An Adoption Update

On Tuesday, I spoke to Ashley, our adoption consultant.  Trevor and I had been contemplating, discussing, and praying about changing our preference to include a single child.  After quite a while of this, we decided that it was the best move for us at this time.  So, this call was our official request to add one child to our official preference.

Our preference now reads:

One or two children, Aged 0-3, Either Gender

We made this change for a number of reasons.  First of all, it had been on our hearts since even before the MOWA news.  When I spoke to Ashley a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned it to her and she asked us to consider it further and make sure it was the right thing for our family to change our preference.  She also told us that we are the last people on our agency's waiting list who they are allowing to request young siblings.  The reason?  There simply aren't children coming into care who are siblings under age 5.  Even older siblings have been VERY sparse and it simply isn't where the need is.  However, there are a significant number of families on the waiting list who are requesting siblings. 

The more we thought about, talked about, and prayed about this, the more we realized that we were not opposed and, in fact, very much in favor of bringing one child at a time into our family.  In addition, we are very open to (and excited about) the possibility that we may be adopting a toddler as opposed to a baby.  There would definitely be some challenges specific to adopting a toddler, but we feel equipped to raising a child at that age.  {And what we can't handle, God will give us the strength and wisdom as He promises in I Corinthians 10:13!} 

Changing our preference does not mean that we will only adopt one child {our preference includes one or two} or that he/she will not be a baby {aged 0-3}, but just observing referrals and the make-up of our list, our prediction is that we will be adopting a boy between the ages of 2 and 3.

Also, it is worth noting that we still intend to adopt two children.  We are just a little more up-in-the-air about how that will take place.  If this adoption brings us one child, that plan is to get out of debt from this adoption and then start it again.  Will the second adoption be from Ethiopia?  Who knows?!  I do feel strongly that both of our children will be from Africa, but that's all I can speculate right now!

Additionally, it is very likely that this change in preference will make our referral come more quickly.  Our number does not change, but as I have explained before, the number doesn't make much of a difference.  We may be at the top of the list of families for a 2 1/2 year old girl...ya just never know!

Let's have some fun with this!  What do you think?!  Will we be adopting...

What's your guess?  When do you think we will get our referral?  Winner gets...umm...bragging rights!  And the right to love on our little angel(s) when we bring him/her/them home! :)