Adoption: LOI Submitted!

As in, Letter of Intent.  Meaning, a letter of intent has been submitted to adopt a specific child.

Let me rephrase.

We found our daughter!  She is perfect.  She is lovely.  And soon (actually that's debatable) she will be home with her family who loves her to the moon and back.  Twice, thrice!!

We are reeling.  We are plain exhausted.

The past 72 hours have been so stressful.  I've been scratching and clawing to obtain all the information that I possibly can about this precious girl and her needs.  I've been researching, emailing, calling doctors, thinking, not sleeping - all in the name of finding out if we are capable of being her parents.  And we discovered that we are!  We are her parents.  I am her momma.  I didn't deliver her, but she could not be any more my daughter if I had.

Let me back up just a little, so I can document how this went down.

Monday night the CCCWA released a new group of children to the Waiting Child shared list.  What is a Waiting Child?  Simply put, a Waiting Child is a child with any level of physical, medical, or developmental special need or a healthy older child.  I've purposely been a little vague about this until now, but Jeremy and I have been seeking to adopt a Waiting Child.  Families who want to adopt Waiting Children have the ability to set parameters based on needs they feel they are comfortable with and capable of handling.

So Monday night we received a call from our agency telling us they had been able to lock the file of a little girl who met the parameters we had previously set.  I can't yet tell you her name, so we will call her M.  I told our case worker that yes, we wanted the opportunity to see the file.  Then, I hung up the phone and burst into tears, praising God for the opportunity to be a mother again.  It's the same reaction I've had each time I've looked at a positive home pregnancy test.  The same, and I hadn't yet seen her picture or read one word of her file.

Jeremy was at the Rangers game, so I called to tell him that we were potentially matched.  Without even asking, he said, "I'm coming home."  I love that.

We spent lots of time reading her file, her medical records, looking at her sweet pictures, and that very night we even called a doctor friend who shared basic knowledge of M's medical need with us.  I think we were both smitten already, but we had agreed that we would do our very best to slow ourselves down, research, consult with as many physicians as we could, and make an informed decision that was best for our entire family.

So that's what's been happening for the last 72 hours.  In both our hearts, we said yes on Monday night.  Tuesday and Wednesday we left the door open for something game changing to come through, but nothing ever did.  I am mostly going to keep her medical information private to protect her, but we are 100% comfortable with her need and to us, she is perfect.

Today we submitted our Letter of Intent, which is just what it sounds like.  It's a letter to the CCCWA telling them that we intend to adopt M.  They will review the documentation we sent with the letter and then accept or deny it.  I've heard that a denial is rare, so it's not something we are stressing about.  Once they approve us, they will send us a pre-approval (PA) to adopt M.  We should have the PA in 2-4 weeks.

After the PA, our dossier will get moved to the Waiting Child department of the CCCWA where it will be reviewed and approved (I'm optimistic).  Then they will send us a Letter Seeking Confirmation (LSC), which is the official referral of M to us.  I'm not certain, but I think it will take 2-3 months to get the LSC.  We will sign it and send it back to China, and it will be a done deal.  M will be our daughter!

I think we will travel appx 3 months later.  Sigh.  It's a long time.  I hope I'm wrong about some of the timing, but I think the times I've stated might even be on the optimistic end of things.

Either way, God was and will always be in control, come what may.  He works all things after the counsel of His own will.  We will be in China bringing our third child home when the time is right.  In the meantime, we will keep trusting the Lord to keep her safe and show her love.  M's file says she is with a foster family who loves, loves her!

My cup runneth over.

*Nino, I believe you are still on your cruise.  I wanted to go ahead and write this so you could sooner learn the news in the event you are keeping up with the blog on your vacation.  I think you are my most loyal reader!  Safe travels home!