More adoption story

Our paperwork (dossier) arrived in China in August of 2006 where the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) checks everything to make sure we sent everything and then in September of 2006 we were OFFICIALLY logged in.  That basically means we got on a very, very long list.  Everything is done in chronological order by your log in date (LID) so it's a very important day.  Really, once everything gets to China, the only thing left to do is wait!  We went on about our everyday business, prayed for our daughter in China, her birthmother and for ourselves to be patient.  M1 (our firstborn) was growing up, we hosted a Chinese exchange student for a semester so we could learn more about the culture, Doug switched jobs and I was babysitting everyday for 2 sweet girls.  Life was sweet!  In China, due to the extreme overpopulation, there is a "One Child Policy" which basically means that each family is only allowed to have one child.  Due to the culture and lack of government retirement plans, most families want to have a boy.  Once a daughter gets married she is considered property of her husband's family thus no longer able to care for her own parents as well.  However, a son will continue to care for his parents financially as well as bring in a daughter-in-law to help care for them.  Also, in the more rural areas a boy is a better help on the farm.  Most of these practices are in the rural areas where everything is more "old school".  Because of this, many, many baby girls are not wanted.  If a family has a girl, they might want to "get rid of her" secretly so they can try again for their "one child=boy"  Thankfully, many of these mothers take care of themselves (not much drug/alcohol abuse) hoping for a boy and the child is given life instead of aborted (or the mother's don't have access to ultrasound).  Also in China it's against the law to abandon your child or place for adoption so these families must secretly abandon the child as to not be in trouble.  Many of the girls are wrapped up in blankets and placed in a public area such as a market or dropped off secretly on the steps of an orphanage.  I know most of this sounds horrible.  At first I thought so as well.  Please keep in mind that the government was trying to cut back on the extreme overcrowding (not that I agree with their Communist government), their culture is very proud and having a boy for most families is the life or death of the family.  I'm sure most birthmothers who have a girl DO NOT want to choose abandonment (as a mother myself, I just cannot imagine....) but they are at the mercy of their husbands and his family and again, the culture of a NEEDING  a boy might be too great.  I envision my daugter's birthmother kissing her little face over and over and over before wrapping her in a blanket and placing her somewhere to be found...then walking away.  Then hiding somewhere to watch and make sure she's o.k. and picked up by someone responsible.  What if the baby cries before she's picked up....I just can't imagine how the birthmother's heart must just break.  Please pray for the many, many families who must make this horrible decision on a daily basis.  China has now changed their policy to allow for 2 children, unless the first is a boy, which would mean you are done.  However, now the second girl is facing the same fate of abandonment so they can try again for a boy.  It's a horrible situation.  I won't even get into the families who choose death for their daughter instead of adoption.  It can get very cruel.  China has a very good system of adoption and years ago, the wait time was about 9 months.  Because of that TONS AND TONS of people chose to adopt from China (us included) which caused the list of families to get "crazy long".   That's where the problem is...we are in line in a very, very long list.  I'm hoping our daughter hasn't even been born yet.  Please be praying for her, for her birthmother, for her birth family...they have some difficult days ahead of them.   Please pray for our daughter to get good care in the orphanage while she waits for us to come get  her.  I'll write again soon to let you know how close we are.