STATE OF ADOPTION

I am attaching a lengthy article about the state of adoption in China. It covers several different aspects of the process, including the time it is taking now to adopt from there and why. Reading the article made me reflect on our own process and journey to get a child from China. For those who don't know, we started the paperwork in 2005, had it submitted in March of 2006, and were planning on getting a healthy baby girl...we even had hear named-Erica. If we had stayed on this track, we would just now be going to get our little girl...a four year wait. However, due to the long wait, and God moving us in a different direction, we switched to the "special needs" list, and, upon doing this, within two and a half months were on our way to Guanzhou China to get our little boy. Now, I can't even imagine having anyone different, and as I've told some, being able to switch to the "special needs" list was God giving us a second chance at something we should have done in the first place. There's still a place in my heart for Erica, wherever she is, and I will leave it up to God to help me find her.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cc97dd18-a719-11de-bd14-00144feabdc0.html