I've enjoyed reading this thread and have to share our story. My husband and I always wanted more children - we had 1 daughter & 1 son. Years went by and neither of us thought about it until 2006. We started the process and received lots of advice - both from our church family and our own families - both favorable and unfavorable. We prayed and decided to go international because we honestly believe that it is too easy for the birth parents to return and reclaim their child from us. In my own heart, if this happened to me, I would feel like my child had died because they would no longer be a part of our family. That is my own personal opinion. Yes there are many here in America that need good homes. We worked 2 long years through the system and paperwork and were blessed with not 1 child but 3! Due to my husband's age, we were not allowed to adopt small young children. We couldn't adopt under the age of 9. That was okay with us. We just wanted children to love. We brought home a 14 year old son, his 12 year old sister and a 2nd 12 year old son who was not biologically related from the Ukraine. All had different stories and different trials. We have been blessed to have them trust us and consent to becoming our children. Our older children were very excited to have younger siblings. We have had some rough days - but no different than any 'normal' American child has. We have to a bit more patient and more tolerant due to them simply not knowing what words mean and our customs. But we laugh and cry and we are a family. God truly answered our prayers and blessed us. If you'd like more info, just pm me and we can 'chat.' As for the cost,(as I'm sure many are wondering about when I said 3!) I will say that if there had not been a family tragedy, my MIL's passing and the gift of stock, we would have had to do things a bit differently than we did financially. thanks for letting me share my story.