a couple of answers...

I've had quite a few people ask me the same two questions...

Why are you adopting? Why China?

I thought I'd answer those questions here. I've spent some time thinking through both of these questions, because I didn't have a cut-and-dried answer when first asked.

Some years ago, we started talking about and asking God what He wanted our family to do in order to take care of orphans. How could we bring beauty into the chaos of the lives of those who had been abandoned? How could we help give a name to one who had no name? During this time, we partnered with some orphanages in various ways.

Months into this, we felt a nudge towards international adoption. It was a little strange, because we were very content with our family the way it was. We really weren't planning on having any more children. But we started researching international adoption. About a year later, we found out we were moving to Alabama, and we put any thoughts of adoption on the back burner.

About nine months after we moved, we felt that nudge again. We went to a meeting held by an adoption agency to learn more, and we started getting excited. Adoption seemed more feasible and less scary. Still, for months, we kept learning, thinking and praying.

There was so much involved in this decision. One of the main things, for me, was thinking through how it would affect our girls. I tend to over-think things, so I had quite the array of scenarios constantly running through my mind.

Finally Brian and I sat down and asked ourselves this question, "What is it that we are waiting for exactly?"  Spending time with that question was crucial for us. It was at this point that we decided to go ahead and move forward. We had already decided on what agency we would use, so that was helpful. And though we were still somewhat unsure about what we were doing, we agreed that we would just start the process and only continue to the next step if we both felt that it was what God was asking us to do.

By July of 2012, we had finished everything we could up to the point of choosing a country from which to adopt. We spent time looking at the waiting children on our adoption agency's website and studying the details of the countries and the children living in the orphanages in each country. And for various reasons, we kept coming back to China.

While learning about the various countries, we quickly realized there were things we could and couldn't handle. We did not feel equipped to have a child who had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and the children in the Eastern European often have this. We didn't want to be out of the country for longer than four weeks or for multiple trips, which is required by Africa and the Latin American countries. We wanted a little one, age four or younger, who had been abandoned. We wanted the whole process to take less than two years. And we were okay to adopt a little one that had special needs that we felt we could handle.

As we learned more about us and about the countries, it seemed like China was the right fit for us. The entire process for adopting a little one from China typically takes 12-18 months for a child with special needs. You spend two weeks in China when you go to get your child. The children in Chinese orphanages have been abandoned. FASD is not prevalent in China. But even after deciding that China was the place for us, we still hesitated to jump in.

And then, the night before Christmas 2012, I saw a picture of a beautiful, little girl. I watched three videos of her. I was captivated. I called Brian in to see her, and we decided right then that we wanted to bring her home. (And we hope to soon!)

So, for us, adoption is our response to our Father when he commands us to take care of orphans. And why are we going to China? Well...mainly because that is where our daughter is. :)