I’ve gotten a huge influx of cheers on this in just the past little while. I feel a bit bad in a way because this goal is just so long term it will be years before we can really even begin to act on this.

For one thing, you have to be at least 25 to adopt. I’m not quite there yet, lol. I’m only 22, and my husband is 23. Some countries, China I know for sure, you have to be 30 years old before they will allow you.

Tommy is American and I’m Canadian, so there was the immigration aspect, too. I know they say it’s easier to immigrate your spouse into Canada than to immigrate you spouse into the US, but I’m having a reallllly hard time believing it.

Yesterday we get our mail and my heart skips a beat. Then another and another. We’d gotten letters from the immigration office.

Tommy’s paperwork finally went through. We’d been accepted as “eligible” both for me to sponsor him, and for him to immigrate. There was a huge weight off my shoulders. We can now apply for a work permit for him, and shortly after than he will get his OHIP card and I won’t have to shell out $$$$ for his health insurance each month.

I’m almost done my correspondence course, and from there, we can start thinking of our other options. Do we both work for awhile? Do I work and Tommy goes to school? Do I work full time, he works part and goes to school?

But it got me thinking that maybe the reason we have had such trouble with the immigration – and we did have trouble, not just the confusing, overwhelming aspect, but there were more than our fair share of bumps in the road – is so that once we do go to adopt, we’ll be old hands at the procedures.

I was telling my thoughts to my mom and she was saying but it’s SO EXPENSIVE! It’s easier to just have your own!

I’m not really sure how we got talking about it, but I ended up taking her to Reece’s Rainbow.

Reece’s Rainbow is a website devoted to helping American families internationally adopt Down’s Syndrome children, particularly from Russia. In Russia, Down’s Syndrom children are only adoptable up until they are a few years old; after that they are “institutionalized” with no hope of ever being adopted.

My mom has always had a soft spot for Down’s Syndrome, and when I showed her the website, she said ”...you’re going to adopt a Down’s Syndrome baby?” I said “yes, if possible, we would like to.”

We spent a long time going over the website and looking at the photos, the different countries, the different options, and even the “Other Angels”: kids with other special needs, or even simply those who are over age 7, or sibling groups.

Then we went to adoption.com and compared countries regulations and restrictions. Korea appears so easy to adopt from! My husband and I originally thought of Vietnam, but for that matter, by the time we are ready to adopt, it’s anyone’s guess which countries are “open” for adopting.

So all of this is only speculation for now, but it helps to get a solid idea of our options now, rather than when we are looking for an agency to do our homestudy.

What draws me to Russia is how beautiful the names are: Larissa, Natalia, Svetlana, Tanya; Alexi, Dmetri, Nikolai, Sergei. The country is also a popular one to adopt from; I think the second most common ranking after China in first.

It was a pleasant afternoon, and my mom is excited about this now!