I am not a complainer but to save you from trouble I will discreetly relate our story so far.

We were just about to adopt a little African American boy when the mother revealed she'd be severely abusing crack cocaine. The agency said he would need to live with a nurse. You can imagine how that felt.

Then it happened again last month. We paid $2,000 more to get started with a delightful social worker (who is still our friend) at a "Christian"* agency (which we will not name out of courtesy). The agency told us a baby was healthy, so we drove many hours away and met the birthmom. Then Troy's Dad and other Doctors studied the baby's charts, and we spent weeks investigating, to uncover that the baby was born with syphillys and about 10 other serious issues; so Blue Cross refused to cover the child (we're self-employed). (Good thing we didn't pay the several thousand MORE non-refundable dollars the agency was asking.) That agency has since tried to get another couple to pay $10,000 to adopt that baby, telling them that he was a "healthy baby".

Then the same agency told us a baby (born of a rape) was healthy when they didn't even know if he'd had an H.I.V. test or been screened for STD's or or virtually any disease. They refused to run any tests (besides 'possibly' HIV).

*Troy's editorial note: I can't comment on any individual's integrity, but it's getting clearer and clearer that the word "Christian" is a marketing buzzword in America - you just can't necessarily take it to mean "follower of Christ" anymore.

We are very happy to consider special-needs-children, we just want to know what can be known, because there are some needs we can handle better than others.

Now we're considering options, like adopting an orphan girl from China but the expenses are huge. We've signed up with Catholic Charities and are looking into taking classes to adopt through the State. There's so much more to tell. if you care or want more information. Here's a song to my future child called "You Steal My Heart Away".

Here's 300 photos from our ADOPTION PROFILE PHOTO GALLERY.