The Referral Came - CHOP speaks

So we waited....and we waited...and Sept and Oct came and went with nothing. It was around November 4th that I finally spoke to Michalina and she said soon.... again.
Then she called on Nov 11th.
When your referral comes, it is a combination of hope, fear, anxiety and excitement all in one. My hands shoke as she gave us the details of our referral. All the books and blogs tell you not to get too attached until after you speak to your doctors. Yeah right, like that could happen. You try to remain calm and businesslike, but your emotions take over and your dreams start again.
We chose CHOP - Children's Hospital of Philadephia International Adoption Clinic as our home pediatric evaluators. They have a great track record and have been handling international adoptions for a long time.
One of the main reasons that you don't want an oordinary pediatrician to view the limited medical information given by Russia is because the medicals are very different in Russia and America. International Adoption doctors have a lot of experience in evaluating children's records from overseas and you want this expertise in your life long decision.
The process is failry easy and they will be the few doctors that will ever respond to you in the evenings, on weekends and at all crazy hours of the day. They email you immediately, talk for a long time with you and are very calm, honest and reassuring.
After speaking with CHOP, we felt we should have one more evaluation, so we chose University of Minnesota's International Adoption Research Center. The great thing about this center is that that are all research doctors who perform these evaluations for free or for a donation. Evaluations done within a week are free, but if you need them in 24-48 hours, the donation ranges from $250 -$500. (reasonable, considering CHOP is $1050). So we got another evaluation and extensive written examines emailed to us.
These we will carry with us when we go to Russia to meet these children.

Now the process is not over-- you now have the opportunity to accept or reject these referrals. If you reject them, then you wait for another one (it doesn't put you back at the end of the line) and if you accept - well - just read on.