Why China?..How Six People Came to One Conclusion

I think that the thought of adopting from China was planted in our heads while we watched the National Geographic special with Lisa Ling about China's Lost Girls. As a very independent woman, I was completely caught off guard by what has happening. Having never had a daughter of my own, I could not imagine wanting anything more.

It was quite some time later that we actually discussed the topic of international adoption. Eli had been born and there was such a gap between him and his siblings that we were considering having another child. Both of my last two pregnancies were high risk though, so another biological child was not advised by my doctor.

A few more months passed with some small discussions here and there. Finally, we decided to get more information. We submitted a pre-application to our agency and requested a packet with detailed information. We looked at all of the different countries and options. My husband had his heart set on China.

We knew that this decision would have a huge impact on our children, so we scheduled a family meeting. We announced what we were thinking about doing. To our delight, our children were very positive. They asked a lot of questions. We discussed what this would mean to our family and what implications there would be for each of them.

We met again about a week later and voted. Each child had a vote as to whether or not we were going to grow our family and from which country we would choose to adopt. The vote was unanimous to adopt and unanimous to adopt from China.

My husband and I began working on the paperwork. I enjoy writing, my husband does not. The long lists of questions took a toll on him. On our third wedding anniversary, he handed me his completed paperwork. It was the sweetest anniversary gift I have ever received. My daughter.

I cried all of the way to the adoption agency and turned in our packet with puffy eyes. Now we wait together for our brown eyed girl.

I couldn't resist this shirt today. I was picking up a prescription for Zachary and there it was. The same shirt that my blog buddies have their beautiful daughters wearing. I just had to get one for mine.