We are about to start the process to adopt from China! Adoption is something Chris and I have talked about since before we married and after the blessing of welcoming Oliver and Soren into our lives, we feel like it's the right time to pursue this dream.
While we are very excited to adopt, the process will be long. It'll be possibly two years before we bring a child home and it'd be an absolute miracle if it happened in a year. There'll be periods of a lot of preparation as we meet with social workers, take classes and prepare our adoption application for China. And then there'll be periods of waiting with little news to share.
We chose China because it has a well-established adoption program, its wait times are shorter than other countries we considered and the travel requirements are more manageable (one, two-week trip). Despite the perception that only girls are in need of adoption, boys, particularly those with "minor and/or correctable needs," are in the most need of forever families. Thus we'll most likely be adding another son to our growing family and Chris and I couldn't be more happy about that.
Before we get too ahead of ourselves though, adoption is a process with no guarantees. We could run into an unforeseen hurdle down the road and need to pursue adoption from another country, switch to domestic adoption, or even hold off on adopting all together. Of course we hope it doesn't come to that. Instead, we're moving ahead with hearts and eyes wide open.
Our application with Bethany Christian Services is in and we officially begin the first big step in the adoption process next week - the home study. I plan to write more about our adoption experience, but if you ever have questions, just ask!
We thank you for your love and support.
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