The dossier has arrived

After much mad-dashing, between us and our agency, our Dossier was mailed to China on 11/22 and arrived in the hands of the Chinese government on 11/28/2011.

So what's next?
We wait for a Log in Date (LID). This is when they remove our dossier from a stack and log it into their system and begin processing it. From the date it arrived (11/28) it takes about 10 days for it to get logged in. We are looking at a LID of about 12/10. But we won't hear what that log in date is until probably the end of December.

After that?
We wait about 45-75 days to receive a Letter Seeking Confirmation from the Chinese government. That letter is our formal referral that China sends to us saying "Hey, there is little girl Gua Er Guo, and here is her picture, would you like to adopt her?" And we say "Uh, yeah!!!!" and send it back.

Then?
We wait again. Another 2 months. For TA (travel approval). TA is our formal invite to come to China, then we get to set an appt with the American Consulate, get our travel visas and airline tickets. All that takes about a 4 to 6 weeks.

Then?
We are OFF to China to get our baby girl.

This wait is exciting! And it's frustrating because you want everything to happen yesterday. But we know that God has the moment ordained that Joy will become a Clark and we anxiously look forward to that date.