Waiting............What's this all about??? Introduction post.

Hey everybody!! By now you all know that I am adopting a baby from China. I have been considering this for a long time. Mr Right has not happened for me (YET) but I have decided I am not waiting for my baby any more. Why China? I have researched Chinese baby adoptions for a long time. I have also researched adoptions from other countries as well but have always returned to China. There are many babies waiting for homes and besides being adorable, most of them are pretty well taken care of. China fosters out as many of their children that are available for adoption as possible so these children are at lower risk for bonding disorders. The Chinese adoption program has become well established and has become for the most part pretty predictable.

The process.......Because I am currently single it is a little more challenging. Currently China only allows 8% of the yearly adoptions by Americans to come from singles. This results in LONG LONG LONG waiting lists for singles wishing to apply. It is not unusual to be told to expect a 1 to 2 year wait before you can start your paper work, and that comes after the difficulty of finding an adoption agency that will even place you on their waiting list!

I have always said that if I am not married by the time I am 40 I would adopt (I really thought I would be married and have a family by now). Once I started researching the process more extensively and knew that China was my adoptive country of choice I learned of all the difficulties encountered by singles as noted above. I found that If I had waited until I was 40 then my adoption was most highly likely not to occur until I was 42 or 43! That said it was time to get serious and to get started.

Here is where things started to fall into place....I started e-mailing all the various adoption agencies and requested to be placed on their waiting list. I was told by many of them that their waiting list was to long. I became discouraged but kept trying anyway. Late this past March one of the agencies that I had e-mailed replied that their singles waiting list would be opening April 1st and all I had to do was get my application along with a 250$ non refundable application fee in by then. After a lot of thought I decided to take a chance. ---I believe in signs and while I was in the UPS store overnighting my application they had a radio playing. As I waited a commercial for adoption came on. Now really- How often do you hear that type of commercial on the radio? I for one never have until then.---Anyway I waited almost 2 weeks and then called the Agency I was then told I was # 1 or # 2 on the waiting list. The adoption coordinator told me they usually move a single of the wait list to start the paper work every 3 months. So I waited.

On Saturday April 29th I returned home from work that night after picking up Chinese food (I rarely get it) for dinner. As I checked my e-mail there it was- notification from my agency that I was off the waiting list and officially told to get started! Wow that was QUICK!!!

The paper work phase is called the paperchase. It involves obtaining various documents. And filling out a lot of paperwork. I also had to have a homestudy done and go through numerous back round checks. The paperchase period usually takes around 3 to 6 months as long as everything goes along smoothly. I am nearing the end of my paperchase phase. Once I am done I will be OFFICIALLY PAPER PREGNANT!

Check in often as I plan to update this site frequently as my adoption journey continues......