the day they receive them....I've been checking the link 10 times (okay 20 times) a day! It's unreal to think we could possibly be matched with a little girl within the next month!! The wait is killing me!!!
Lucky had a great 3rd birthday with a super-cute turtle cake (so cute it was a shame to cut into it!). I can't believe my baby turtle is three. I guess I can't really call him baby turtle anymore...he tells me now he's just a "regular" turtle.
UPDATE August 9th:
We just heard from our agency that our dossier is officially ready to be shipped to China!! They send them every Friday, so ours will be sent this Friday 8/13. Once it arrives in China and gets logged-in, we're officially eligible for a referral. That means we could get a referral as soon as September!! Good thing we started painting her room this weekend, we've got some serious work to do to get ready!
I would also like to take a moment to apologize to Penny the Dog for insinuating she is not very smart. It appears I've hurt her feelings and she is refusing to hunt any more houseflies (or chipmunks) until the proper apologies are made. Turns out crashing into walls while chasing flies is all part of the hunt. Who knew.....
August 3rd
Wow, my very first post on my very first blog. I tried desperately to come up with something clever or witty to post, but I'm just too tired right now. I'm sick, Lucky's sick, and Cale's sick...Penny the Dog is the only one in our house who's not sick and she doesn't really feel like blogging right now...too busy hunting and chasing houseflies around the house. So I apologize in advance for the blah post - I promise I'll be witty tomorrow.
So let's get to the point of this whole blog thing. I hope this will be a great way for all our friends and family to follow along on our journey in adopting our little girl from China. Everyone has been so excited for us and eager to hear details of what's going on. So "ask and you shall receive".....this blog will contain all the details you ever wanted to know (and probably some you didn't).
Right now our dossier is at the Chinese Consulate in Chicago being "authenticated". I'm not really sure what authenticating means, but I'm quite sure it's very complex and expensive (as is everything in the adoption process). The dossier was sent to the Consulate last Friday and the agency told us it can take 2-3 weeks.
Once our dossier is properly authenticated and approved, it's officially ready to be sent to China to be logged in. Our agency will send it to China (they call it DTC...dossier to China) and then wait for our LID (log in date). The LID is the magical date we're waiting for right now. Once we have a LID, we are eligible to be matched with a child from the waiting list. The waiting child list comes out once per month and we're crossing our fingers that we'll be eligible for the September list.
So that's where we are right now. TTFN....
