You are all done with paper work and your home study is finished. You have a room set up for your new son or daughter. You may enter into the hurry up and wait category of adoption.

Depending on what highway you have taken into the world of adoption many small issues can arise, especially in international adoption. That is what makes this web site so cool. You can find several people who know the essentials of international adoption and you can ask questions.

If you are adopting through foster care, this goes for you too. Several of us here have adopted through foster care and can offer good ideas on adoption subjects across the board.

There are foster homes that have over a hundred children come and go before the find "the one" that makes them want to adopt. So even though you are excited, be patient and make sure you and your child fit as a family before you even suggest adoption to a child.

My husband and I sort of rushed into adoption. We had this family unit of siblings and during permanency planning, we suggested we were interested in adoption - so right off the bat our worker wanted us to be the pre-adopt placement for the kids.

Think before you say yes. We had already had our kids for a year, so we were pretty much already a family. It made sense to us to be the pre-adopt family. We loved the kids and they loved us.

Our family was so cool. The kids were out of diapers and could play out in the yard without a lot of supervision. We were pretty much a normal family. I still had some time to spare for myself. That is part of the beauty of adopting older children.

No diapers, no midnight feedings, no pumping breast milk or filling formula bottles. Lots of hugs and conversation. So what may have been right for us to begin with may not be what you are wanting now.

Adopting a baby has its own advantages. You are there to nurture them and to fill the gap. You teach them values from the moment you receive them in your arms. They do not come with so much baggage as the older children do.

You have to be a patient person with energy to handle a lot of the older children as well as the toddlers.

I assure you what ever road to adoption you are on, God will have that one person who needs you there at the right time and the right place. All it takes is a lot of love and an open mind. The rest is just life moments. Relax and don't let the wait discourage you... or dim the excitement.