Today...

Still no news about Travel Approval (TA). I want so badly to get news that we will be traveling to bring our daughter home. It's so hard looking at her photo and wondering whether or not she is being cared for properly. I want to kiss her bald head good night and whisper in her ear how much we love her. It's truly hard to believe that this little angel in the photo belongs to us. God is good!

I think this wait really places doubt in our minds about caring for our daughter. I worry that I won't be able to shield her from all the negatives that may come her way. There are many people who don't understand why we went to China to adopt a child. We get the question constantly about why we didn't adopt domestically. The people who make these comments are just naive to the process and how adoption works. Most adoptions that take place domestically tend to be "open" adoption which means that the adoptive parents stay in touch with the birth parents. This is something that Dave and I struggled with and didn't think we wanted to be burdened with. Again, it's a personal preference. Also, you hear such horror stories about birth parents coming back and wanting their child back and I know our hearts couldn't handle that. I don't want to worry every day about whether or not the parents might come back. When you decide to adopt domestically, your picture and profile are basically put into a database with thousands and thousands of couples wanting to adopt and you hope that your profile sticks out enough that a birth parent might choose you. It's really a luck of the draw with domestic adoption. It could take just as long as Chinese adoption or longer.

With China adoption, something just spoke to our hearts about these children, especially the little girls who are abandoned because Chinese families prefer little boys. See, having a son is kind of like an insurance policy for parents in China. A son (and his wife) are responsible for taking care of their parents when they become too old to work and care for themselves. A daughter would be married off who then, along with her husband, would become the caretaker for her in-laws. So with a one child policy in most provinces of China, a boy is preferred. This of course forces families to make the choice to abandon their child if they are a girl or are physically or mentally handicapped.

Times are changing in China and China is becoming more lenient with the one-child policy and they are advocating that girl's are just has good as boys, but thousands of years of history and beliefs will take generations to change. So, in the meantime, these children need homes that will give them the love and care they deserve.

So, I am hoping that I will always have the right words and wisdom when negative comments come our way. Maybe I can educate them and turn them to adopting a child from China or any child for that matter.