Let's Recap

Okay. Now that I've had a night of sleep and I have my coffee in hand and the children are playing, I'll share our story.

When Azerbaijan fell apart, we jumped into the domestic program because we wanted to remain with Carolina Hope. They are a small (but wonderful!) agency and don't have many 2nd choice options for us.

As you know, our homestudy caseworker asked to meet with us and convinced us of the wisdom of stepping back and re-looking at all our options- outside of Carolina Hope- to find the best fit for our family.

We did that and our search led us to Bulgaria! Children there reside in orphanages and the youngest available are typically 12 months old. We don't have to wait until I'm 30. We can request a girl. And Bulgaria requires 2 short trips- similar to Azerbaijan. The first trip is up to 7 days. That generally takes place early in the process for adoptive applicants to meet their child, meet orphanage staff, the officials, Holt's partner agency, and to sign papers for legal initiation of our case. The second trip is scheduled 3-4 months later, and may last up to 10 days. They predict our journey to take 12 to 18 months from when we submit our dossier to when we bring our daughter home.

After we settled on Bulgaria, then we had to select an agency. After researching about 10 different agencies, we settled on Holt International. They are the original adoption agency in America and they created the training seminars we have gone through. They are a Christian agency too.

Well I hear a mess being created. So, I'm going to jet. Thanks for staying tuned in as we get this bandwagon going again!