A life long dream of mine....

I have always loved loved loved kids and wanted a big family. I was raised in a relatively large family and my brothers and I have a bond that I wouldnt trade for anything, a bond that I HOPE my kids develop amongst themselves. Bill was raised an only child and swore he would give any child he had siblings. After the twins were born we reached our "ideal" of having four kids and tried to say that we were done, but both Bill and I have constantly found ourselves "justifying" having another child. I dont know why though! Why is it wrong to want a big family now, when thats what we have both wanted our whole lives? We have finally come to the conclusion that we aren't done. That whether or not we get funny looks when we haul a million kids into a restaurant... we ARENT done!

After we finally realized that its okay to have more than the average amount of kids, I started really thinking about a passion of mine. I have always been fascinated by adoption. I don't know why, maybe its just thinking that so many kids don't have loving homes that they deserve. Maybe its because my Mom was adopted. Maybe it's the example of my amazing Grandma. Maybe Im just weird. I dont know but whatever the reason, I feel like it's something that I should do, something that I am SUPPOSED to do. Now being that we already have 4 healthy, beautiful, amazing kids it makes adoption a little bit harder. Adopting within the US is pretty much out for us. We would like to adopt an infant/toddler and in the states, thats nearly impossible for people who are able to have kids. Plus, I want to adopt a child that really NEEDS us. That without us he/she would not be able to grow and learn and thrive and rise to his/her potential. And being that there are waiting lists for infant/toddler aged kids in the US I think we have to go elsewhere. So I have been doing research, research and more research on various countries. There are so many places to choose from, but they all have A LOT of restrictions. The fact the Bill has been divorced before weeds out a few, the fact that we already have children weeds out a few, and the fact that I don't want to wait until I am 30-35 weeds out a few more. BUT there are also a few that we qualify for... well almost. We meet all the requirements except that I have to be 25. Im 23 so that gives us 2 years to save.....