And the number is....

December 12, as it turns out. Our official log in date, the date our adoption application was checked in at the China Center of Adoption Affairs.

Almost a year ago, our agency surprised us in late January with the news that our application had been sent to China, with a log in date of December 16--we had thought our application was still stateside. Very recently, we learned that the date was actually earlier. How much earlier? Well, 4 days doesn't seem like a lot, until you consider that it takes 2 months to refer 1 month's worth of referral dates. So, when the CCAA finally gets to the December 2005 dates, 4 days could make the difference between a referral in say, May, and a referral in June.

So we'll take it!