So, why Armenia for adoption?

As you might imagine, this is a frequent question! Armenia is a country that most American know very little about. It's international adoption program is quite small and there are only a few agnecies that have Armenia programs. Additionally, the programs are quite a bit more expensive than other programs (not as high as, say, Russia, but above other Asian countries, for sure).

So, why Armenia?

When we started seriously thinking about adoption a couple of weeks ago, it seemed almost a given that we'd go to China. I'd just been there with my neighbor and had a group of friends from our travel group - so instant support. It would be such a blessing to both our neighbor's daughter and ours to have another Chinese adoptee so close by. And, boy, could we throw some humdinger Chinese New Year parties! :)

It all seemed ideal, until I learned that the wait times for the China program were getting longer and longer by the month and could end up being over 5 years for us. With my kids already being 6, 8 and 12 - I didn't want there to be such a HUGE gap between our adopted child and our biological children. So, back to the drawing board.

We began researching different Asian programs, but with the Hague Convention going into affect (some FAQs here), so many were having major issues with their programs. Some slowing way down, being put on hold or shutting down altogether. It all just seemed so uncertain. Then I stumbled on to an agency called "Hopscotch Adoptions". They only served three countries: Ukraine, Rep. of Georgia, and Armenia.

Oddly, I was reading a book The Bastard of Istanbul at that time in which the main characters are Turkish and Armenian. That made me pay attention! And when I looked at the agnecy's Armenia page, I got a little weepy and realized - this was where we needed to look.

See, the reason I picked up this book with Armenian characters in the first place was my interest in Turkish culture. Erik and I traveled there before we had children and fell in love with the people and culture. While reading this book, I discovered that while Armenia and Turkey have quite a bit of animosity toward each other, they also have a lot in common culturally (well, food and handcrafts) . The more I read about Armenian culture, the more I realized that it was a cultural heritage that we would delight in sharing with our adopted daughter.

I showed Erik the website and he felt the same way. We decided to pray about it and after just a couple of days, both felt confirmed in our decision. We know our daughter will be coming to us from her lovely birth country of Armenia.

And, so, that is the answer to "Why Armenia?"