Has it already been 6 Years??

Dec 31 will forever hold a special meaning for me, ever since Dec 31, 2002.

You see in Nov 2001 I had submitted my dossier to China for a little girl. The wait stretched out to a 13 month wait. Which, for the people waiting for babies from China today is a NOTHING wait, but, at the time, it was the start of the "Long" waits. Because Nov 2001 was a large month for applicants (the singles quota was going into effect on Dec 1 & agencies pushed as many singles as they could into those Nov batches), the referrals were coming from China in monthly batches, one week of referrals at a time. I had missed the previous batch of referrals by a day, so when word came that referrals were on their way, I knew mine would be in the batch.

Frantically following along on my various Yahoo adoption groups, I knew my dossier date was included & that my referral was imminent. My agency was in TX & I lived & worked in CA. Historically, referrals came out in the early afternoon. At that time, I was working between two offices. So, around noon PT, I called my agency rep, to see if she'd heard anything. She had not. So, I told her I was going to travel to my second office & would be out of cell range for about an hr. As fate had it, she received my referral 10 min later & had to wait to call me back.

As soon as I walked into the office, my receptionist called out that my agency was on the phone!! I ran to my office & heard the words that made me a mom:

- a girl
- born May 2002......so just 8 months old
- From Fuzhou, Jiangxi
- Then she spelled her name...L..I..N..D..(at that point I thought WAIT..I'm Naming her Lindsi, are they giving me the wrong name??....A...Lin Da.
- And here is the picture that I opened

Hmmmmmm...she honestly looked nothing like I thought she would. Sort of resembled a mini Mr Magoo to me. I even felt a little deflated.

However, the next day I received my FEDEX package & this picture. Immediately I saw her spirit.....I saw personality......I FELT that picture (& at times, I still see THIS baby in her face).....& from then on it was just a 6 week countdown until we traveled to China.


Here's my beautiful girl today.......


Can't believe it's been 6 years.....it has gone fast & yet, it feels like she's been a part of my life forever. Happy Referral Anniversary to my other Nov 2001 Waiters, otherwise known as the QBQs...Quick Before Quotas....