"The Call" - long post

It dawned on me that I never wrote about the night we received Harper's referral.

First, one must understand how the SN program works.

This is a simplified explanation of the special needs list:

There are hundreds of children on the SN list of all ages, gender & minor-severe needs.

Families can match with these children at any time. Periodically, China will add new files to the list, sometimes hundreds at a time.

China notifies the adoption agency's when new files for the special needs shared list will be added. They add new files aproximately every month.

The agency matches the child with the family based on the age, gender & what needs the family is open to.

If the agency has a family that they feel is a good match with a child, they can "lock" the file. Within 48 hours of locking the file, the family must make the final decision whether or not to move forward with the child.

In those 48 hours, a family would have the file reviewed by a doctor & make their decision.

If the family chooses to move forward, they write a letter asking to adopt the child, this is called a "letter of intent" (LOI).

It's pretty competitive, especially for the younger children with minor needs.

We knew that new files would be added to the list on January 18, but not sure when we would get matched. We had been on our former agency's SN list for almost 2 yrs with out a successful match.

Neil wasn't holding his breath. I was excited & was desperately hoping we would get matched with the January list.

Ok, so it happened to be on Monday of MLK weekend, 3 day weekend for us.

We're in bed, almost asleep when the phone rings @ 10:15, yes we go to bed pretty early.

Oh, caller ID said "private caller"....who could this be???

"Hello"

"Hi Anne, it's X, sorry to call so late but I found a beautiful baby girl's file for you to review"

"Um, ok"

"Can you open your email & look at the file?"

"Yes, but my computer is really old & takes forever to boot up" I say this as Neil & I are running to the basement to fire it up.

X proceeds to fill me in with the pertinent info, age, gender, special need.

X says "She looks like a Gerber baby".

We make small talk while the computer is booting up. She tells me that she's been online for 2 hours trying to match families, the files were being "locked", "unlocked" & "locked" again so quick by other agencies that it was "crazy" & "fierce competition".

After what seems like an eternity, I open the email & see this gorgeous baby girl. Did I tell you my hands were sweaty & shaking?

When Neil & I saw the photos, we didn't see a child with a defect, we saw a beautiful, healthy, happy baby with bright eyes.

Needless to say, we submitted our LOI the next day!