Blog BUZZ!!- How do I choose a country?!

Choosing a country can be a tough decision for many families when they first decide to open their hearts to adoption. You can narrow your options down but I believe that GOD ultimately leads you to your decision. A good way to start is by deciding what YOU feel is right for your family. There is Domestic Caucasian, Domestic African-American/Bi-Racial, International, and Foster Care. Ask yourself a few questions. Do you already have children in your home or will this be your first? If you do, how many and how old are they? If you are looking at international adoption, many countries have a limit on the number of children already in the home. Your age may also be a factor. Are you open to raising a child of a different race and ethnicity? We've allowed our 3 boys to be a part of the process from day 1 and this process takes time and patience. We didn't just wake up one morning and say "Let's adopt a little girl from India today." Because we are caucasian, we thought that domestic or foster care was our best option. We went through the MAPS Foster Parenting Course to become foster parents first. But... our hearts weren't there. (If you have the chance to take this course, I would encourage you to do it. We learned a lot about ourselves and our family that has help us to through our journey.) Then I had spent months and months researching adoption. I began with domestic. It seemed like the logical way to go. But again... our hearts didn't feel a connection. This was difficult because I thought for sure that would be our answer. From my experience, I found through talking to many agencies and research, that most birth mothers want their child to be the first in the home and/or at least a semi-open adoption. However, this was not true for all. When we felt led to international adoption, we again started looking at countries where their natives were more fair skinned. We thought that it would be easier for "our daughter" to be accepted by others if she resembled us some what. The more we researched the more we drifted. Having 3 children already helped to narrow it down for us. Many countries require you to make more than one trip staying 2-3 weeks at a time. We weren't comfortable with leaving the boys for that long. Finally, we decided open our hearts and let GOD lead us... and he did... he lead us to India. A word of advice... don't let others lead you, open you hearts and trust in GOD. If we had listened to everyone else, we would still be trying to find our way.


Please read previous posts to see how God answered our prayers and led us to India.