And The Decision Is...



If you couldn't already tell from the picture, Nathan and I have decided to pursue adoption through South Korea! Of course this is not a 100% guarantee as we have not completed a home study, or even applied to an agency at this point.

So, why Korea? Of course it would seem obvious since my husband is a Korean adoptee, but we have actually looked into many countries. We have spent the last 2-3 months looking online at all the regulations for adopting from each country (including the US), what ages are usually adopted from each country, and talked to a few friends who have adopted or are currently in the process. We ultimately chose Korea because yes, this is the homeland of my husband, and that did seem important to us, but we chose it for many other reasons as well. Our family seems to fit the criteria for adopting from the country, most children that are adopted are babies or toddlers and we want this child to be younger than our youngest (who is currently 14 months old), and for us it would be similar to a white family adopting domestically or from a European country since the child will look similar to most everyone in our family, except for me! Isn't it crazy that I'm the odd-ball out in our "American" family?! Most importantly, after thinking and praying about this, we feel this is the country God is leading towards.

So now what? The most logical next step is to choose an adoption agency and start the home study process. We are currently looking into agencies and will most likely make a decision soon, but our family is not quite ready to start the application process and home study. 

Here are the things we are doing in the meantime:
  • I am reading books and online resources like a mad woman
  • Yesterday we attended our first (of many) online webinar about adoption from South Korea, unfortunately for me it was rather boring since I had read all the information about 1,000 times in my reading frenzy
  • We started our adoption fund with my husband giving me money to begin the fund for my Valentine's Day gift. It was exactly what I needed at the moment and showed me the amazing love that my husband has for me, you know, that type of love that everyone wants to feel on Valentine's Day
  • Growing the newly created adoption fund
  • Getting our passports - I will be sending my application out by the end of this week, and don't you worry, you'll know when it arrives :)
  • Any other small details we can go ahead and take care of now 
Even though we aren't in the midst of the crazy paperwork that ensues once the application begins, I still feel the excitement and anticipation of adopting our child. I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it. I hope I can carry these feelings with me throughout the entire process, in the ups and the downs that are bound to happen on this journey.

Comments

Kathy said…
So proud of you guys, and so enjoying watching the journey. Hope we can do something more practical to help eventually.
February 19, 2014 at 4:42 PM
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