On my mind

As I was thinking about what I should write, I realized that what I've been obsessing about these days is adopting again.  Yes, I know I have nine children.  But I still feel as though someone may be missing. It is a kind of yearning that feels much the same as what I felt before we began TM and K.'s adoptions.   And there is always room for one more, isn't there?  Heck, I still have four empty seats in my van.

But, seriously, this has to be a God-thing from the beginning.  There are so many hurdles, I can't even begin to imagine how it would all work out.  Shall I list them for you?

• Our family size.  We do not qualify for many types of adoption.  In Illinois we have exceeded even the expanded capacity limit for a foster care license.  And without that license, we cannot adopt out of foster care; cannot have a birth mother choose our family to place her child, even if that child has special needs and could be difficult to place; cannot adopt out of disruption, even if the placing family were to choose us; and cannot adopt from a country where the adoption is either not final or the child comes home on the wrong visa.   I have contacted many agencies and every one of them has confirmed it:  The state of Illinois would rather have children in temporary foster care placements than consider a large family for permanent placement.
• Finances.  This leaves us with very few options.  We would need to adopt from a country which allows large families to adopt and makes the adoption final in country, thus allowing the child to come home on the correct visa.  From what my research tells me this leaves us with two choices:  China and Ethiopia.  China has been granting waivers for family size if the child being adopted is either older or difficult to place due to  health issues.  But, we still run into not qualifying under their income requirements.  I haven't heard of both income and family size requirements being waived in the same adoption.  This leaves us with Ethiopia.  ('Leaves' is probably an unfortunate choice of verbs.  It implies that I see it as a second-best choice, which is not my intent.  At all.)  With Ethiopia, we would be required to make two trips.  That's a lot of plane tickets.  Plus, I just don't know what we would do for childcare arrangements while we were gone.  Though that worry is putting the cart before the horse a bit.

So there you have it.  Only God can overcome a list like this. 
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On a vastly unrelated note.  I have one of my posts listed in this week's Homeschool Showcase at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.