A little review-our adoption timeline

I was reflecting today on all that we've had to do for this adoption up to this point. I thought maybe I'd take a minute and review for those of you who really have no idea. So, this is our adoption time line thus far:

• Dec 2004 We start to think that we need to look into international adoption as a means of growing our family.
• Dec-March 2005 We spend hours upon hours researching international adoption and what it involves.
• April 2005 We decide to adopt from China for many reasons. Not the least of which is the dependability and "relative" ease of their program. We look into many agencies. (Even after this long wait, it is still one of the best programs out there!)
  
• May 2005 Sent an application to West Sands Adoptions. Received approval on Mother's Day!
• May-September 2005 Spent these five months gathering more information than you can even imagine. Birth certificates, marriage certificates, background checks, fingerprinting, home study evaluations, financial statements, physical examinations, letters of employment, passports, I-171Hs and on and on and on! All of these documents have to be notorized by a notary public. Then they are sent to the Secretary of State's office to be authenticated and receive a state seal. Then they are sent to Washington DC for more authentication and finally to the Chinese Embassy. Then the entire packet was returned to me.
• September 2005 Sent our completed dossier to West Sands Adoptions. They sent it on to Adam Wang who translated everything into Chinese.
• October 6, 2005 Our completed and translated dossier was mailed to the CCAA (China Center of Adoptive Affairs)
• October 27, 2005 (up for debate) Our dossier was received and logged in by the CCAA. This is often referred to in the adoption community as your LID or "log-in date". Essentially the CCAA notes that they have received your file and puts you figuratively on the bottom of a VERY LARGE stack of dossiers.
• April/May 2006 When we first applied to adopt it was projected (based on the timeline at that time) that we would receive our referral about now. They were just a little off!
  
• June 22, 2006 We were officially "out" of the review room. This is a big milestone. The review room is a place at the CCAA where each dossier is reviewed. If they have any questions or concerns they typically contact the agency you are working with for clarification. When you make it"out" that means you have passed their initial look over-you have met all of their requirements and things are looking good! This eases many minds in the adoption community.
• October 2005-present We are "watching" our dossier slowly make it's way to the top of the stack. Hopefully it will surface very soon! It's next destination is the "matching" room. This is the place where they match the babies with their adoptive families. The CCAA has currently "matched" the files with LIDs before September 27, 2005. As you can see, we are getting close. Our LID is Oct. 27, 2005. That is about four weeks from their last match. They typically match 10-14 days worth a month. So, most likely we are two "matches" away. Now you know why we are getting excited--this has been a very long wait. A wait that is hopefully nearing it's end!