So, why Haiti

for my second and third adoptions.

It was about this time last year that I started really getting serious about a sibling for Tuks. I knew, always knew, that I did not want her to grow up being an only child. We have a wonderful relationship and quite honestly I could go on like this forever, but she won't stay young forever and I won't be alive forever. Considering the loss of my parents, and how I leaned on my siblings, I just knew I wanted that to be available for Tuks as well.

I didn't consider Guatemala the second time for many reasons, but of course the most pressing was that the laws were going to change and I didn't think it would still be open for adoptions when I thought I could afford the adoption of another child from Guatemala.
It has proven to be correct thinking because we all know the changes in effect.

So then my second leading country was Ethiopia. I really liked the idea of traveling there again and seeing more of the countryside this time. There is such a need with the children. I could bring home another healthy baby. The process wasn't very long and it is affordable. BUT the thing I didn't like about it was the travel time and cost of travel. You see, it is my goal to bring my children back to their birth countries at least twice, if not more, before they graduate from high school. I knew it was easily possible for Tuks returning to Guatemala many times, but I didn't think I would be able to afford several trips to Ethiopia for a family of 3 or 4. So that meant it wouldn't be fair for the kids in how many times we went back to their birth countries. Fairness was the big tipping scale for me.

I started looking at Haiti. Geographically it is around the same latitude as Guatemala, just located more east. Again there is such a need for children to find permanent homes. I could do the process independently instead of using an agency. The process was affordable for me sooner rather than later, and since I was/am no spring chicken I again wanted to start sooner rather than later. I had made the decision that I didn't mind that the children would be older when they came home, because it would make things financially easier on me by not having two kids in day care for many years. Plus, I enjoy older kids as much as babies, but it would require me to get educated on older child adoption adjustments and issues.

At the time I started the process, it was quoted that total length of time was 9 - 12 months by the time the children come home. It is not so any more, but I am mostly OK with it. I keep telling myself that I can relax and enjoy more alone time with Tuki before she has to learn to share me.

The adoption wait for Panda and Cheetah has also allowed a perfect platform for Tuki and I to talk adoption. We talk about her sisters in Haiti, and also about how she was born in Guatemala and adopted into our family as well.

Maybe I was led to Haiti as much as I was led to Guatemala, I don't really know. What I do know is that once I had found my children, then I fell in love with the country, its culture, and its people.