Adopting Two Kids
Michelle and I talked about adopting a child on our first date. I guess that is what you call foreshadowing . Two and a half years after that date, a trip to China, a wedding and our first anniversary Michelle and I were sitting on the edge of our seats in a church basement listening to Finoa describe her and her husbands journey to adopting their two daughters. So for that moment on, Michelle and I were on the path to parenthood via China.
Our original plan was to adopt a little girl from China and try our luck with have a biological child to be her brother or sister. However, after a year of missing our target, we discovered that we were not meant to be pregnant. So since our hearts were already engaged to having two children, we starting looking for a second path.
The process to get onto the China waiting list is a journey onto itself. Our first five months were dedicated to finding and describing our lives with a social worker to get on the list. Out Log In Date (LID) of February 5, 2007 was established by the Chinese government and then it has been a practice of patience. Our adoption agency, Great Wall Adoption Agency, sends out a notice each month listing the number of children matched with waiting parents. Since the time of our LID, the length of time it takes to become matched has increased. Therefore when it came time to start thinking about second adoption, the China option seemed like an option that would take us well into our mid-40s.
Our second option for a concurrent option turned out to be Korea. We are already on the list for a little boy or girl from South Korea. The catch is that we have to wait until we have been married for three years before being matched.
This is the beginning of our journey. I plan to write more about the things we have done and are planning to do as we wait to be matching with our children from the other side of the world.