Dear World,

We are absolutely thrilled to introduce to you our beautiful little boy, Szu-Chuan.

He was born in Tainan, Taiwan on July 19, 2007, making him 4 1/2 months old as of this writing. He weighed in at a solid 7.5 lbs. and measured 19.7 inches.

Around 6 p.m. Monday, Eastern time, I called FFC to inquire about the status of our wait. Since our fingerprints will be expiring in May 2008 and one of our medical notarizations is due to expire in July 2008, I sought feedback on whether we should renew them. After several rings, I resigned myself to leaving a message. Suddenly, James, FFC's Business Manager (and Laura's husband) picked up the phone. He and Laura were driving in their car on the way to purchase some office supplies. He told me he couldn't give me a firm answer since he didn't have our paperwork in front of him. We were about to part ways when he mumbled something and I found myself on the phone with Laura. Following some greetings, she blew me away with those six magical words: "You've been matched with a child."

Come again? Whuh? "What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?!"

I wasn't sure if I heard her correctly. With the advent of the holidays, we were prepared to not receive a referral until after the New Year. Regardless, my body went into involuntary shaking mode and I nearly fell over with shock and excitement. It was a miracle that I remembered to push the "Record Memo" button on the answering machine to preserve the conversation for longevity. It took several tries, but my shaky fingers finally managed to jab at the right button.

Surely enough, Laura confirmed that our dossier had been sent to St. Lucy's Orphanage in Tainan and that we were one of ten families recently receiving referrals from there (3 of those 10 are FFC families; the remaining 7 are with other agencies). The referred children had birthdates in either June or July of 2007. She listed some other details that I attempted to scribble down on the back of an envelope in wobbly chickenscratch. The actual referral details and pictures of the child would follow later that evening.

After I hung up with her, I went on a mad dash to find our video camera. I wanted to record my conversation with Craig when I called to tell him the good news. Camera finally secured and balanced atop the fruit dish, I called him twice at work and once on his cell phone. No answer. I called his work number again. The playback of the video shows me doing a restless jig a la frenzied Rumplestilskin. When he finally did pick up his phone, I was put on hold as he launched into a conversation with a co-worker in the background. More Rumplestilskin dancing.

After a seeming eternity, Craig broke free. The following conversation then ensued:

"Are you sitting down?"

"Uh, no."

"Guess what?! Guess what?! Guess what?!"

(Long, heavy pause.) "Are you pregnant?"

"NO!!! We got our referral!!!"

(Alas, Craig, you'll never live that one down.)

It was a wonder that I managed to cook dinner that night in all my nervous excitement. Craig was similarly thrilled when he came home. Yet, as delighted as we were, the realization lurked in the back of our minds that we had not officially committed to adopting this relatively unknown child. (Receiving a referral is ironic in this way, isn't it?) Still, we were as overjoyed as caution and our own plain vanilla temperaments would allow.

Since we hadn't yet received the referral email from Laura, we decided to continue with our regular plan to go to Bible study that night. It was our turn to bring snacks anyway. Boy, I wish we could have taken a picture of ourselves grinning from ear to ear as we announced the news of our match to the group. The genuine rejoicing of our friends who had prayed for our referral over the last 7 months was heartwarming and well worth the delay in opening the email.

Later, with Andrew tucked into bed and the video camera trained on the computer monitor and our anxious faces, we opened up Laura's email to find the following pictures of the most wonderful little baby:





These two photos were taken when he was two months old.

We were also blessed to receive an October update photo, featuring Szu-Chuan at 3 months old, decked out in pink:



Upon first seeing him, we were struck not only by how gentle and sweet he looked, but by how serious and forlorn he appeared. If he is indeed as serious as the photos suggest, he will fit in very well among Craig and myself. But the sadness - if it exists - really tugs at my heart. Someone please tell me that our son only looks so plaintive because the photographer's a dud at making babies smile or because the baby's just been awakened from his nap or because he's straining to push out a poop while the camera flashes in his face. Who wouldn't be sad about that? Seeing that little face, I wish I could just reach through the computer monitor, pick him up, and give him a big hug. These next 4-6 months that we'll spend awaiting the court ruling and our travel date will feel very long.

Of interest, Szu-Chuan's birthmother has already signed off on the consent to adopt form. This doesn't officially relinquish her parental rights; it only grants temporary guardianship to St. Lucy's and gets the ball rolling on the adoption process. Process-wise, this will save us anywhere from 2-8 weeks waiting time since in many adoption cases, this step usually happens after the referral is given, not before. We could be due to travel as early as late February and possibly as late as May of 2008. Chinese New Year during the beginning of February could slow things down a bit in the Taiwanese courts. Either way, we'll have about one month's notice to pull together our travel plans once our case is finalized.

So where do we go from here? On Tuesday, we reviewed the medical records we were sent with Dr. Farber, a physician from the adoption center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. We have verbally accepted the referral over the phone with FFC today. Our families have been duly notified. We now await the FedExed contracts and forms, which we will sign and have authenticated. We're hoping to receive these early next week. Afterwards, we re-enter the Waiting Room one last, long time.

What once seemed like a distant reality is all beginning to take shape. Houston, we have lift off.