So I asked to get more information on this boy. I gathered what I could and knew Tim was coming home from traveling. I knew, though, that I was hesitant to show him more kids that I found because we have been through an emotional roller coaster with others I have found, so I waited until he was settled in for the night. I quickly showed him the picture of this little guy and he immediately said he was cute and asked a ton of questions. I was able to answer some and we agreed that I was to call the agency the next day ask for the original medical file for him (that is if he was still on the list) and if the file showed everything I was told by the advocators I was to send it off to the International Adoption Clinic (IAC). I did all of that the next day as he was on the list. Without the information coming back from the IAC we decided to lock the child's file. We then had 72 hours to make a decision as well as allow our counselor to enter our information into the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) system. They do not work on Fridays so we were told we needed to make a decision by early afternoon on Thursday, July 15th. We knew that we could not make the best, full decision by then so our counselor said she would go into the office on Saturday morning. Whew, we felt some relief at that point.
I had been in touch with three different women who somehow knew this child. Each of them had information on this child for us. They all responded to my questions in such timely fashion and we cannot thank them enough. I even was in touch with a woman who is part of a foundation that got him to doctors in Shanghai for tests. She was on vacation and even responded to my emails while on vacation. She was able to get us the written medical reports too!
So I know you are saying, get on with it! So after all this correspondence, Tim and I made the decision to put in our letter of intent (LOI). Julie, our counselor entered all our information into the CCAA system on the morning of Friday, July 16th. On Wednesday, July 21st we were given pre-approval (PA) to adopt him!!
Shaanxi Time
