Why adopt?

This is Jen again. We had a really nice weekend. We spent Saturday at a family Christmas and saw my Grandma and many of my aunts and uncles and cousins. I think there were 8 or 9 of my mom's 12 siblings there, which is a pretty decent turnout. We spoke to several people about the adoption. I do have a hard time bringing it up - 'hi, how are you? good here, by the way, we are adopting.' For some reason, I feel weird saying it. My sister Sarah is pregnant (due June 6th, I think) and she said she kind of feels the same way.

The questions we of course get from many people - family and friends - is why did we decide to adopt and why did we choose Ethiopia. Those are really big questions and I figured I would try to give some answers here. But, I will say that it is hard for me to verbalize my answers, so writing them down will probably be less descriptive and informative.

Why did we decide to adopt?
Gary and I have talked about adopting for several years, and probably in the beginning, I didn't necessarily know that we would actually make the decision to do it.
Gary's youngest sister, Kara, is adopted. So, to begin with the concept is not foreign to us. Gary also has an aunt and uncle that have provided foster care and adopted several children. I have had a couple friends, Debra and Ann, from work who have adopted in the last couple years and then Gary's brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and April adopted Emma from China last year. As this all happened, we talked more and more about it. Early last summer (2006), we talked and Gary said, here are our 3 choices: no more kids, get pregnant, or adopt. I knew I wanted another child - so it was either to have one or adopt one. I also knew I would probably be done after number 4, so I thought this is our last chance to adopt - if that is what we want. And it just was.
So, it is kind of an easy answer, but not really.

How did we choose Ethiopia?
It just felt right. This may sound like a strange answer. I remember reading other people say that on the forums or in the chat rooms and thought it sounded fake or weird. But, it is true. For Gary too, it just feels right.
But, to give the long answer: we started researching adoption: adoption agencies, adoption options, and places we could adopt from. We looked past the United States because we knew we wanted a baby or at least a child younger than Annalise. Private adoption - we feel like - is for couples who are unable to conceive a baby. (I do not mean to offend and I cannot speak for others, so if I am off-base, please don't hold it against me.) Then the other option is children through foster care. I think being able to help these children would be a wonderful thing to do, but again - we wanted a baby. From what I see and understand, foster care has more older children that need homes. Babies would be accepted quickly in most cases, and I don't think there is an extreme need for people to adopt babies in the US.
So, we looked into international adoption. When you look at the different countries, they all have different criteria - things like years of marriage, number of children in the home currently, age of parents, income. Then they also have differences in the children that can be adopted - ages and sex - as well as waiting time. So taking many of these into consideration, led us to Ethiopia, as well as a few other countries. And from there Gary and I talked about what we wanted to do and ended up at Ethiopia.

Another question that we don't get asked quite as often, but I think is also important, is how we chose our adoption agency.
This was actually our toughest decision. We talked to the people we knew who had adopted. We went to an informational meeting at a local agency. We really like this agency, but they do not work with Ethiopia. We then spoke to another agency on the phone many times, and though we felt comfortable with them, we weren't so happy that they were in Washington. We ended up at Children's Home Society and Family Services. This agency is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. There is also an office in a town a couple hours away. They aren't quite local, but close enough that we can attend some events. We have had a great experience so far. Angela is our case worker and works in the CR office. She has been really great to work with. I think we have learned a lot from her.

So, there are some answers for the curious. And I am sure many of you are. I would be.
I can't tell you how excited we are, though I do have to admit, whether good or bad, we do not think about it every second of the day. The process has went quicker than we expected to this point - probably because it has been a super busy time of year for me at work and then once I get home, it feels like we are always busy. I am really looking forward to some calmer time in January and February where I can really spend some time keeping up with the forums and so I can finish some of my reading. I am in the middle of 2 books about adoption - one on Ethiopia specifically called, There is No Me without You.

Not sure I am supposed to say good bye at the end of these posts. But, I will. I need to go wrap some Christmas presents. So, goodbye!