LID!!!!!!!!

We are finally “paper pregnant”! Our official log-in date (LID) is November 14, 2006. Now we can officially start the countdown to “Baby K”! It’s going to be a long wait, but it’s good to officially be in line. The wait right now is approximately 15 months. So, if the wait doesn’t get any longer, we should see “Baby K’s” face around January or February of 2008. Let’s all do some serious praying that the wait times decrease and that she’ll be home by Christmas of 2007!

WHAT IS A REFERRAL?

A referral is when an agency (in our case, the CCAA - China Center of Adoption Affairs) matches what they know about you and your family with what they have learned about a child from an orphanage and the caregivers. Adoption referrals may include 1-2 photos of the child, medical information (the medical information included with the referral is usually from several months before the child was referred, so it may not be exactly right, but usually gives you a good idea of the health of the child), background information (may include information on the child’s age and where the baby was found), developmental information (again, this is usually from several months before referral, but gives a general idea on how the child is progressing) and social information. Updates are usually provided 2-3 weeks before you travel, and give a much better idea on the current weight, health and developmental status. We have requested an infant girl, 6-18 months old (as young as possible), with no known medical problems. Historically, such a request will result in a match with a baby between 8-14 months. (Babies are not referred younger than 6 months, so after you add in the 6-8 weeks between referral and travel, the youngest are normally 7.5 - 8 months old)

So, just how exactly are we matched with our child?

The people working in the CCAA’s matching room have a child’s info sheet with their photos and then a general description and what their likes and dislikes are. They pull up the passport photos of the parents, along with an info sheet containing our name, jobs and likes/dislikes. The CCAA takes great pride in matching each baby to the perfect parent. They may match based on hobbies of the parents or on looks. For example, if a parent’s info sheet states that one or both of them are musicians and they have a baby that loves music, they may match them together. Some parents are matched with babies that have similar physical characteristics (same complexion or facial shape).

This picture shows some stacks of dossiers that are in the matching room. The dossiers are color coded by agency and the babies files are color coded by orphanage. They try to keep agency families together if possible, that way the whole (or at least most of) agency can travel together to the same orphanage.

Hopefully this helps you understand the process and where we are in that process. Again, please pray that the wait times decrease and “Baby K” will be with us by at least Christmas next year!