Adoption Confusion

This past weekend I went to Babies R Us to purchase some baby gifts for two out of the seven women I know who are having babies this fall.

I enjoy picking out baby items - I really do. When I was in Babies R Us this weekend I had an overwhelming feeling of sadness come over me. When I told my husband that it made me a little sad to be there shopping for other people and not our own baby, he said he felt the exact same way. For the most part I've gotten out of the mentality of constantly thinking, "Right now I should have a five month old baby." The idea of getting pregnant is still a fond idea to me and one that I will always hope for and wish for (maybe some day). I am baffled whenever I see a pregnant woman and see the size of her stomach...it just amazes me that a human being is inside of there. I hope to someday know what that truly feels like (yes, I was pregnant but I wasn't far enough along to be able to feel the baby).

I'm not "giving up" as some may put it but I am at peace when I say that my husband and I have decided to really amp up the adoption research and even look into getting a home study done. Ideally we would like to start the actual adoption process as soon as he gets done with his training for his new career, which will probably be in December or January. With the recommendation of a former roommate who now is the director at a pregnancy crisis center, I researched an adoption agency that is about an hour and a half from where I live. I became really excited because even though this agency is still expensive (expensive to me), it is way less expensive than a lot of the other agencies around here. This agency was looking like a true possibility and I was all ready to send in an application for the home study but I noticed this agency requires both adoptive parents to be 25 years of age. My husband won't be 25 until April. I called the agency to ask them about this and they said they won't even accept applications until both people are 25 (some agencies will go ahead and do the home study just so long as both people are 25 by the time of the adoption). I have been researching the state law for the adoptive parent age in my state but I am so confused. Many places say 25 years old but some say it just depends on the agency you work with. I am trying to find out what is Georgia's legal requirement in general. My sister knows someone who was going through the adoption process (during her adoption physical she found out she was pregnant) and she was only 23 years old at the time. So I am really confused. If, for some reason, Georgia's minumum age requirement for any type of adoption is 25 years old then we are going to be positive about it since that will give us some more time to really save up and possibly find a birth mother so we can do an independent/private adoption since those are less expensive than going through an agency.

I doubt any of this makes sense. As usual, my thoughts are jumbled up with excitement and nervousness so we will just take one step at a time. I just want to become a parent.