We have moved into a new phase in our family. Our application has just been accepted by Dillon International to adopt through their new pilot program in Ghana, West Africa. I for one feel like I am going home. I understand international adoption. There are so many aspects of it that resonate with me. The quality of private organizations is one of them. I respect the contribution we can make to a child of another culture, and I appreciate how celebrating another culture enhances our family. As to be expected in international adoption it will be a long, expensive, and paper heavy process, and we are bracing ourselves for all of it. But we have been there before and we made it through, with great success. We will actually be working with the same social worker we worked with to adopt Arin. She remembers us, and is excited to work with us, too. Wow, such a night and day difference from what we dealt with over the last two years.

I will keep you posted on our slow steady progress and I look forward to introducing you to our new children or child two or three years from now.

In the meantime. I am passing on the opportunity for you to contribute to our adoption if you choose. We would welcome positive thoughts or more concrete things like money. If you drink coffee I have started a store at www.justlovecoffee.com/spieringfamily. Anything you buy from this store will contribute to our adoption. All of the coffee is fair trade and some of it is organic. They also offer decaf and espresso, so please take a look, or pass the web address along to anyone you know who may enjoy some fresh coffee.