Why Russia???

You may have wondered why on earth we are adopting from Russia with all the children here in the USA who need forever families. This is a good question, and one I am happy to answer. It was not a decision that we came to easily or quickly.

Believe it or not, Jason and I talked about adoption from the very beginning. We hadn't dated very long when I asked him if he would ever consider it. Both of us saw it as a wonderful way to create a family, but didn't give it much more thought until the idea became firmly planted in our minds after Jason and I had come home from a mission trip to Arizona. While there we had a very interesting conversation with a woman from China that lead to some questions about Chinese orphans. We gave serious consideration to China out of compassion for the many girls that are given up every year because they were born female. It is currently the number one country to adopt from, and the wait time is anywhere from 18 months to two years after your paperwork is complete.

We also looked at Korea. They have many healthy babies and an excellent foster care system. It is a good country, and we know several people that have adopted from there with lovely children.

Another country we considered was Ukraine, though briefly.

We considered adopting domestically in the USA. The wait for an infant is sometimes quite long and can be very costly. If you want a newborn, you wait for a birth mother to choose you out of thousands of other waiting parents. More and more adoptions are open, meaning there is frequent contact with the birth parents. The adoption isn't final until 6 months after it is placed in the home- so the birth parents can change their mind and cancel the adoption. We could have fostered a child in the hope to adopt, but there the goal is almost always to return the child to its birth parents. After discussing it, Jason and I agreed that at this time domestic adoption was too risky for our hearts.

Russia seemed like a good fit for us. There are many children available from about 8 months old to 18 months old and older. They come from a country like ours- a "melting pot" of different ethnicity's, cultures and backgrounds. We look forward to the idea of traveling to a country that 20 years ago we would not have been able to go to because of communism. We like the culture, its art, music, I like the Olympic figure skaters, and language in particular, and we have enjoyed trying some Russian cuisine. But probably the biggest consideration for us was that there is less risk to our hearts involved in this process verses the domestic process. Once we go to court and land on US soil, our baby is ours forever!

So there you have it! We feel like God lead us to this country, that our faith had a major role in pointing us in this direction and to our agency, and trust that He's got a child in mind for us there. We thank you for your prayers and encouragement!