We have been kicking around a few ideas lately for names, mostly girl names as there is a very strong chance for a girl and not so much for a boy. Anyhow, our choice for a girl is Madison Ellis Beyer.

The first name comes from my hometown of Madison, WI.

We are here visiting Sally (Kurt’s mom) for the holiday and we have just found out that our LID (Logged In Date) is November 16^th, 2005. This means that we should get our referral in about 14 months. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

I had missed the previous session as I had been travelling for work. Kelly came with me tonight, and I was more than impressed. The session covered just about all the phases of the adoptive process, some Chinese history, history of the agency, and lots of Q&A from those of us in the audience. I was bowled over. I had still been a little “on the fence” about all of this adoptive stuff until this session. Adoption to me is such a personal thing, that it’s tough to describe to others how you feel about it exactly. Any lingering fears or suspicious thoughts I had been having are now laid to rest. After the session Kelly and I had a long dinner and discussion about what we had seen and heard. We both feel very confident about our decision to go forward with CCAI.

As per Colorado state law, all adoptive parents are required to take 30 cumulative hours of parent training. Now some of this material is fairly benign and basic (how to feed and change a child) but most of the classes are of a much stronger content level intellectually. Classes that deal with grief & loss for your adoptive child, classes that help you prepare for a child whose gross and fine motor skills may not be on par with peers of similar age are just some of the topics that are addressed in these sessions. Most classes are a half to full day in length and are administered by professionals in their respective fields. Kelly really enjoyed the significance and content of the sign language sessions, and I found the bonding and attachment classes very informative. So many things that quite honestly I had never considered. It was interesting how many people in the classes who have kids already and are now adopting, stated that they wished there had been these classes when they first started their families.

It is amazing the things you must do paperwork wise to adopt. We have had some experience with this when Kelly applied for her resident alien status back in 1997, but of course the wheels of “red-tape” move slower than Molasses. Kelly has been able to get her documentation from

I must say, when one witnesses about 800 little Chinese kid’s running unfettered through

Kelly attended the first orientation session alone as I have been on the road for business. I will attend this same session next month. Kelly said it was very impressive, but wants to wait until I attend to discuss her thoughts on it.

We received an acknowledgement of our application at the CCAI offices. This signifies that the CCAI staff will now review our application. Hopefully we will pass the “test”.

Kelly sent our application for being prospective adoptive parents today to CCAI here in

We had started down this road and had been looking into the total adoptive process for a few months now. Domestic vs. International, non-profit agency vs. Church based organization, and there are a ton of choices out there. All very deserving and unique in their own way. We have decided, after some thorough research and long discussions, to attend the information session at Chinese Children Adoption International here in the