What a Wonderful Christmas Present!!!

We received a phone call on Tuesday afternoon asking if we would like to review the file of a little girl who is 3 (going to be 4 on February 28). She had a HEMANGIOMA (strawberry mark) which was treated early last year and is currently resolving. We were a little wary, wondering if reviewing a file meant that we would then be committed to this particular child. Once we cleared it with Meg (of CAWLI) that we could review the file and, in the event that we thought she was not a good match for our family, be placed back into the waiting pool, we went ahead and took the opportunity to review the file.

The file Meg sent me was filled with several pages of medical information, lab tests, and pictures of a little girl named You Ai. I did some (A LOT of) research on hemangiomas and later Tuesday night, Chris and I discussed this little girl.

Neither one of us could come up with a reason not to accept this referral. This child is PERFECT for us in every way! She dresses herself, walks, speaks full sentences, albeit in Chinese, and sleeps soundly. She is a little quiet and shy, but we can handle that, especially with my super-outgoing niece and nephew for her to play with. I’m sure she will come out of her shell quickly.

We had her file reviewed by a physician where I work and Chris’s mother took it to work with her as well. Once we were sure that she was as healthy as can be expected, we went ahead and ACCEPTED THE REFERRAL!!!!

We are still in shock as we thought this process would take a couple more years! We are still waiting on our approval from the USCIS, so we were not expecting a referral until at least next year. All I could think about was that we are SO not ready!! Haha!! But then again, according to most mothers, you never really are!

So right now, we are busy submitting the paperwork to adopt this specific child to our agency and the CCAA, as well as filing addendums for the USCIS (not to mention making final arrangements with the room and checking out child care/VPK programs in our area). We could not have gotten a better Christmas Present!!! Hopefully, if everything goes smoothly, we will be able to travel to bring her home around my birthday in July 2010!!!




As a side note to those expecting pictures of her to be posted: I am VERY wary of posting pictures of children on the internet, therefore you will not find any attached to this blog for now. If you would like a picture of our little girl, feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me (tting5@aol.com) and I will e-mail a picture to you. Thank you very much for your understanding.

If you would like to leave a comment with your e-mail address I can make this blog private and once that is completed I can post pictures and invite you as a "reader". This will more than likely happen by January 1, 2010 as I'm sure everyone wants to see pictures! :)