Dirty Little Secret

I haven't posted in awhile because I felt like I was harboring a dirty little secret. For the last 3 weeks we have been researching and then applying to a new agency. This was a decision we did not make easily. We really liked the agency we were with. They were prompt and impeccably organized. I never waited more than a few hours for answers to my emails. The problem is that there has just been a total lack of referrals. We were just too far down the list, and since we hadn't submitted our dossier it was now or never.

For those of you that may be reading my blog that have been posting about the ethics of adoption, we are listening. We didn't choose an agency promising young, quick referrals. In fact our new agency isn't making any promises. The reason we chose them is that they are a very established agency who was just licensed in Vietnam. The line is short but the ride may be very bumpy. I have confidence in them because they have started programs in countries that weren't open to international adoption at the time. They have many years of experience in international adoption just not with Vietnam.

The biggest change for us is that the new agency doesn't allow us to choose gender. This took a little bit of soul searching for me. Mostly I think because for the past 3 months I have planned on adopting a little girl. I have been thinking about little girl clothes and a little girl nursery. I am already starting to look at little boy clothes. The designers are doing a much better job of making cute boy clothes. The harder part is that I really can't buy anything. I figure if I find something dirt cheap I will buy it and then if we end up with the other gender I will donate the item to the orphanage.

The other change with our new agency is they will allow us to adopt 2 at a time. From the beginning we wanted to adopt twins so we had our home study and i-600 done for 2. It is not guaranteed that we will bring 2 children home, but we are excited that there is a possibility.

We hope we made the right decision. It is like standing in one line at the grocery store, the clerk is very well trained but she is having problems with the computer which is slowing up the line. They decide to open another lane but the checker there is unfamiliar with the system. She used to work at another grocery store so she has experience just not here. The line is a lot shorter. If the computer starts working in the first line that line it could go faster but the computer is unpredictable. Which line do you choose?