We've been asked that many times now.  How did we decide on China as the place to adopt a child?  I always find it difficult to really put into a brief response something that has grown deeply in our hearts through numerous circumstances over the past few years.   The simplest and truest answer I can give is that this is what we feel is right for our family.

We always knew we wanted to be parents to at least two children (Mike would tell you the number is much higher!!). Our greatest joys in life center around being parents and we really wanted Ashlyn to have a sibling.  After many hurdles, we came to accept that another biological child may not be what God has planned for our family.

We researched domestic adoption and there seemed to be many obstacles.  Infants are available, but typically involve several years of waiting, considerable expense, a process wherein adopting parents must advertise themselves and "compete" for the birth mother's selection of them prior to birth, and substantial risk of the birth mother changing her mind at the last minute after considerable expense of time, money and emotions.  Most adoptions in the U.S. are open adoptions, which means you and the birth mother agree to some form of future contact, which might range from visitation to periodic updates.  We had not only OUR feelings, emotions and future to consider, but Ashlyn's as well.  Domestic adoption just wasn't the right fit for our family.

Other countries which have children available for adoption seemed to have more attachment, growth and development issues and required longer in-country stays, more than one trip abroad and more expense both financially and emotionally.