Dossier off to the Consulate!

We were informed today that Bethany's HQ in Michigan has deemed our dossier "perfect" and sent it off to the Chinese Consulate in DC. And no, this is not an April fool's joke :) as we are perfect.

Now it goes for more authenticating via the Consulate (2-4 weeks) then back to Grand Rapids. Bethany's home office will then send it off to China to be logged in and translated into Chinese. However, it is my understanding that this won't happen before April 24 as per China's rules our youngest child has to be a year old before our dossier can be logged in. We expect a login date (LID) sometime in late April/early May and then the real wait can begin. Right now, the wait is approaching 37 months but expected to pick up soon. We shall see.

So, you might be wondering how the boys feel about this whole adoption thing. Well, obviously Eli has no idea as he is not even 1 yet. By the time he can understand we'll be close to bringing her home, we hope. Benjamin is another story. He understands that he's getting a baby sister from China (apparently he's been bragging about it at school as one of his classmates asked his mother if they could go to China to get him a baby sister too!) and is very excited. Of course, he was very excited about Eli's birth until after he was born. He has a little different perspective on Eli now, as this conversation I had with him on Friday morning illustrates:

Benjamin: "Daddy. you don't have work today?"
Me: "No, I'm off today."
Benjamin: "Am I still going to school?"
Me: "Yes, Mommy and Daddy have to go to an appointment to submit all our paperwork for your baby sister from China."
Benjamin (with excitement): "Is she going to be here when I get home?"
Me: "No, we first have to submit all this paperwork and then wait and eventually go to China to get her"
Benjamin: "Are you going to China today?"
Me: "No, it's going to be a few years before we can go to China."
Benjamin (after a few moments of thought): "Daddy, when you bring my baby sister home from China are we going to take Eli back to the hospital?"

You see what I mean? Not the first time Benjamin has made such a suggestion. Much to his disapointment, we are not taking Eli back to the hospital just in case you were wondering. :)