[ocracoke]

Makarios,

Just took a quick glance at your blog. I will always encourage people to adopt from Ethiopia. I loved adopting from there and would love to return. I am not yet ready to adopt again but if I can I will. I am also single so I worry about the possibility that they will close to singles. Some agencies have already made the decision to no longer (temporarily or permanently) not accept single applications. I think we will have a better idea on the status of singles once their courts open again in a few weeks.

As you are aware some agencies allow you to pick gender and otheres don't. Some that generally don't might be open to you selecting because you already have 2 boys at home. I know that you are concerned about attachment issues - and they do happen in Ethiopia as well. My daughter was 21 months and it took about 2.3 seconds for her to attach to me -- just kidding, it was more like 48 hours. I am not a baby person so I would never ask for an infant however, here is food for thought. If you ask for an infant you are basically getting a blank slate with very little information. I know several people who adopting children with developmental or medical issues that were previously undetected. They were sometimes undetected because of the young age of the children. On the other hand my daughter had passed some significant milestones in her life and therefore there was more information as to where there might be some issues present (none). She was old enough to walk -- so was she? She was old enough to talk -- so was she? She was underweight. Was she attaching to her care givers? Just something to think about.

Samantha