FAQ: So, what's next in the process?

As far as China goes, our dossier has been accepted and is now waiting in a big room with all the other dossiers logged in from about October 2007 to present. The next step will be when the CCAA reviews the dossiers, going through every page with a fine-tooth comb. If they have any questions or find any discrepancies, they will contact the potential parents through their adoption agency. If the matter can't be resolved quickly the dossier may lose it's place in line and will be given a new LID. Common questions concern health issues, and the CCAA may require additional medical exams or documentation.

The CCAA reviews dossiers one month at a time, based on the LID; for example, our dossier will be reviewed with all the other dossiers logged in during March, 2009. As of right now, the CCAA has reviewed dossiers through August 31, 2007, so they are probably currently working on September 2007. There is no way to tell when they will review more months; we just wait until they make the announcement that they have "reviewed all dossiers through ---". People feel very relieved when they hear their dossiers are out of review because it means they are basically approved; if you pass review, you can be pretty certain that you will be given a child (although when is another question!)

After 'review' comes 'matching', but there can be years between the two. Matching is when the CCAA takes the files of all the families who are next on the waiting list, reads all our information, and looks at the pictures we sent. Then they compare them with the files of the babies who are "paper ready" (or ready for adoption) at that time. No one is sure exactly how they match families to babies, but I have heard many times that it is based on rather unscientific methods, such as basing a match on physical looks, dates the families have in common with the baby (perhaps the baby's birthday is the same date as the parents' anniversary, for example), or maybe they match the file of a baby who likes to be outside with the file of a couple who likes to hike. However random their method, it works! It is said that China does the best job at matching babies to families, and almost always people say that it seems the baby fits perfectly with the family, like it was always meant to be.

When the matching is complete for the batch of referrals, they send them out to the agencies!

2 More Marbles...

Yes, just 2. We continue to crawl along at a snail's pace. We'll see what next month brings (hopefully that speedup we've all been hoping/praying for)!We have 1,093 days still to go; we are 16 days closer to Caitlin!

FAQ: Why the obsession with ladybugs?

For my first FAQ I thought I'd start with an easy question!

Basically the "obsession" with ladybugs has 2 reasons: First, ladybugs have long been associated with good luck, and we need all the luck we can get with the adoption process! Also, ladybugs were adopted as sort of the "mascot" of China adoption; it's said that whenever you see ladybugs something good is about to happen (like a bunch of referrals being sent)!