Yesterday I went to a local International Adoption Meeting and came to the conclusion that obviously I have done a ton of research and knew most things that were told which I must admit made me feel good that my research really is paying off.

Things that I learned/some that I knew
-Hong Kong only does special needs kids
-top 2 countries are China and Russia
-China has a 4 year waiting period. Why? They only allow one child per family member and do not have enough workers there to get the paperwork completed
-some countries require a long time to travel (Kazakhstan-6 to 7 wks, Ukraine-7 to 8 wks, Colombia-6 to 8 wks)
-Soouth Korea has only 5 states in the US that will allow you to adopt a healthy, normal child, the other 45 states have to adopt a child with special needs
-Haiti likes to adopt only Christian families but require parents to be 30 yrs and will not budge on it
-most countries have very limited info about the child and birthparents and you have to accept it.

Process for International Adoption...could be a little different through different agencies
1) Information Meeting
2) Pre-Application
3) Formal contract & Application
4) Immigration Process
5)Home Study (2-3 mths)
6) Dossier
7) Referral
8) Travel
9)Post-Placement Reports (Russia requires 5 visits over a 2 year period)
10) Citizenship

went in for my progesterone test this morning and should know something by this afternoon sometime...
-adoptions arent final until 6 mths after you return home (could be different in other states)
-most countries will not allow you to adopt another child without a year between the kids