Here is what is going on with our China adoption

We commonly call this our "goin' to China to get us a girl"! Ok, "we" don't call it that, I do (Terrell).

Here is what we are doing in our process to adopt a little girl from China:

As you probably already know, we have been working towards adopting a daughter over the past year or so. International adoption, and specifically China adoptions, require an extremely large amount of paperwork. So...over the past year, we have been diligently taking the steps required by the state of Kentucky, United States Immigration and The Peoples Republic of China to bring our daughter home. That included: parenting classes, First Aid and Infant CPR certification, multiple family and individual home visits by the social worker who conducted and prepared our homestudy, Dr.'s visits and statements for all of us AND our animals, letters of recommendation from friends, family and neighbors (thank you all!), home inspections by the fire department and copies of our birth certificates, marriage certificate... and then sending all of these papers through notarization, county certification, state certification, and even Condoleeza Rice's signature, and then off to China for translation! Wow! In the end, the pile of papers ("dossier") was about six inches thickl!

Well, we finally got ALL of our paperwork to China as of November 28, 2005. When we began the process, the wait time for a referral was 5-7 months. In true Terrell and Michelle fashion, the wait time is now increasing! Currently, it is about 8-10 months but there are rumors that it will extend to 10-12 months. A referral will provide us with information on the child China Center for Adoption Affairs has matched us up with. It will include her name, date of birth (estimated), weight, height, any medical issues she may have, in which province she is residing, and where she is develpmentally.

After we receive our referral, we will travel 6-8 weeks later for a 10-14 day trip to China to pick her up. So far, her name will be Coee Catherine Anderson. We will be taking Trey and Dillon with us to pick Coee up from China. We feel it is very important that they are a part of bringing their little sister into our family, and also for them to be able to experience her culture first hand. We want them to know and be able to tell Coee her story.