orphanage II

orphanage pictures

She's finally here!!!!

Catherine "Cate" Cooper Coartney
Chongquin Province
Wanzhou Orphanage

I think this picture was in May when she was 7 months old.
Her birthday is October 29, 2005. We love her beautiful eyes, and sweet little mouth. It doesn't look like she has missed a meal. We think she looks very healthy. We can't wait to get our hands on her!!!

Where Are We in the Process?

I know unless you are personally involved, it is hard to understand how the adoption process works. I am going to attempt to explain the procedures, and where we are in the process.

When a family decides to adopt, there is quite a bit of paperwork that must be completed. I won't bore you with the all the documents, but trust me, it's a lot. Once these documents are complete, and you have completed a home study, the government issues a I-171 form. This states that you are eligible to adopt an orphan. This document is good for 18 months.

At this point all of the paperwork is sent to China's central adoption office. There is only one, and I will refer to it as CCAA. Once CCAA receives your paperwork, they log you into their computer system. Our Log-In-Date (or LID) is 8/10/05. That's right, at this point, our paperwork has been in China over a year.

Referrals-pictures and medical information are made based on your LID date. To date, China has matched through July 13th, 2005. The million dollar question is, what happens next? Rumors are flying right now because the next set of referrals should be sent out in the next 2 weeks. Some of the rumors say, "they will match through July 25th, some say into the beginning part of August, YEAH!!, and some say they will match all of August. However, no one knows. At least anyone I know. So we wait, and wait.