The paperchase is done! We dropped off our file at Formons on Friday afternoon, November 17th 2006. Now its out of our hands, and in everyone else's hands.

For those that don't know, the paperwork required is quite extensive: birth certificates, letter of intent, home study signed and approved by the Centre de Jeunesse, marriage certificate and certification letter from the High Commissioner based in Ottawa saying that the marriage certificate is authentic, medicals, financial forms, letter from our employers as to our salaries and that we are in secure jobs. Finally the hardest part, which is quite comical, is choosing just the right pictures: 1 picture of the couple, 1 of the house, and 4 of the family doing things. However, there can be no pets, no alcohol in the pictures. A few of us have agonized over which photo would be best and which one would undue all of our file!

What happens next? Well, its off to the notaries then off to Foreigh Affairs, then to the Chinese Embassy. Somewhere in there in gets translated too. Then its off to China (DTC - Date To China) - we are hoping that this will happen at Christmas time. Then our LID (Log In Date) in China, which means its official in China's system. This should be around January if everything goes smoothly. So let's just hope that all the T's are crossed and all the I's dotted, and that its smooth sailing.

As far as we are concerned though, we are officially "pregnant" now. As Julie said to me over the phone, this step is the equivalent of passing the 12 week mark in a pregnancy and the next step is the ultrasound - the actual referral, with a picture of our daughter! How exciting!!