Let the journey begin...again

We never knew how difficult it would be to find our second love. From one country to the next, to infertility treatments to domestic, back to international adoption...we believe we have finally found our match.

After the adoption of our first child (Lydia) from Vietnam, we knew that we would one day adopt again. No words can describe how wonderful adoption is or the journey it takes to bring that little one home to their forever family. Having a houseful of children has always been a dream of ours. After learning of our infertility issues, we felt like these dreams were quickly fading away. When we were introduced to international adoption and completed the journey to Vietnam, we knew we would adopt again. Right before Lydia turned two, so in June, we started looking into international adoption once again. We so badly wanted to adopt a sibling from Vietnam but they were closing in just a few short months and time did not allow us to get the needed documents to finish before the deadline. After researching many countries we decided to apply to South Korea. We loved the program, country, the time frame, and age of the child seemed to fit so perfectly. Unfortunately after being accepted on three different levels we ended up having to drop out of the program.

We looked into several other countries but nothing seemed to fit...we were either too young, not married long enough, or the program was too expensive. We started looking into other options such as domestic adoption or infertility treatments. Neither one of us was very keen on the idea of a domestic adoption (even though we believe all children need a loving family) and looked into doing artificial insemination with donor sperm. Since we wanted more Asian children we decided to use an Asian donor...a Vietnamese donor to be more specific. Unfortunately, after two failed attempts (one being on Thanksgiving day and the other on Christmas) and heartache we did not proceed with any further treatment.

At this point we didn't know where to turn. We could just wait it out for Vietnam to reopen, look more into domestic, or just stop all together...but that is easier said than done. We decided to look more into domestic adoption. Our homestudy agency also places children but the wait seemed like forever. They quoted us anywhere between 2 weeks to 3 years...most families being picked were young with no children. Plus we really wanted the whole travel experience so that this next child could have that "special" place just like thier big sister. We went back and forth for months thinking is this what we really want to do.

So back on the international adoption band wagon. Do we try to lose the weight and reapply for Korea or do we look into other countries? Since Korea only accepts applications one time a year we decided to look into Taiwan and Thailand. At the time, both programs were nearly the same...same time frame, money, age of child at referral. When it came down to deciding, we choose to go with the Thailand program. It was close to Vietnam and they would use our existing homestudy that was nearly finished. We submitted our pre-application and were accepted...we were told that it is very hard to get accepted for a healthy infant.

After joining the adoption support group for Thailand and hearing from other PAP we started to worry. They were quoted a 2 year wait and have been waiting for nearly 3 years and still no news. We were told that Thailand was always a slow moving program and since they became hague they were being even more cautious. Again, we didn't know whether to go forward or to keep looking.

A few weeks later we got a call from Bethany Christian Services out of Indianapolis informing us that the Korea program was reopening and wanted to know if we were still interested. Well of course we said yes, but knew what had to be done. They gave us a week to decide if we wanted to go forward. We talked about it every night (we even asked Lydia's opinion and she said , "no want no babies"...I think she is just as tired of us talking about it as we are looking for it). They called back and we discussed our concerns. We were told that they could leave us on the list for six months...giving me time to lose the weight. We still had to pay the upfront fees and if I wasn't below the weight requirement we would be removed from the list and would have lost the money.

We told the social worker this was just something we couldn't do. We don't have the money now...and we don't know how we are going to get the money then, but it is something we so desire. It isn't like we are going off and buying a new house, car, or boat. We want to experience this journey all over...to parent another child...to give a child a loving family and a place to call home.

Just at that moment the social worker asked if we looked into the Taiwan program. We told her the whole story about how we haven't been married long enough and they wouldn't use our homestudy...yada yada yada. She then informed us that they just took over an agency out of Kansas and they were placing healthy infants in 18-24 months but to be financially ready SOON! (The last referral was 2 months old and they waited 9 months). We knew we had to jump at this chance...we knew this had to be our chance to adopt our second child, travel to a new country and experience their culture.

We have spent the last week gathering financial information, writing 15 page autobiographies, and we just sent in our contract. In the coming weeks the agency will conduct a phone interview with us and we can start our homestudy. It feels so good to FINALLY be on a list and starting the journey to our second love.