WOW

The very next day after posting about the process dragging on we got a huge speed up! Last Thursday we were granted permission to join the yahoo group featuring all the children on the shared listing. That morning I sat in my pajamas until noon while looking through all the files and adorable pictures. I made myself read the files before looking at pictures so it would be a bit easier to make a clear decision with my head. We narrowed it down to 3 girls and emailed the agency to check and see if any of them were still available; two of them were.

I was drawn to one girl so on Friday night I sat down with her files to thoroughly look through all the test results, convert all her measurements to figure out her growth pattern, etc. One result in the urinalysis threw me for a loop and after figuring it probably wasn't a sign of good things I closed the computer and told J that I was too uneasy about it. I told myself she wasn't "the one" and tried to think of other things. I tried all weekend but my mind kept going back to her.

Monday morning I received another email from the agency saying more files were added overnight so again I sat in my pajamas until noon reading through them (they really take a long time to read!). I specifically did not open her file so I could consider the other children with a clear mind. After looking through all the others I opened her file once again and read it over; I knew her file was better than the others. I decided to call a doctor who reviews the files of special needs children and ask her to look it over. She got back to me in two hours (!!) and told us the result I was worried about was nothing; she is fine!

I feverishly started working on paperwork to lock her file. J called the bank to make sure this was something we could pull off with less time than we originally thought. We barely got all the paperwork done and emailed before the agency closed and then we just had to wait. Great, back to that waiting and patience thing!

We showed the kids her picture (Emily had already seen her) and told them we were moving forward to adopt her. I wish I had videotaped Emily; she was shrieking- shrieking "She's going to be my sister?! For real? My SISTER?!" It was so cute watching her try to contain herself but she had so much excitement she couldn't.

We took her picture with us while we ate so we could decide a name for her together. We haven't come to a clear decision yet.

At 8:30 this morning we got the email we were waiting for- her file was still available and they locked it for us. They are submitting our Letter of Intent (LOI) today. Once China receives our LOI we will be waiting again. China will send us a Pre-Approval (PA) in 1-4 weeks and after that I can share her name and photo with the world. Until then here is a sneak peak.