Why South Korea?

We have been asked lots of questions so far and one of the biggest is, "Why South Korea?" I thought I would answer that for you all as well as other questions you might have about our adoption...

Basically, we chose Korea because it was the right program for us at this time in our lives. One of the things we looked for after we decided on international adoption (a process in itself), was if we met the requirements for the program. Some people believe that you can just choose the age you want and the country you want, but it is a lot more complicated than that. Each international program and each adoption agency, for that matter, have their own restrictions for those that consider adoption from their country. Some are reasonable and some are peculiar. Korea required that you be married for more than 3 years, age 25-45, no more than four kids, minimum income of $30,000, and not weigh more than 30% of what is considered normal body weight for your respective heights (that would be one of the peculiar ones). There are some others pertaining to health records and such, but those are the basics. Overall, we felt that Korea offered numerous benefits compared to other programs...

• Korea is one of the oldest if not the oldest and most well known international adoption programs out there.

• Korea offers healthy infants from 9-12 months. We definitely wanted an infant (child under 1) which eliminated many international programs.

• Another big reason we chose Korea was because the children are raised in warm, loving homes through foster care and not in orphanages.

• They also have excellent medical care, equivalent to United States, and they have extensive medical records of the birth mother and often the birth father.

• Other countries require you to travel to their country at least one time if not two times and for several weeks at a time! Korea only requires a 4-7 day trip that they encourage, but also have the escort option where they can bring the child to you (depending on your agency). As of right now we are choosing the escort option.

• And lastly their time frame and paper work are very reasonable compared to many of the other countries.

What We Can Expect...

• We will probably get a boy (90% chance), but sometimes, every once in a while, someone gets a girl. We would be happy with either. ;) Most are boys because infants are available for domestic adoption in Korea until they are 4 months old, and most Koreans choose a girl.

• Like I said before, Korea currently offers healthy infants ages ranging about 9-12 months. So we can expect a child in that age range once they are home. (BTW, that means someone is most likely pregnant with our baby right now!!!)

• The whole process will take us about a year and a half. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. We hope for the latter! ;) Once we get our home study submitted, there is a 6 to 9 month wait until our referral (our matched child and information) and then once we accept our referral there is another 3 to 4 month wait until they are available to come home!

• Cost of Korea is about mid range for international adoptions. This is where our faith really steps in! The total cost for us is going to be around $30,000! Although that is about $30,000 more than we have, we have heard story after story of how God has provided for adoptive families and met their every need!

We truly feel called by God in this direction and know that He able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21), so we decided to step out in faith! We are so excited to see God work through us and for us and pray that He receives all glory throughout this whole process! We strive to follow God's leading no matter how hard it gets, and once our baby is home, we will finally have the honor to raise our child, dedicating him/her to know and love our Lord, as we always dreamed. We look forward to sharing our journey with you all!