This will have to be several posts (which is kind of terrifying...must. write. more.), but today, I just wanted to give everyone the basic details.
First of all, we're going international this time. I'll explain our heart behind this decision in more detail later, but ultimately for us it came down to a few things. For one, international adoption was always a part of our plan. Way before infertility or miscarriage, our plan was to adopt internationally. Secondly, last time, when we adopted Garrison, I was desperate for a newborn. Seriously desperate. I wanted the whole experience. If I'm being 100% honest, the hardest thing about accepting Garrison's file for me was that he was already here...8 days old. At that stage in my life 8 days felt OLD. Bless. Now, I feel totally different. Don't get me wrong. I love to snuggle some babies, but I don't need an infant in the same way. But mostly, there are thousands of people waiting to adopt infants in the US. It is rare that an infant is not adopted if placed for adoption in the United States. However, that is not the truth in other parts of the world.
So where are we going? In case you don't recognize the country pictured above, it's China! It's been a roller coaster of sorts all ready, but China is a good fit for our family for various reasons. We meet all of the requirements (well, sort of) and the required in country stay is doable. For us, the in country stay is the hardest part of the requirements. Brazil is 5-6 weeks. Ukraine is 6-9 weeks. China is 10-14 days, much, much more feasible for our family. China was also always part of "the plan." Way back when, we said we hoped to adopt a little boy from Africa, likely Ethiopia or Uganda, and a little girl (because obviously) from China. When we started talking about adopting again over a year ago, China was the most natural choice and our research confirmed that this continued to be a good choice for our family.
At this time, our home study is complete. It's been a long four months filled with appointments, evaluations, and all of the other things that go along with a home study. Our next step is our dossier. Once complete, it will be sent to China (also known as DTC-dossier to China). International adoption has as many acronyms as the infertility world...it seems like a foreign language at first, but now I can carry on full conversations about LID (log in date) and PA (pre-approval) and LOI (letter of intent). Adopting from China is very different from domestic infant adoption, so if you're already confused about the process and how far along we are, well, join the party. This link provides a fairly simple but comprehensive explanation to the various paths available for Chinese adoptions. For reference, we're at 2a...lots and lots and lots left to do!
We are open to either a boy or a girl, which means that the odds are that we will bring home another son. No, that's not a typo. If you're not connected to the China adoption community, you likely believed that girls are far more common than boys. While that was once true, it is no longer accurate. We also know that the child will be younger than Garrison, but that's our only age stipulation. While we know people who have adopted out of birth order, we have chosen to keep Garrison as our oldest child. We are however open to what is known as artificial twinning, basically children that are closer in age that 9 months. As long as Garrison is older by one day, we're good to go.
That pretty much catches you up to date on the logistics of everything to date. I will do my very best to blog more regularly throughout this process. I'll end by saying this: we are ecstatic and overjoyed that this is our life and we feel so blessed to have the opportunity to adopt one of China's precious children. We may not know what our son or daughter looks like, but we have full confidence that he or she is already here on earth and in need of a family. He or she is already SO LOVED from afar. We cannot wait for each and every step along this journey (well, maybe not the flight). More to come, friends. Thank you for sharing in our joy.
