Narrowing it down

After e-mailing, calling, e-mailing, e-mailing some more, researching, creating tables to keep track of information, more e-mails, more calls.... well we have found that our lives are looking like a bad version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears...

Too long of wait.

Too expensive.

Too long to travel.

Program not stable enough.

Will not allow gender selection.

Will not work with out-of-state couples.

Florida residents only.

Massachusetts residents only.

Too many children in family.

Only boys available.

Infants not available.

Program opening soon.

Program closing soon.

We were beginning to think the porridge was too hot or too cold, but nothing was just right! We had four criteria we were looking for: 1) Work in our state 2) Be able to select a female 3) Be able to qualify for a healthy infant (0-12 months) and 4) Be able to complete adoption in about a two year time frame. I had no idea how difficult that would be! We just kept praying that God would direct us to the country where He wanted us to be.

After 4 weeks of e-mails and phone calls, we finally had narrowed it down to either Taiwan or Korea and had found a few agencies that would work with us.

We started sending in preliminary forms, filling out adoption questionaires and looking for local agencies that would conduct our homestudy. Initially we thought God was leading us to Taiwan since we had found two agencies that looked very promising. However, within the last week one agency told us we didn't meet all of their criteria and the other agency is not accepting new applicants for 6-8 months. Although we were disappointed, it is just a minor setback. God has closed the doors to Taiwan and we trust He will open them to another country.