Five W's

It is said that every good journalistic piece should address the five "W's": Who, What, Where, When, and Why. Realizing I haven't explained much of the thought process behind our adoption, I'll attempt to apply the same framework to our answer:

Who: Our current family of three: Craig, myself - Judy, and Andrew, who just turned 4 years-old a few weeks ago

What: Adopting a male or female infant (Craig votes for a girl, I lean towards a boy, but we'd be thrilled with either)

Where: From Taiwan. Our agency, FFC, works with two orphanages, one in Taipei, the other in Tainan, in the south of Taiwan

When: We started the process in January and have been on the waiting list for approximately 4 months now. We were told by FFC that it would take about 3-6 months from the time we got on the waiting list to receive our referral (a.k.a., getting matched to a child). Given that, we could receive our referral any day now or in a few months. After that point, it would take 4-6 more months for the adoption to be finalized in the Taiwanese courts and for us to then travel to pick up the child. We're thinking our "Gotcha Day" would probably be sometime in the early spring of 2008.

Why: We're still trying to figure out a good, pat answer for anyone who asks us this question. If, like us, you're a Christian who believes God has a specific will for every person, then the answer would be "because we're convinced this is what God has planned for our family." If this logic sounds kooky to you, then I might also add, "because for some inexplicable reason, after seriously pondering the question for over a year and a half, our hearts feel more drawn toward adopting than trying to conceive another biological child." And you know what? At the end of of the day, both A and B are true.