Rick Palmer asked: "Any dads out there who have been through this? What are the pros and cons of adopting local vs abroad? What should I expect for cost, time frame, and process?

Has it been a good experience for you, and would you do it again if you were able to do so financially?"

We adopted from Russia and the whole process from start to finish cost about $35,000. We actually only paid about $4000. There are lots of grants available to offset the costs and so many people who want to help. It is actually quite amazing how God provides for people who choose to adopt as a way of responding to God's charge to take care of the widows and the orphans.

Pros and cons? Adopting a child is no different than having you own-you instantly fall in love with them. This is probably more so with an infant. We adopted a 14 year old girl from Russia. Not many people are willing to do that because children that old already have formed oppinions and established behaviors. That can be a challenge when they collied with ours. We have really learned to trust God to address the differences and He has with many of them. She's only been with us for a year. I hope to have a great testimony three years from now when she is 18.

Would I adopt again? If we did, I'm certain that raising the funds for the actual adoption would not be problem. It's whether on not our current income and lifestyle could support another child. We would definitely have to down size but we already did for this adoption by moving from Sherwood to Newberg. I don't think it would be very practical to move further away from the Church I pastor at and the margin of reduction available to us in Newberg is very slight. This is the logical side of me speaking. God could easily address all these concerns. If he did, I would certainly consider it. My wife is already there.

I have gone through the adoption process twice. We adopted my first daughter independently -- meaning we found her birth mother - we found an attorney -- we took he to all her doctors appointments -- we were in the delivery room when she was born. Total cost was in the $10,000 range. Our second daughter was adopted through an agency in Tulsa Oklahoma. Total cost was $22,000 plus our travel and living expense while in Tulsa. I was making $42,000 a year when we adopted our first daughter and $60,000 when we adopted our second. So the adoption costs were 25% of my annual salary. That happened after we spent thousands and thousands on infertility treatments. How did we come up wit the money? Looking back I'm not really sure -- only that God provided when we needed it. We scraped it together on our own -- put some on credit cards and just made it happen. We didn't get cash from anyone -- we did it on our own.

Money shouldn't be the deciding factor. The riches given back by having my daughters in my life is unmeasureable. Both are extremely strong Christians with a vibrant faith in Christ. Both are beautiful young women and both are special in their own ways.

Adoption can be trying and stressful. In our second adoption process we had 7 failed adoptions -- meaning that we had met the birth mother and agreed to move forward with them. We also had a "birth mother" who wasn't even pregnant and who was asking for money from several families. Just like you see on TV news shows.

Don't question your ability to afford adopting a child -- put the finances in God's hands and it will come together. Enrich a child's life and you'l receive a return in the million+ percent range.

My wife and I have been talking about doing the same thing. I got the snip-snip after our second, and it's something we've both regretted since it happened. My wife is 38 now, and with the increased risks that go along with childbirth at that age, we're looking at adopting ourselves. Focus on the Family has been talking about adoption all week. I know their web site has some info on adopting, so I'll be checking that out.

I'm also curious to see what costs are, because I know we don't have an extra $10,000 or $20,000 dollars laying around right now.