Post a picture of yourself...no not a damn mug

[darsparx]

Or is it so when people ask if there's a doctor in the audience you can proclaim, "I'm a doctor! Just not that kind"?

Now that would be a waste of money

Man I need to find my childhood photos...wonder where we put them XD

[Luke]

I love the smiley kid.

[BRIK]

My other favourite hobby besides from retro gaming: urban exploring! If you're interested in seeing more of that, there is a link to my other blog that's not about retro gaming in my signature.

[mjmjr25]

My sister recently adopted a young boy from China; you may have heard me speak of my sister and her beautiful family on the board; here they all are last week at the park:

From left to right:
Tom (dad), Ti (3, in Tom's arms), Carri (my sister), Zachary (18, just graduated HS), Rochelle (15), Risi (13), Qingqing (8), Zavier (8), Makayla (6), Zahara (5)

[darsparx]

Dang my mom would go nuts with that many kids in the house(heck me and my sister never try and drive her nuts somehow....even when we think we did or were about to do what she asked )

[Blu]

My sister recently adopted a young boy from China; you may have heard me speak of my sister and her beautiful family on the board; here they all are last week at the park:

From left to right:
Tom (dad), Ti (3, in Tom's arms), Carri (my sister), Zachary (18, just graduated HS), Rochelle (15), Risi (13), Qingqing (8), Zavier (8), Makayla (6), Zahara (5)

Beautiful family Mike. If it's information that you can pass along, how long does an actual adoption take, and what are the usual financial pieces to plan for. We want to adopt and know there's usually a certain amount of time required in the marriage before you can be considered, but it's something we're definitely exploring.

[darsparx]

From what I've heard some can take months but if you're going through say china which can take years from what I keep hearing

[mjmjr25]

tl;dr response to Blu's question:

Rochelle and Risi were adopted from Haiti - it took about 2 years start to finish including 4 trips to Haiti. I can tell you each adoption has been an experience. This particular one, the parents were in the picture, simply unable to care for all of their children. The kids spent most days in an overcrowded orphanage, but some days with their birth parents. They have multiple brothers and sisters but these were the 3 youngest. There was also a young boy, Schneider, whom they adopted for another family (really really tl;dr story; short version, they were able to adopt all 3, Schneider was moved to another family in the States as he had some history of violence toward his sisters - his flourishing now and they are all in contact and see each other)

Qingqing was born with Spinabifida and sadly, with minor surgery in her early years, could be walking (albeit, with a bit of a limp). She did have surgery once in the States, but was only moderately successful, she has control and feelign in her legs, but likely won't be able to walk, there has been too much atrophy and permanent injury to her legs - BUT, she is the absolute sweetest and happiest young lady. China is interesting - this adoption took about 20 months, though really it could have been 14 months or so. The Chinese really look at this as a way to milk the process - they see "rich Americans" as tourist targets, so multiple fees and then "delays" and then need you to come over for a week, then there is a paperwork error, you'll need to stay a month, or come back in a month (hotels, food, etc).

They next adopted Makayla, a crack-addicted baby in a foster home. This process took only about 10 months and she is a million miles from where she was when they adopted her 4 years ago, she is happy, healthy, smart and full of energy.

Next was Zahara and this was unplanned, I don't recall if they were contacted, but I think they were and it was a similar situation to Makayla, they had her in the house about 4 months after being notified of her situation.

Ti was super fast - once the paperwork and "vetting" are done in China, the process is much faster, it was less than a year and 2 total trips, one to visit and do paperwork, one to pick up.

Zachary and Zavier are natural birth (ie, no adoption).

I'm happy to put you in touch with any of their contacts, hit me up w/pm if interested.

[Forlorn Drifter]

Whew, that's a big family.

One of the guys I used to hang out with had some cousins who had a large family of adopted children, all of whom were from China, and after the first one or two they didn't have much trouble adopting really. The first one took around a year or so, and I think the second was around 6 months. After that, they got most of them within 2 or 3 months.

[s1mplehumar]

The new kid on the block.