... We are Dan and Karen Hale, and we live in north Texas. We got married in 2000 and were blessed with our wonderful son, Alex, in 2001. During an anniversary trip to the Bahamas in 2005, we discussed the idea of international adoption to add to our family.

After returning home, we started investigating agencies and decided to use Gladney which is based in Fort Worth. We did not have a preference about which country or gender so we began reviewing the programs that Gladney offered. After much consideration, we chose to work with their China program which meant that we would almost definitely be getting a baby girl.

The paperwork process was long and arduous! It required obtaining updated copies of birth and marriage certificates, approval of our agency application, medical exams, a home study by a social worker, fingerprinting and a background check by United States Immigration/Homeland Security and more. Our finalized packet of paperwork ("dossier") was sent to our agency on Labor Day weekend, went to China on September 13th (known as the DTC or "Dossier to China" date), and was logged in by the Chinese government's agency, the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs), which governs adoptions, on October 20th, 2005 (known as the LID or "Log In Date").

Now we are anxiously awaiting the referral of our new daughter, Katie. Alex chose this name early in the process with the simple statement that "this is what her name is supposed to be." Who are we to question three-year-old wisdom?

Thank you for following along with our story. We are looking forward to posting new information as soon as it becomes available and will have daily updates with photos on the site during our trip to get Katie in 2006. You can use the link on the website to e-mail us any time.