Why Korea?

We began the research phase in late May, early June. This is such a tedious and time consuming phase of the adoption process, but really needs to be done thoroughly. During this phase you have to decide what country you want to adopt from and what agency you will use. We knew we wanted to adopt from Asia since we have been several times and have grown to love the people and culture. We have only been to China and Thailand, so these were naturally our first choices. Each country has qualifications (age, length of marriage, age of children, income, etc) and we quickly learned that we didn't qualify for many countries. We are not old enough yet to adopt from China and the process is so long in Thailand, and the children are usually at least 2 before coming home, that we would have to wait a really long time because of Grayson's age. So, we eliminated Thailand. As we began calling agencies to get information on different countries, we were told there weren't any options for us except for Korea. We had not really even looked at Korea because it is the most expensive country to adopt from in Asia. But because of our age, Grayson's age, and the timeline we were looking at, Korea became our only option.

We definitely were not opposed to this, just wondering if  God was closing all the doors at this time and telling us to wait a few more years or if He was just making our decision really simple by narrowing it down to one country for us. And why does this one country have to be so expensive? We realized that God might have just designed this option for us to increase our faith because we know there will be NO way we can afford this on our own. We have seen Him provide in BIG ways for us in the past, so we know He is capable of doing it again in an even BIGGER way. We didn't want finances (or the lack of) to be the one thing that held us back from an extraordinary blessing, so we decided Korea was it. Grayson's babysitter, since he was 10 weeks old, is a lady from Korea that we just love. Coincidence or God-designed? So, with little hesitation we decided to go for it.

With the country decided, picking our agency was a pretty easy decision. We had it narrowed down to 3 and called each one to talk to someone. We were most impressed with Holt, Int and all that they have to offer after the child is home (summer camps, family picnics, heritage tours, etc). They also have a local office and someone in town for us to talk to. So, we will be able to complete the entire process with them. We went to an informational meeting and were thoroughly impressed. They have been working with Korea for many years and have a great relationship. The process with Korea seems like it will go very smoothly because of this.

So, after two months of researching, making graphs, comparing countries, calling agencies, praying, and talking with our families, we decided we were ready to move forward. A decision like this is pretty scary, but  FAITH UNCHALLENGED IS FAITH UNCHANGED.