So lets go ahead and answer the price question....Isn't it really expensive to adopt?? Unlike what most think, we are not "paying" China for a baby. It is the same cost to adopt from China as it is here, just add on the travel cost for our 2 week stay in China. They do not receive any of the money other than document fees and what we spend on food and such while we are there. There are fees along the way that add up such as background check/fingerprinting fees, social worker/homestudy fees, processing fees, fees to US Homeland Security to review our case and so on and so on. Does it add up, yes. But are we paying China for a baby...NO. There is just SO MUCH involved with adoption as far as paperwork and such and of course nothing is free...there is a charge for everything (even just getting a certified copy of your birth certificate and things like that).
Several people have asked me why don't you adopt here?? There are so many kids that need homes in our own country. Yes, there are lots of children in the US that need to be adopted but I have been called to China. Here in the US, the children are cared for in foster homes so their needs are (hopefully) being met by their foster parents. In China, the abandoned babies are in crowded, unheated orphanages... they have no families.
The main question I get the most is why? What made you want to adopt? Why China? Well, the adoption bug has always been in me. My husband and I talked about it when we were teenage sweethearts before we were even married. This was nothing new. And I always knew it was supposed to be China, nowhere else. Every time I would see a little asian girl for the past 15 years, my heart would just melt like butter! And over the past 2 years every time I see one of those beautiful faces, my eyes fill up with tears. I can't explain it, it is just in me. However, I think the bible can explain it: For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:14-16 The adoption "gene" originated with our true Father, our heavenly Father, who adopts us into His family through the gift of His one and only Son. I mean, isn't adoption the most beautiful manifestation of God's unconditional love?? Why God chose to call us to China, I can't answer that question...I just know with every fiber in my body that China is where our daughter is!
Well, hopefully I have de-bunked some of the myths out there about adoption and maybe opened a few eyes as to why we are doing this. I know I don't really have a concrete answer as to why and why China, but when God calls you to do something, you do it!!
