On July 18th, my wife and I (and my mom) are off to Guangzhou, China (via Hong Kong) to adopt our daughter!
We were matched in late February and recently received our formal travel approval. Our daughter is 15 months old (which means she is a little dragon, being born in 2012) and by all accounts is quite a handful. She is walking and babbling and loves toys that make noise (great! ).
This was a very fast process. It only took 12 months to complete and she will be home in 14 months. Based on past history, adopting from China normally takes much longer. So, we really feel blessed.
This is going to be one hell of an adventure, but I have to admit, I am not looking forward to the 14+ hour flight back to NJ. Not sure how our daughter will enjoy the ride!
Although I think I may already know the answer, I would like your input as I was just having a discussion about American adoption with a few friends. Why did you adopt from China versus the U.S.? Was it a preference or was it something to do with the American adoption process? Not looking to start some kind of debate here with others so if you'd rather NB me than discuss it here then do so, I'd love to hear what your experience was and if you and your wife tried the American route, etc.
-Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings