March 2004

Well, we've made up our minds. The talk of adoption has been lingering on Rob and my mind since we first officially became a couple. It's something that I have wanted to do since as long as I can remember. For me there was never a decision. I was surprised that Rob was so open to the idea. There are a lot of people out there that would never pursue an adoption, let alone an international adoption. Most of the couples (I have read) adopt because they cannot have children of their own. This is not the case with us. We have three boys. Rob does not have any
biological children of his own and I know that sometimes he wishes he did. I can't give that to him. My body could not handle it. But adoption. Hmmm.

When we seriously started talking about it, international was the first choice. The thought of adopting domestically never appealed to us. The idea of having to be a foster parent first was too hard, not to mention the fact there would always be that underlying fear of the biological parents coming back. Nope. Doesn't feel right. Okay, so we talked about what country to adopt
from. China has always been my first choice. I remember daydreaming about adopting my own little China doll. So what other countries do we consider? There are a few countries in South America that the wait time is much less than others. Nope. Doesn't feel right.

So we choose China. That feels right. We are not in a hurry and we do not want to have to "settle" for something that may not take as long, but will not be exactly what we dream of. So now comes the task of choosing an agency. We want one in Colorado so we have local support. There are three prominent agencies in Colorado that deals with China. We sent off for information packets. When the packets arrive, the information is overwhelming. Two of the agency packets are a bit cheap looking. Photocopied too many times. We are not really impressed. The third has great information and they ONLY deal with China. That could be a plus. After looking at their Website and reading their information, we decided to go to one of
their information meetings. We had to lie to the family about what we were doing because we don't want them knowing yet.

Decision made. Walking in the door of Chinese Children Adoptions International in Centennial, CO took our breath away. Pictures all over the walls of all the Chinese girls that had been adopted through their agency. Their presentation was excellent and informative and they DIDN'T ask for all the money up front. Officially we didn't "decide" until a few days later, but in my mind it was made up the moment we walked out their door. We made a few calls on some references they provided and found out that this agency is top notch. Yup. It just felt right.