What has happened over the last 14 1/2 months

It all started June of 2004. I heard an advertisement about adoption on my local Christian radio station. I hadn't thought of adoption until then. I thought that I was getting this message for someone else. I even questioned God and asked him to give me peace and finacial security about adopting. I asked Him if He remembered me praying for a husband and then a baby and I thought I heard him say, "All in good time." So I continued to pray. I talked to my sister and she asked if I was still planning on naming my daughter Whilamina after my grandmother. I of course said "YES" and she said that I shouldn't do that to a child. Then she said, "If you do I will shorten it and call her Aminah." I thought that was a nice modern version. The next day I went to a bookstore and looked up meanings of baby names. I didn't even think that Aminah would be in the book but it was, and it meant, Peace and Secure in Christ. The two things I had been praying for about the adoption. That is when I knew that I was going to be a mom to a daughter named Aminah.

I filled out an application with America World Adoption Association and was put on their single's waiting list. I was told that it would be about 6 months before I would be off the waiting list. In the meantime I went ahead and began my homestudy and it was finalized two days before I was taken off of the waiting list (this is not the recommended way but I felt I was being led to do this) the first week of October. The dossier (paperwork) just seemed to be overwhelming at times but I continued with the piles referred to as the "paper chase" for this "paper pregnancy," which is what adoption is referred to in the adoption community. My paperwork was finally able to go to the agency the last week of November and I thought it would go from there to China but I had another piece of paper that needed to be done before it could go on. I was finally DTC (dossier to China) on December 10th, 2004. The next thing that I waited for was the day that China logged in my paperwork, December 21st, 2004.

The wait began . . . I was told that it would be about 6 months before I would be able to hear about my daughter. Some people get their referral (which is what they call it when China sends information about the child that they are planning for you to adopt) in 5 months and sometimes it takes 7 months, in the past it used to take around 14 months. In my mind I figured that I could hear the first week of May at the soonest but referrals were running late and they started showing up later and later each month. So towards the end of the school year I was very anxious. I didn't receive a referral in May so it looked like it would be June. Each day was a blur as I just jumped each time the phone rang. I watched the websites for any little rumor that referrals were coming.

Finally, on June 24th, at 11:22 am the phone rang. It was offical! It was an 11 month old little girl her name was Yong Xiu Ping. Yong was her last name (meaning forever, everlasting), Xiu was her first name (pronounced shou like in shout, and means focused), and her middle name was Ping (meaning peaceful or calm). She was born on July 20th, 2004. Getting this information was such an amazing feeling. I had been waiting a little over a year for this news. I would have to wait for the next day until I saw her picture. It doesn't sound like it would be that difficult but it would be similar to not being able to see your child for a day after he or she was born. So another wait time began. After seeing her little face I began to realize that this little baby was really my daughter. The next wait time began. I had to wait to find out when I was going to travel. School was going to be starting in August so I was hoping to travel before school began. I didn't find out until the end of July that I would be traveling on August 18th and I would be able to see and hold Yong Xiu Ping (to be named Aminah XiuPing) on August 22nd, 2004. This is called "gotcha day" and many families call it the day they became a "forever family." That brings everyone pretty much up to date.