Originally posted May 3, 2007 on our old Vox blog.
Why Vietnam?
Scott and I get asked this question a lot, and really, there are two answers. The first answer is that we prayed through our decision and really felt God leading us towards Vietnam. While we were making our decision, there were several things we looked at when weighing the options each country presented. We looked at nine different countries – China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Ukraine, Russia, and Vietnam.
For China, you had to be at least 30 years old, so that country was automatically out. Some countries like Kazakhstan and Ukraine required a longer international trip that we thought we could manage. Others, like Russia, involved two international trips which we weren’t sure we could do. Guatemala had some adoption laws that were going to change soon, and we didn’t want to get caught in the middle of it. When the time came down to decide what we thought would make a good fit, we looked at the overall length of the adoption process, the amount of time spent in the country, and the age of the child.
We ended up picking Vietnam because it was a “short” adoption process. The first Vietnam placement took about a year, but now it will probably take a year and a half (which is just a guestimate, we’re not really sure). We did know that some countries’ adoption process took two years. Also, we thought we could handle the three week trip to Vietnam to pick up our infant. Infant was the key word in that phrase. Luckily, I now work for a preschool, and I learned that an infant is a child up to 18 months old. We think our child will be twelve months old or less. We don’t really have any guarantees, so we’ll see how everything plays out.
Another question a few have ventured to ask…
How much does it cost to adopt?
This is really a difficult question because it’s asking for private information. We don’t really feel like cost is something we should discuss. Scott came up with the best answer, “It costs enough for us to have to be serious about adopting.” Meaning it’s not something you would take on lightly.
I guess the question that follows is…
How will you pay for it?
Well, fortunately I am a teacher, and I finish teaching at 3:30 pm. I am able to work in the after school program at my school, and I am also going to teach summer school this summer. This is in addition to what we already have saved and continue to save each month. Also, there are adoption loans and grants. We have looked into this a little bit, but we haven’t made any decisions about it or what we would use.
We’re just taking things as they come. There’s not much sense in stressing over things because the process is what it is, and we have to go through all the steps. Now, I say this, but I can’t promise you that I never stress out. Scott, on the other hand, is more laid back in general, and it’s a little easier for him to handle the ambiguity than I. But we knew it would be this way, so we just take everything as it comes.