2nd Trimester!!!! Matched!!!!

We started our Paper Pregnancy January 2011.  There have been a few bumps along the road, but it all lead us to this post right here.  This has turned out to be the most amazing week.  Let me lay out the timeline for you: 

--Monday 12/19--Another adoptive Mom text's me to tell me that rumor has it there is going to be another shared list coming out on Tuesday.  This is a little odd b/c the updated list usually comes out on Monday's. I called the agency to see if they received our LID (Log in Date--this is the confirmation that China received our paperwork and is processing it), they had not received this yet, but sent an email to their in country representative to see if we could get it ASAP.

--12/20--10 am, we received a call from our agency that they had received our LID overnight and would be looking for our Son or Daughter on the new list that was coming out that night.  

--12/20--8:10 pm, opened our email and THERE IT WAS!!!  We were so proud of ourselves for reading thru the entire file first before looking at pictures, but let me just tell you that these pictures are adorable!!!  We immediately emailed the file to our health care professionals that were going to review it for us and waited (not very patiently I might add : )

--12/21--Received feedback from 2 of the people that were reviewing the file for us and they didn't see anything out of the ordinary.  

12/22--Our 4th Wedding Anniversary, we had a specialist review the file and once again they said that they didn't see anything unusual that they would be concerned about.  We went out for a nice anniversary dinner to relax and try to clear our heads, but at approx 9 pm we made the decision to call the agency in the morning and accept the referral. 

12/23--0900, spoke to our caseworker who locked in our Son's file.  Yes that is right, IT'S A BOY!!!!  

We are beyond thrilled.  He has a bilateral cleft lip and unilateral cleft palate.  He is a little bit anemic, which is most likely from malnutrition, but otherwise he looks right on target developmentally and is ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!!  We won't be able to post any pictures for a week or two, but we couldn't wait to spread the word.  

Thank you to everyone who has supported us up to this point.  It has been a crazy ride and we can't wait to see what is coming next. 

Mark and Ashley