San Antonio, Milwaukee, and somewhere in between: adoption...

In June of 2008 John and I officially decided it was time! We researched adoption agencies and picked America World. The most important factor was that they were a Christian agency, but when I called for some information, I knew they were the ones we would trust this journey to. I like to say that we picked Ethiopia because Ethiopia picked us. There are many qualifications that each country states that adoptive parents must meet. We met all of the criteria for Ethiopia and were excited when we decided on the country. We applied to America World in June and waited to hear something. We got the call we had been accepted in July while we were in San Antonio, Texas for the International Youth Convention of the Church of God with all of our senior high kids. Since John and I had decided not to tell anyone of our plan to adopt, we celebrated quietly by enjoying breakfast together in the hotel one morning before all the kids got up. The rest of the trip I spent slipping out to make phone calls here and there to continue the process, hoping no one noticed I was on the phone quite a lot...