First, I'm going to assume that some of the adoption folks whose blogs I follow might also read mine. Next I want to ask you a question. How did you choose your country?
I've been asked numerous times, "Why Bulgaria?" I followed up with several reasons and a gut feeling. Now, I'm not so sure. Of course, knowing myself for as long as I have, I know that it is entirely possible that God let me feel settled on Bulgaria so I could focus on fundraising. It wouldn't be the first time He focused me on something just so I wouldn't wander off somewhere in the wrong direction. Later He breaks my focus when He is ready to show me what He really wants me to have or do. (Sound familiar, Cindy?) It's kind of like having a hungry baby, but the bottle isn't ready. You give him a toy to hold his attention. When the food is ready, you take the toy (probably causing him to scream all over again like "Well, why did you give me that in the first place!") and give him the food that is finally ready for him. Does that make sense? Bottom line is I'm trying not to throw a fit saying, "But I thought You said Bulgaria!" I'm really trying to keep an open mind and open emotions to see if there is a better fit for us now that we are so close to committing. (Yes, Tim has worked on his paper work today. Yea!)
Now in the last post, I told you about a new opportunity in Costa Rica. I have yet to hear any more information about that, but I was starting to get more and more comfortable with the idea...especially the language. This week, though, I saw a picture of two sisters (ages 7 and 5) who are currently available. Perfect! The seven year-old is even still younger than Colton by 2 months. Perfect! They are in India. Whoa! I haven't really given India much thought. I had to email the agency just to find out their country and got the response very quickly. I replied right away requesting more information about them and have waited over 30 hours with no reply. I even emailed again today. No response. It's Friday now...I'm not likely to hearing anything until at least Monday. It's frustrating. Maybe they are already taken. Good for them. Confusing for me.
So now I feel like we're back at square one. Picking a country--which determines which placing agency we will use--which can affect which home study agency we choose--which could mean we are in the paperwork stage of our homestudy, or it could mean we will have to start all over with someone else.
Any advice?
5 comments:
I just watched a good dvd called, Love Knows No Borders, which is all about the orphans in Bulgaria. Their orphanages are overflowing now, as the country was shut down to adoptions for almost 5 years. In that time period Thousands of babies & toddlers grew into children with little chance of being chosen by a family because of their age. The vast majority of Bulgaria's orphans are of Roma (gypsy) ethnicity. The Roma people are a very poor and despised minority in Bulgaria. These children are in great need of people willing to step forward and give them families.
Thanks, Kelly. We have that DVD, and all the reasons you listed are reasons we originally chose to adopt from there. The problem (as I'm sure you know) is that there are children in great need in many different countries. The fact that the Roma children are so beautiful and yet so despised is certainly a drawing point to Bulgaria. Points for Costa Rica are looking like less cost, less distance to travel, and less language barrier. Points for India: less cost, less travel time, the girls are already identified.
Are you adopting from Bulgaria? You don't have to answer, but if not, you sound like you should consider it. : )
We are in the midst of our 3rd international adoption...and this will be the 3rd country that we adopt from. The first time, the country chose us, so to speak. We found out about a child that needed a family and we stepped up and started the process for HIM...the country process(Ukraine) was just something we dealt with in order to bring our son home. For our second adoption, I was much more "educated" on the world of international adoption and we were able to make a much more informed decision. We looked at overall cost, how much we could work directly with the country, travel time and the speed of the process. We were VERY pleased with that choice and had a wonderful adoption experience(and very fast too). We adopted from Serbia that time.
For this adoption, we had to look strictly at travel requirements. Now that we have a large family, we couldn't spend a lot of time in a country with both parents being required to be gone. Otherwise, I would have went back to Serbia. But, when looking at countries that required only one parent to travel AND cost AND the ability to work directly with people in the country we were adopting from throughout the process(which are still the other 2 most important things for us), Bulgaria was without a doubt, the best fit.
There are so many different things to consider and you have to do what "fits" best for your family. For us, not paying unneccesary fees and being able to work directly with people in the country(with no middle man in the US) were the biggest factors. Travel time also now plays into the decision because our family is so large. Whatever you decide, the absolute best advice I can give is to do your research! Make a well informed decision based on facts.
Good luck with your decision!
Hi, we started with Ukvraine, but got out of that country because people were coming home with no child. We want healty and young. So we chose Bulgaria, because of cost and travel time. We have 2 young children and don't want to be gone for an extended amount of time. Good luck with your decision. We also looked at domestic adoption in the beginning but felt the Lord calling us to international.
About TOL, Kay Monte has a passion for the kids in Bulgaria and has 3 children from Bulgaria herself. We are in the waiting stage, but thus far TOL has been a good choice. They are small but are very knowledgable about Bulgaria if it is Bulgaria you want to adopt from. Another good agency is All God's Children, we would have gone with them but TOL was quicker to get back with us when we were requesting information. Wish I had more to share with you. Best wishes
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