Decisions, Decisions .......

So we've completed all the Information Sessions we signed up for.  Now we need to choose an agency and a country.  We didn't anticipate this part being so difficult.  Choosing an agency is not too hard.  We've compared the pros and cons and we're pretty close to making that decision.

Choosing a country on the other hand, is a completely different story.  There are so many factors to consider ..... how long it takes, how much it costs, age of the available children, gender of the available children, predictability/stability of the country's adoption program, how the children are cared for, special needs .... just to name a few.  So we are praying, thinking, and talking about all our options.  I think we're getting close to making a decision, it's just harder than we thought it would be!

We're still very excited about the process and I think we'd both like for it to move quicker than it does!  The entire process will take a couple of years.  We can see 2 major benefits to this. 

1.  Luke will be older and he'll be able to participate in the process more and understand it more.  He is definitely our first priority and we think it would be great if he was able to understand what was happening.

2.  Money.  I've mentioned this before, but it's a big deal to us.  Mainly because we don't have much!  I (Sherry) will be looking for a full time job soon.  The longer the process takes, the more likely it is that we'll have no problem raising however much we need to raise.  This is actually a relief.  It's stressful to wonder how you're going to come up with $20,000 (or more, depending on the country) when you have nowhere near that in savings.  But knowing that I could work for a year or two and then we could pay for the adoption and replenish our savings account is a good thing.  We can probably also start college savings accounts for both kids with that money.  Then, when we bring our next little one home, I could go back to working part time so I could be home with both kids part time!

So anyway, that's our update for now!  Hopefully we'll be posting soon that we've chosen a country!!!!

Sherry, Aaron, & Luke