Our First Meeting!

We went to Brookfield, IL last night for our first meeting with the adoption agency, Great Wall China Adoption.
Brookfield is a quaint, adorable little town with great Victorian houses with lovely front porches and wide sidewalks, cute storefronts, etc. Large shade trees down every lane completed the scene, and it really looked like something out of a movie. But I digress.
We met with Teri, the local agent here in Illinois. Teri is the mother of two Chinese daughters, both of whom were present before the meeting began. They were handing out nametags, offering cookies, etc. They were both too cute for words, of course, and we got to hear one recite 'Billy Goats Gruff' in Chinese, and the other sing a little song. They both seem above-average in every way. Which is ironic, as both were developmentally behind (all orphanage children are developmentally behind, at least by a few months) when they came home.
Now, they are obviously in the top percentile verbally, physically, and of course, in adorability.
Teri explained everything thoroughly, and we even got to meet the social worker last night!
The social worker's name is Jacque (pronounced 'Jackie'; "Thanks, Mom and Dad" she said as she rolled her eyes while telling everyone how to spell it) and she is herself adopted, although hers was a domestic adoption.
She was a lovely young woman who genuinely seemed to have childrens' best interest at heart.
She didn't have three heads, or fangs, or anything, like the rumors would have you believe about social workers.
I told Joe on the way home last night that since it was about 12 months from start to finish, and most of the babies were 12 months old or so, that meant that the daughters of the people starting the process now are newborns right now, or possibly still waiting to be born.
Crazy.