Dear Mr. or Ms. China…

One year ago today, we wrote a letter that started out: "We would like to formally request the honor of adopting Xiang Xuan from the Wenzhou Children's Welfare Institute in Zhejiang province." This was our Letter of Intent, or basically our formal request to be considered the parents of this wonderful little boy. In it, we promised the China Center for Adoption Affairs that we would provide him a safe and happy home, the best medical attention, and best education. We would teach him about his birth heritage, would expose him to the language and culture of China, and that we would bring him back some day.

It had been almost 2 weeks since receiving his file and reviewing it with an International Adoption doctor. There was no question at this point that Xiang Xuan was our son. His picture was with me everywhere I went and not an hour went by that I didn't steal a glance at it... Wondered what he looked like by then... Thought about what it would feel like to meet him for the first time... Finally, we were ending our paperwork stage and beginning the chapter where we had no control over anything anymore. Hurry up and wait. And so that's what we did.