To take the children or leave the children, that seems to be the question! Quite frankly, it seems to be a question to many but ourselves. Adoption is costly. The travel is costly. Being fortunate enough to take Colin, Pryce and Mason-Kate to meet their baby sister in China will be priceless. Colin and Pryce were 5 and 8 years old during our first trip to China. They each kept a journal of their experiences that they will one day be able to share with MK, experiences in China, her birth country, through the eyes of her then 5 and 8 year old siblings. Too, they each were given a camera and they each took pictures of the sites in China, again, as seen through the eyes of a 5 and 8 year old. Every single night as I lay in bed with MK, she now asks, "Can you tell me again a story about me when I was a baby in China?" The only "stories" I have of her time in China to tell are those that include all of us, her family. She knows we were all there, we all welcomed her into our family at the same exact time. It was a life changing moment for all of us. She will say, "I love that you got on dat plane to come get me with my boys and my daddy. I so happy you did dat." How can we deny that same story to our next child? How can we deny our children the opportunity once again to experience the joy of welcoming their baby sister into our lives - all of us together, our family - especially when our tender hearted little guy states to us that he wants to be the first one to hold her? Simply put, we can't. We are building our family. The children have been lugged all over our town and state to get this document certified or this document mailed. They have celebrated every step of the way, every minor detail as well as every major one. They have run eagerly to the mailbox daily to see if another letter has arrived or to see if we have received an approval. They have set up selling booths all summer, not at our suggestion, and sold their toys to make money for this adoption. It is like when I was pregnant with the boys. Ryan went with me to EVERY appointment and heard every detail along the way. Our children have done just that during our adoption. They could probably recite the entire process in their sleep - they are part of this process, the building of our family. That is the emotional side. The realistic side is quite clear, we do not have anyone to take care of all three of them, together, under one roof, for 2 1/2 weeks or more. Most people work. Most children go to school or daycare. Ours do not. They are with us, for the most part, 24/7 and would require just that, 24/7 care. Could we make it work? Yes, if we absolutely had to but at what expense? And logically, the travel costs for taking the three of them are really quite minimal in comparison to our adoption costs as a whole. We understand that all families and all situations are different. Ours is no exception. It is important to us, all of us, that we be together in China when our daughter, our baby sister, is welcomed into our family.