Another Big Step Today

Well, I finally spoke with an adoption agency today that helps with both international and domestic adoptions. It was quite informative and the person with whom I spoke was lovely in every respect. She was honest, intelligent and very understanding.

Here's what I learned:

Things can change on a dime from country-to-country in terms of rules and restrictions. While the Ukraine would've been a good option for John and I to consider about a month or so ago, as of two weeks or so ago, it isn't.

That said, if we do adopt, we're certainly going to have to be fairly open-minded and flexible.

China's out by the way - definitively. Even if we were 100% sure as of today that we absolutely want to have a child, there would be a MINIMUM 5 year wait there.

Anyway, sounds like there are viable options for us, which is good. Let's just hope it stays that way.

Today's conversation with the agency was also great in that it eliminated many of my top concerns respecting whether or not anyone would even ALLOW John and I to adopt - namely that we destroyed our credit while trying to keep the house and then short selling it - and the fact that we live in a two-bedroom apartment. Well, evidently, it doesn't matter. So long as we have a safe home and can demonstrate that we can afford to have a child, we're good-to-go.

We also spoke about private domestic adoption. I had never even given this thought. Unfortunately, it's probably not an option for us, because the birth mother chooses the parents-to-be, and you don't get to select your child's gender. Plus, she will probably have some role in the child's life - even if it is just an annual letter from us letting her know we haven't killed it yet. Pretty sure I'm not okay with that - and I'm almost 100% positive John wouldn't be either.

So, today was a good step... in the right direction? Well, that I can't necessarily say... yet. I have to admit I had fun speaking with them. Kind of made the prospect much more real.

As for the pic - I really couldn't find anything else fitting. Having happened upon it though, kinda makes me think I should be reading something like it.

The Adoption Process is Dizzying

So as previously mentioned, 34 is coming up fast. In fact, it'll be here in 12 days.

That said, I've actually started looking into the whole adoption process since the last post.I've had a conversation with my lovely friend Georgene, (who is definitely adopting), and it's been fairly fun starting to poke around and get a feel for what's what.

No, this does NOT mean that we've decided one way or the other yet.

The process in certain places, (like the U.S. and China), seems incredibly lengthy, challenging and daunting. This is just a preliminary assessment - but that's the feeling I've walked away with.

Very preliminary assessment on the prospect of adopting from Russia... not so bad! In fact, if the websites I'm looking to are correct, you can actually go through the entire adoption process and bring a child into your home in as little as 4 months to a year. It sounds a little too good to be true, but if it is true, I think it might be a good idea to adopt from there. Frankly, I don't want to be caught up in 3 - 5 years of paperwork, interviews, classes, travel, etc. for that long. And then what if it didn't work out? Yikes.

I'm not a patient person to begin with. John knows this all too well about me. I don't like waiting for ANYTHING... EVER. That said, if we get to that point where we're both thinking - let's do this - then I'm probably going to be more impatient than I've ever been in my entire life - so the shorter the process, the better.

It just occurred to me that impatience is not the best quality to pass on to a child, but maybe the whole adoption process will help rein mine in a bit. Who knows?

One other thing occurred to me while reading about domestic and international adoption. If we do this - and go the international route, we're both going to have to travel for what can be weeks at a time on more than one occasion. The idea of being away from our puppies for that long makes me very, very unhappy. They would be traumatized and I don't know if I could forgive myself for that. Might have to bring them along? How hard is it to travel internationally with two small pups?

Getting ahead of myself here I suppose...