Waiting for our referral

"We witness a miracle every time a child enters into life. But those who make their journey home across time & miles, growing within the hearts of those who wait to love them, are carried on the wings of destiny and placed among us by God's very own hands."

We are currently waiting for our referral from the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA). The referral will tell us who she is, where she is, how old she is and other information. In addition, the referral provides photos and a medical report.

This long-awaited document specifically says to us, here is a child that is available for adoption, would you accept this specific child to be part of your family? Except for very unusual circumstances, the family accepts the referral. This acceptance is sent back to China and the second part of the waiting starts. In China, the acceptance leads to further paperwork in Beijing along with notification to the Childrens Welfare Institute that a family has been identified for that specific child. After the paperwork is complete, CCAA sends a permission to travel document back to the adoption agency.

Our dossier was logged-in by the CCAA on June 28. The Log-In Date, or LID, officially starts our countdown clock until when we can expect to receive our referral. Dillon's past three dossier groups have waited between 6 months, 12 days to 6 months, 23 days to receive a referral. If this trend continues we can expect to receive referrals somewhere around January 9th to 20th. On average, families travel 6-8 weeks after acceptance letters are returned to the CCAA. So, we're looking at a trip to China in Feb/Mar 2006 to pick up our baby girl Piper.

And once we receive our referral, we’ll post her precious photo!