OUR ADOPTIONJOURNEY

We invite our family and friends to follow along on our journey to China to adopt our baby daughter. We are blessed with a very loving marriage of 11 years. Although we have always wanted children, I have endometriosis which has caused fertility issues. I was ill with the disease for over 9 years before properly being diagnosed. We know there is no cure, but luckily the endo is being managed well by my doctors. I also belong to the Endometriosis Association for support and to support other women with the disease. We tried fertility treatments, but this caused my endometriosis to become worse. Adoption was an easy decision for us, but the problem was timing. We began looking into adoption in 2004 and were considering China even then. Unfortunately, I needed another surgery to relieve the pain from endometriosis. It has been a dibilitating disease for me. But with much prayer and the diligence of doctors, we now manage our lives with endo. In November 2005, we finally decided to adopt a baby girl from China through LNI. Then our paper chase began. We started gathering information for our China Dossier (paperwork required to adopt). It took about 5 months to gather documents, complete the Home Study, and receive notarizations, verifications, and authentications. We were DTC (Dossier to China) at the end of May. Our LID (log-in date) was 05/26/06!!!! We are now waiting for our referral. The current wait is 12 - 14 months. The CCAA of China will match us with a little angel from China, called a Referral. The Referral consists of her age, (birth date if known) her health, her personality, and perhaps her sleep schedule. After we receive the referral from the People's Republic of China we will then fly to China 3-6 weeks later. We will travel to China for sight seeing and then we will have Gotcha Day in which we finally receive our first child. After all the paperwork is complete in Guangzhou we will fly home as a new family.