April 2004:  We begin to research adoption agencies after I spend a week with our adorable 10 month old niece, Willow, and decide that it is time for us to have a daughter of our own.  I talk to many people, collect information, read a lot, and attend meetings.  We decide to use Chinese Children Adoption International- CCAI- an awesome organization. May 18, 2004:  We sent our application in today! May 24, 2004:  CCAI lets us know that we are accepted!  We feel so fortunate to have found such a  wonderful agency.  CCAI:  http://www.chinesechildren.org/ May 28, 2004:  We sent in our service agreement and first agency fee today.  The countdown begins! June 17, 2004:  Today was our first of four meetings with our social worker up in Miami.  Her name is Lisa and she is very nice! Beginning of June through December 2004:  The dossier paperwork begins!  We meet with our social worker four times, have physical exams, get fingerprinted twice, collect letters of references, compile financial statements, write adoption petitions, collect important records like birth and marriage certificates, file immigration papers for our new daughter, and more! It all goes well except for the immigration stuff-- the Miami immigration office falls very far behind due to so many hurricane scares and office closings that it takes over two months to receive the I-171H form which gives us permission to adopt our daughter (we were told it would only take two weeks). December 28, 2004:  We overnight our dossier to CCAI.  Yippee! December 29, 2004:  Our dossier arrives at CCAI- finally!  It undergoes critical review- no problems.  And then it goes into translation.  Once complete, it is sent to China. January 18, 2005:  Our dossier is now in China! January 26, 2005:  Our official LID date- the day that our dossier is actually logged in with the Chinese officials. The actual matching of Mia and our family has started!   April 2, 2005:  This waiting stuff is driving me crazy!  To keep busy, I am working on Mia's nursery.  We painted three walls sage green and one wall lavender.  I just ordered carpet which should be installed in the next couple of weeks.  Our nursery furniture is being shipped as we speak.  I cannot wait for it to arrive.  I will post photos as soon as we have the room set up.    June 25, 2005:  Referrals just came out for this month.  It is looking like we are going to be cut off next month due to China not matching full months so we will probably not receive Mia's referral until August now.  We cannot wait!!  I am visiting MN next month and my friend and mom are hosting a baby shower for me.  It will be fun.  Come on August!  (we are still keeping our fingers crossed that next month we will be surprised with a referral). July 28, 2005:  My Gram's birthday today!  My trip to MN was wonderful.  My friends and family were so generous and we received such nice things from the baby shower.  Super news... I talked with CCAI this morning and matches have arrived at their office.  I was told that matches have been received for LIDs through January 27 which means that we will be matched with Mia tomorrow!  Holy cow!  I am still in shock and cannot believe that it is finally going to happen after such a long wait.  How will I ever sleep tonight?!?!  Unfortunately, Jon went out of town to Colorado just this morning so he will not be here for "the call".  Thank goodness for phones and email!  Will post more tomorrow..... July 29, 2005:  Today was a day that I will never forget.  We received "the call" at 3:26 p.m. and learned all about our beautiful daughter.  We cannot wait to bring her home!! August 16, 2005:  Just wanted to update quickly... we are still waiting to hear when we will travel.  It should be early September, but no set dates as of now.  I sent Mia's care package off last week.  I hope that she receives it.  We are so anxious to travel and to hold Mia in our arms.  Only a few more weeks! August 26, 2005:  We were hit with a category 1 hurricane last night... luckily we were not supposed to travel to China this week!  No major damage, but it caused terrible damage in other parts of the U.S.  Onto the good news, on Monday, we received information about Mia's abandonment.  It is very apparent that her birth mother cared deeply for her.  On Wednesday, we received updated photos and information about Mia!  She is so beautiful and we are so very anxious to travel to China.  CCAI believes that we should receive our travel notice sometime at the start of next week and that we should be traveling soon after Labor Day.   September 1, 2005:  We received our travel notice today.  We hope to hear about our travel dates at the start of next week.  It looks like we will be leaving for China in two weeks or less... Yippee!!  I am training in my maternity sub next week and my class is having a baby shower for me on Tuesday.  It should be a good week- probably my last week of work before bringing Mia home.  We are so anxious.  Today we also met with Mia's pediatrician for a consultation.  His name is Dr. Zuba and he is wonderful.  He looked over Mia's records and answered a couple of questions that we had about her blood work.  It looks like Mia may have lead poisoning or Beta Thalassemia, a blood disorder that we are learning all about.  Dr. Zuba assured us that either scenario can be managed and that we just need to bring her home.  We are excited to have such a great doctor to care for Mia.  Bring on the Consulate appointment and travel dates! September 8, 2005:  We received word from CCAI tonight that we did not receive a Consulate appointment before the October holiday in China.  Thus, we will not be traveling in September as planned.  Our Consulate appointment is October 17 and our estimated time of departure for China is now October 6- the day of Mia's first birthday.  We are so sad to have this setback and simply cannot wait to hold our little girl in our arms.  Almost one more month until our dreams finally come true! September 15, 2005: We received our plan tickets today!  We leave on October 6.   September 16, 2005:  Another happy day... we received an updated photo of Mia.  She is standing by herself and looking so old. September 20, 2005:  Today was our conference travel call with Josh from CCAI, as well as the other families that we will travel with to China.  We were hit by Hurricane Rita today as well!  Luckily, we had power so we could participate in our conference call. October 2, 2005:  We leave this week on Thursday!  We are thrilled!