SURPRISE!!!!!

We have been "pre-approved" to adopt a beautiful, 14-month-old little girl in China!

I realize that I have some catching-up to do, so let me rewind a bit! Last month Paul and I made the decision to get on the Special Needs list with China. We had agreed awhile ago that we would do this eventually, but we had thought that we would wait until we moved again so that we could give the domestic adoption a chance. Then we heard from our agency about the new SN program, and how successful it has been for them. Since, with the SN program, our agency makes the match instead of waiting for China, we were told that things could move much more quickly. Paul and I did a lot of talking and decided that now was the time; we would go ahead and get on the SN list, as well as the NSN (Non-Special Needs) list that we were already on, as well as the domestic list, and see which path would lead us to our child.

Since our paperwork is already logged in and reviewed with China, in order to get on the SN list we only had to fill out a checklist of the special needs that we were comfortable with. We also asked for a baby, 18 months or younger. We sent in our checklist on March 19th, then began the process to update our homestudy here in California so that our paperwork would be up-to-date in the event that we were to get a referral.

Fast forward to last Wednesday (April 21st, right about one month after submitting our SN checklist). We got a phone call at 6:45 a.m. to tell us that our agency had matched us with an amazing baby girl who, other than a cleft lip and palate, is completely healthy and perfect! We read through all of her information and looked at her beautiful pictures, and we immediately knew that she was our little Caitlin. That night I e-mailed our agency our LOI (Letter of Intent to adopt), then we waited to hear back from China.

Today we got our PA (Pre-Approval)!! This means that China is pleased with the match our agency made last week, and they agree that we meet the basic requirements. Our dossier has now been moved from the NSN line to the SN line, and they will review it once again to make sure that we are fit to adopt a child with special needs (which we have more than proven that we are, so we are not too worried!)

More news is to come... I can't post her picture yet or give too much of her personal information until it's official, but I can tell you that she is absolutely precious and we are already completely in love with her! Once we get that LOA (Letter of Approval), she will be our little Caitlin!! Don't worry- I'll keep you posted!!