Today was a big, big day because today I sent our dossier to CCAI – the completion of months and months of literal blood, sweat and tears.  I’m not sure it’s truly sunk in that it’s DONE and there are no more pages in the Dossier Guide to read, no more documents to track down, no more asking our awesome notary friend Michelle to bring her stamp to church yet again.  Looking at that packet of paperwork in July I could hardly imagine this day and now it’s here.

The final stack of paperwork, copies, certifications, and pictures.

Every time we hit a big moment, I expect something akin to the skies parting and the voice of God descending.  But instead, today I sat in the parking lot whispering fervent prayers of safe keeping and speed over my documents, I mailed my package and posed for this picture… and then I went to the grocery store.  The holy and the normal happening all together, which is just as it should be.

So what happens now?  Well, that’s a good question, and one I asked my CCAI group today because I really wasn’t sure.  I’ve been so focused on getting our dossier done that I haven’t even looked forward to what comes next.  Tomorrow by noon our package will arrive at CCAI and will be there for 9-11 business days where it will undergo three levels of critical review to check for anything we missed or mistakes.  They’ll put it in a pretty red folder, mount all of our photos, and then it is sent off to China (eeeekkkk!).  Then after about a week, we are officially “logged in” and we do a happy, happy dance of joy.  At that point, we are waiting for our official Letter of Acceptance that indicates that we do, indeed, want to adopt Jia (we do, we do, we do, we do!!!!!!!).  From what I understand the wait for that is currently running about 2 and a half months so it’s going to be a little while.  People who have been there, done that have said that this is the time to get in shape so you can lug around a toddler, get your house in order (in our case, getting Jia’s room ready), get your funding in order, and basically to use your waiting time well, so that’s my goal.

We are one (freaking enormous) step closer to Jia and it feels pretty awesome.  We have an ending in sight, we have a clear path forward and we are ready, ready, ready.