3-16-07

Today our dossier is sent to the Chicago Consulate to be authenticated. It will be mailed back to Crossroads and then on to China, which usually takes two weeks. Then we should be DTC (Dossier To China). That's when the official waiting period starts, it's the launching off of the adoption process in China. Our dossier is then given a log in date in China and we base our referral wait on that log in date. We will guess when our referral will come from that date and we are really in this for the long haul. The estimated time for a healthy infant referral is 18 months! I am not the young, patient parent that I was when waiting for Jade Lin's referral, of course at that time, five years ago, the referral wait was only 12 months. In a year you could be done with the paper process and have your baby home. Now there was a feeling of no end in site and again the sense of urgency consumed me, leaving me wonder where the urgent pull and determination was coming from to get our DTC as soon as possible. Only time will tell and God will reveal his plan in his own way, in his own time. I would have to depend on my faith as I have all my life to get me through and show me God's plan.