Made it!

Back in July, when we respectfully asked China to allow us to adopt Yun Xi, we were given a deadline of 90 days to have all of our papers signed, sealed, delivered and logged-in in China.   Several agencies said there was no way it could be done.  Our agency however is made of sterner stuff.   "Let's do this warp speed," they said.

In 90 days we had to (just a sampling):

*Get notarized documents from California, Oklahoma, and Utah.
*Have physicals.
*Get police clearances from all of the places we've lived since age 18.
*Have a social worker make visits to our house.
*Get friends and family to write letters of recommendation.
*Do on-line training.
*Get fingerprinted.
*Make countless trips to the notary.....she'll be getting a Christmas card.
*Visit the Secretary of State's Office in Olympia.
*Send documents to consulates and embassies in San Francisco, Houston, and DC.
*Wait for all of the government agencies to stamp, sign, or do whatever they needed to do to the above documents.
*Etc., Etc., Etc....

Our deadline was October 23rd.  I knew when we sent our papers to China that we'd be close.  Depending on how long it took on the China side to log-in our papers, we may or may not make the deadline.  Well, just this morning I found out our log-in date.  It was October 22nd!  We made the deadline by ONE day!  It makes all of those overnight fees and courier charges worthwhile.

So on this momentous day, I'll share another Yun Xi picture.  This is a rare photo of him not in full-out grin, but the grin is obviously right under the surface.

We're still hoping to travel in March.  I planted some daffodil bulbs last week and thought of how happy and bright they would look in the spring, welcoming our little Yun Xi home.