One more time

Late in 2011 John and I started discussing the prospect of one more adoption from China. I was the instigator but did not press hard. I waited patiently to see how John felt. It all started again when I saw a child's photo on the rainbow adoption network and actually made an inquiry to see her file. Long story short, she was selected by another family, but it brought the conversation around again. My agrument was that we still had so much to offer a child on the waiting list, that Luke and Lily would be such good siblings and help a child with special needs, that I no longer cared to spend my retirement days traveling and boasting that everyday felt like Saturday like my parents.
All it took was for John to hear one inspiring 8 minute commencement speech to tell me that it was time to adopt again. The speech was given by Shawn Askinosis and his final challenge was for everyone in the audience to go out and change the life of just one person for the better. Timing truly is everything.
Now we are into February of 2012 and most of the paperchasing is done for now. We have been through our three required home visits, each had a physical, wrote to the officials of the people's republic of China, gathered original birth certificates, marriage license, employment letters, back ground checks, reference letters. Funny, several of the people that are providing reference letters only had to make a few changes to the letters they wrote just a few years ago.
We chose AAC adoption agency out of Colorado this time. They are a smaller agency and came with good recommendations. I will probably never meet the folks I am dealing with but they have been good to communicate with so far. Once our dossier is finished and translated, it will be sent to China to be logged in. At that point our agency is eligible to pull waiting children files for us from the orphanges they work with directly in Jianxi or from the multi-agency list. We have told them we would like a daughter this time between 3-6. I would prefer closer to 3-4 range as that way they have time to spend in preschool and get the language down before jumping into kindergarten. It will be exciting to finally get logged in so we can wait for a referral. I am hoping that the dossier will be ready to go around April 1, but I realize any little discrepancy in our paperwork could set us back a month or two. Just to demonstrate how particular the paperwork is, we have to get most of the documents noterized and the notary must have at least one year left on their commission. It has to be noterized in just the right way, the notary must sign it exactly like their stamp. If there is any white out detected on the completed physical forms, they will be regected. I have been down this road twice and know it is just best to keep my head down and plunge right through, not to question why it must be done this way, it is China's way!
We are thinking of a name, should we continue with the running streak of names beginning with an L. Already I tend to morph our L names together such as Louk (Logan-Luke) or Luily (Luke-Lily), maybe another L will just add to the confusion of it all. Here are some to consider though: Lana, Lizzie, Liza, Libby.
I guess we have time to consider and I will wait to see her Chinese name and her face before making a final decision.
The kids are excited and I know it will be more work for me but I do see my work career ending in about 4 years. It is hard for me to believe I have been at the health department for 21 years now but I think 25 years will be plenty and a full retirement benefits will be available at that time. I am fortunate enough to have a great pension and a husband willing to hold the family health insurance and work for many more years to come.