Or another 17 cents. That's the only change I had left over from today. Disappointing, but my little International Adoption store is open! See it at http://www.flickr.com/photos/adopt/ It's called JourneyToYou and I'm super excited about it! I have already sold $129 worth of items from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uganda and Thailand. I need to locate some more items to add to my store.
The world keeps turning and I just keep seeing these cute little faces I want to call my own! And some faces that are not so little. We have inquired about some waiting kids.... 3 teenagers in different states. It's always such a gamble when you delve into the world of waiting children. With domestic/private, you fill out forms and pay ridiculous sums of money hoping for a healthy baby. You make a photo album and you wait for a birth mother to choose your family. Sometimes it's a matter of weeks and sometimes it's a matter of years. With International, you fill out gobs of paperwork, pay gobs of money, get matched with a child and you wait. Could be months. Could be a year or 2. But then there's the U.S. foster system. It should be stable. It should be text book. And it should be encouraging. Instead, I almost dread it. We inquired about more than 200 children in a 10 year period. We fostered 48 children until Aniah came along, 9 years after we started foster care hoping to adopt. I don't want to wait another 9 years to adopt again! International adoption is much more appealing to me than the foster system. The waiting child program in America is a lovely idea and I'm sure it works well for some families. Obviously, it hasn't worked well for us so I am hesitant to throw all our eggs in one basket and hope for the best. I'd much rather choose an agency, pay the fees and do the paperwork, knowing we will soon be matched with a child! I want the entire process! I want the steps and the wait (short wait please!), the excitement and the thought process and all the questions! How old is he? Does he have any special needs? What is his educational background (behavioral, environmental etc)? How did he end up as an orphan? Does he have siblings? And what are his likes and dislikes? But most of all.....when can we meet our son?
(Sigh)
So, I am saving and praying and hoping. I have to believe! "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened".
