The Doctor says... "Fantastic!"

We've had an interesting weekend. On Friday night at 6:30, I got a call from the pediatrician's office informing me that the physician that I'd thought was lined up review the baby's medical report on Saturday would be unavailable with no access to phones, faxes, or email until August 13. (You may notice that that particular physician's name no longer appears in my last post. Probably shouldn't have been there in the first place.) I was unhappy. The nurse offered to give me the name of another physician who could review an international adoption report. "Well, please give me the name of some doctors on the West Coast, because nobody else is going to answer their phone at this hour." They gave me a few names and numbers, and I got lucky on the first try. We agreed to scan and email the report to the new doctor on Saturday. Assuming there were no serious issues, we'd breathe a sigh of relief and accept the referral.

The baby's medical report arrived on Saturday. Physically putting our hands on it was more difficult than it should have been, but that is one story that is better not shared on the World Wide Web. A few hours I got a call from the doctor, a wonderful man in southern California. He reviewed the translated report with me line by line, summing up with, "If this report is true, this is fantastic!" (He quickly reassured me by saying the reports are usually pretty accurate!) As of April 30, the baby was very healthy, well fed, and developmentally right where she should be at 6 months. We're thrilled. We've signed the papers and will send them to our agency tomorrow. Mia Lu will be ours soon. Next step is to wait for our travel approvals from China.

When are we going?
We hope (and expect) to leave for China by September 13. That date is quite significant for at least two reasons:

1. If we don't leave by Sept 13, we have to wait until Nov 1. A national holiday and 2 trade shows in Guangzhou make travel in October impossible.
2. If we do leave by Sept 13, Mia will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary with us.
   P.S. The customary gift for one's tenth wedding anniversary is tin or aluminum. I don't see anything about babies.