REFERRAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot even believe I can type that word, referral. I can't say alot, but I think I can tell you some. It is Sunday, July 13th. After church Jeff was sleeping, after working many hours this week. He had worked his 3rd 12 hour shift in a row. He taught sunday school this morning and was so tired after. We did not stay for church. We came home, had lunch and Jeff went to bed, for what we thought was a nice long sleep. I played scene it Nick with our 3 youngest. We had finished playing, not that long when the phone rang. The caller i.d. said America World. Now remember its Sunday. Our agency is a Christian agency and does not work Sundays. They don't work weekends, they are a business with business hours of Monday-Friday. I thought it was our PR director calling. Its not out of the ordinary for Mike to call. Steven Curtis Chapman is coming to our area this week and we had been emailing with Mike about a possible Shaohannahs hope booth. So when I saw America World I immeditely thought it was Mike telling us that yes, they are going to have a Shaohannahs hope booth, which by the way, they are not having at this concert. So I answer the phone thinking its Mike, but no, a female voice cheefully says hi Shannon, its Melissa from America World. At this point I am almost speechless, I'm wondering why is she calling me on Sunday? She quickly says that they are working today to check on the shared referrals and they had an exact match for us!! She then proceeds to tell me of the age and sn of our daughter!! I am in shock and holding back the tears. I cannot even believe what I am hearing. I said can you lock the file now? She tells me we must review the file first. So we excitedly wake up poor Jeff who has only been sleeping about 2 hours at this point. Needless to say he was in shock. He is going to be tired tonight. Who can sleep after hearing you have a new daughter?! We open the email and the most precious face was looking at us. We reviewed her file and called to tell her YES, please lock her file. Tomorrow we will be getting everything together to fax and or email to our agency. They then will do what they do and send our electonic acceptance to the CCAA. We then wait. We will probably first get PA (preapproval) and then wait for our RA(referral acceptance). This is telling us that yes indeed, the CCAA approves us for this adoption, and in turn we must tell them that yes indeed we want to adopt this child. This can take 2-3 months as we were originally logged in as special needs. We then wait for travel approval, which can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks. After travel approval our agency contacts the U. S. Consulate in Guangzhou to schedule our appt. This is the last leg of paperwork for us to do. This is when the will issue Katies passport to come home. So our travel depends on when we can get our appt. at the U.S. Consulate, which must wait on our PA and RA. Generally travel can be 2-6 weeks after TA. We of course know that these dates can fluctuate greatly.

At this time we cannot share any specifics on age, sn, name, or where she is. I can only tell you she is adorable and we can't wait to be with her. As soon as we get permission to share details, we will. Until that time we ask for your prayers. Not just for us while we're waiting, but for our dear Katie. Her entire life is going to change.