At it again...

There's clearly a couple of followers out there that regularly check this blog only to be disappointed by the fact that I'm a blogger that doesn't blog...  I know you're there, I see you in my stats.  As a reward for your faithful persistence I thought I'd let you be the second to know (we told our immediate families already, so you can't be first) that we're adopting again!!!

We put our application in the mail on November 8, we've been accepted by the agency and we're now working through the mountain of forms and files to complete our home study and get things going full-speed forward.

Anticipating that people might have a few questions (and just for posterity's sake) I thought I should take a swipe at some FAQ.  I going to do it in the form of an interview whereby I interrogate myself about this adoption.  This works good for me because I'm an engineer which is another way to say I have no interpersonal skills.  That being the case, I've spent a lot of time over my life practicing conversations before they actually happen - so this is right up my alley.  Interview of self, commence...

Q: Adopting again.  Seriously?  Why?
A: Yeah.  Why not?

Q: Touche...
A: There are kids in this world that need a home and I have one.  There are kids that need a family and we are one.  There are kids that need to experience unconditional love and we have that.  Moreover we believe the Gospel of Christ is an adoption story whereby God pulled us out of a desperate situation and gave us a home, a family and unconditional love and our response to that ought to be to do the same for others (I'm not saying all Christians are called to adopt but I am saying that we are all called to love and care for those that this world discards and despises.)  We believe adoption is the most effective way to put the Gospel of Christ on display for the world to see.  Finally, we believe that building a family is more valuable than building wealth for retirement.  So, we're adopting again.

Q: So how many more times do you plan to adopt?
A: As many times as God allows.  Some people are concerned that if they have a big family each child won't get to do all the things they might otherwise get to do if they were part of a smaller family.  For instance, each child won't get as much individualized attention from the parents, they may not get to go on as many vacations, they may not get to participate in as many sports or activities simply because there are so many children.  They feel that is unfair to the children and that's fine for them, I'm not knocking that.  But, I don't have that concern.  I feel like providing a loving home for, and satisfying the basic needs of many children outweighs the ability to spoil less children.

Q: Please just answer the questions, I don't need a speech every time.  Now, where are you going to adopt from this time?
A: Sorry...  China, again.

Q: Why China, again?
A: Why not?  We loved China and the people we met there, we're familiar with the adoption process in China, the wait time is relatively short, the price is relatively low, we thought it might be nice for Joshua to have at least one other person in the family that looks like him, I want to practice my Chinese, I could go on...

Q: Are you going to adopt a girl this time?
A: We haven't decided.  We're still praying that God leads us to the child he's picked for us.  When it's time for us to be matched we'll just see what happens.

Q: Are you going to get another child that has a "special need" (can I say that)?
A: Perhaps.  We'll almost certainly get a child on the "waiting children" list which typically means they have some medical need, a sibling, are a little older, or there's some other reason that nobody else has adopted them.  And yes, it's OK to allude to Joshua's missing hand, we're all aware that it's not there.

Q: Last time you went to China you took Lora.  Do you plan to take any of the kids this time?
A: We plan to take all the kids.

Q: You're planning to take 3 kids on an international flight, manage them in a foreign country while taking on a 4th child and then take another international flight with 4 kids, one of which speaks no english and regards you as complete strangers?  Genius...
A: It might be 5 kids, we're trying to get approved to adopt 2 in one trip.  We plan to bring an adult traveling companion to help with the kids (so save your money...).  Otherwise, yes, you pretty much hit it on the head.

Q: Back up the orphan truck.  Two kids?
A: We are trying to get approved to adopt two at once.  We might only get one.  It all depends on who's available when it's time for us to match with a child.  We wanted to have as many options as possible when it was time for that.

Q: Then you'd have more Chinese kids then American kids...
A: Actually they'll all be US citizens and more importantly they'll all be Shanks'.

Q: *insert sound of crickets chirping here*
A: It's OK.

That's that.  If you have any questions I didn't address, just let me know and I'll work it into the list.