Actively looking !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our completed dossier arrived at the Holt home office in Oregon Monday. After emailing a few final updates to them, I received an email back from them, stating:  "We are actively looking for a girl for you and hope to call you with a good referral soon."

When they find a girl that they think will be a good match for us, they'll send us a picture and any and all information they have on her. We have 2-3 days to make a decision to accept the match.

Then the Chinese government begins the process of reviewing our dossier & the child to make their decision. That can take up to 4 months. In this amount of time, the child is not told that she is being considered for adoption.

When the Chinese government has approved it, however, the child is told, and we can begin corresponding with her! Some creative ideas for corresponding with her are to make videos of each member of our family introducing themselves, writing letters (obviously), etc. If the orphanage or foster home she's in will facilitate it, she can send correspondence to us also. We may also receive extra info on her, maybe updated physical and academic status, maybe more pictures - depends.

Then the U.S. government spends another 2 months or so on approving her for immigration.