Two years of pulling out hair

For those of you reading this story with an understanding to the "Paper Chase" nightmare you can sympathize, but to those of you who have never been in our shoes, you just can not imagine the frustration of putting together a package about yoursef and your family and having so many other factors come into play and the wait and the redoing and the wait.I never started a diary of our adoption because I was told from the start that this whole process would take no more than six to eight months from start to referral. That was November 2004. So two years and four months later I am beyond thrilled that we are on this end of the adoption process. My advice to those who follow in our footsteps, I promise, it will be your turn for a referral soon!We started out on the internet reading other people stories and then we made contact with an agency. They were having an open house at the Orlando library in two weeks and we were welcome to come take a look. And that is what we did. Our second day out of the house in a month without any children! At the time there was no commitment between Jay and I with this adoption decision; we were just going for information and to see what it was all about, or so we thought. After about an hour of talking to the families that had been to China, playing with their girls, listening to the agency's spokeswoman, we were signing our name to the dotted line! I have to clarify this statement...Jay was signing our names to the dotted line. I think this was the most exciting decision that had ever been made in my life!And then the “paper chase” begins. Birth certificates, marriage certificates, health records with letter from the doctor, divorce decrees, local background checks, national background checks, letters from friends, letters from family, letters from employers, pictures of us and the family, a home study social worker coming into your home four or five times, fingerprints, US government immigration papers and so on and so on. Enough to make your head spin and after the initial gathering of all of this it has to be notarized and then authenticated, stamped and re-stamped, mailed here and then mailed there. It is best if you can be on first name basis with your local postman! And then it is all over, and your package is done, and in an envelope, and on it’s way to China! And then you wait. And wait. And wait. Your life put on hold.I admit I lost my temper a few times. There is just so much your agency can tell you as they wait for the Chinese government to shuffle through their stacks and stacks of paperwork and make the decision as to what child will get placed with what parents.All while this is happening the clock is ticking, you have only so long for your Immigrations papers and fingerprints not to expire, which our did. So we started the process over again. Heath check, letters from employers, background check, updated homestudy and then the wait for the immigrations department to reissue our okay!And then the day!!! The most wonderful day of all... the day that the Email from the adoption agency comes that doesn't say other families have gotten a referral, it is the day they say CONGRATULATIONS to you!!!!!!