Referral Day 1

How the referral process works.  Each month Ch*na releases a new list of orphaned children for adoption agency case workers to review and attempt to match these children to waiting families.  In order to be matched with a child from this list you need to have what is referred to as a "Log In Date" (LID).  This date is issued by Ch*na after they receive your dossier.  We received our LID notice on Friday, November 23, but the actual LID was issued on November 21st.  There was a delay in getting the information because of the holiday.  So that Friday became the day we knew we could be matched with a child at any time.  Our caseworker shared with us that of the current list of about 2,000 children there was not a child that matched our parameters.  There was to be a new list released on Monday and she would review it to see if any of the newly released children were a match for us.  She warned us to guard our hearts because she didn't know how many children would be on the list and that a match can take 1-3 months, that just because a new list was coming out didn't mean we would get a call that we were matched.

Scott and I spent much of the weekend praying.  We had no idea what to expect for Monday and we didn't want to get our hopes up only to be disappointed.  We assumed the likelihood of us being matched was very small because we were only just logged in a few days before.  We prayed that if the child the Lord has chosen for us was on the list though, that our caseworkers eyes would be drawn to their picture and she would know that was the child for the Millers.  We also prayed that we would ONLY receive our child's file.  We did not want to be put into a position to turn a child away.  I know many families who have had to walk through that and it is extremely hard for them.  I just knew in my heart I could not handle that and hoped and prayed the Lord would not ask us to walk through that process.

So Monday came.  It was a fairly typical day.  Michaela returned to school after being off the week before for Thanksgiving.  The boys were still home that Monday for their last day of Thanksgiving break.  We went to the Movie Tavern with a friend to see Rise of the Guardians.  We kept busy, although my mind would wonder to the possibilities of a match that evening.  Monday night came, the boys were tucked into bed and Scott, Michaela and I sat down to watch a special episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  The family being highlighted that evening was a family who adopted a little boy from Ethiopia through our adoption agency, All God's Children International.  So we were excited to see something on television that was going to put a positive spotlight on adoption.

We popped popcorn, got drinks, nestled under blankets and turned the TV on.  About 20 minutes into the show the phone rang and the caller ID said "All God's Children."  I totally freaked knowing there would be only one reason to get a call late that night.  I answered it and it was our case worker, Tiffany.  She said she had a file of a 20 month old little girl and her special need was Albinism.  She said when she opened the list and saw her she immediately thought "the Millers."  She was emailing us her file and our 72 hour process would begin.  We quickly ran to the computer and opened up her email.  Michaela was with us and when we opened up her picture Michaela "awwed" over it.  Scott looked at me and said "well she could certainly be the one."  I tended to be more in a state of shock that this was really happening.  We printed out her information, read over it and didn't see anything that would make us want to say no.  So we took the next step in the process, which was to send her file to the CHOP International Adoption department to have a pediatrician review her records.  We then sent a text message out to a few people who we had lined up to pray for us if and when a referral came through. 

And that was pretty much how the night ended.  We put Michaela to bed.  We read over the file a few more times, studied it trying to learn everything we could about her.  We starred at and studied her picture wondering if we were getting a glimpse of her personality through them, taken in by her beautiful face and glowing white hair.  That's right, our little Asian princess cracked the mold for dark hair and dark eyes.  Albinism is a condition where you don't produce pigment, and no pigment means no color.  So this sweet little beauty has gorgeous snow white hair, pale white skin and little squinty blue eyes.  We then spent a long time praying for direction and wisdom and help and around 2am knew we needed to get some sleep to face what day two would hold.  I wasn't sure I would sleep that night, but I did.