Kid Shoppin'

We like to look through AdoptUSKids.org at different sibling group profiles to see who draws our interest. There are some that we get a little attached to (the idea of), but then disappear. We know that the process will take several more months, and who knows who will be available at that time, but I think it's important to look and practice a sort of "empathy for strangers"... I need to know that I can feel attachment for kids that originated in another family, mostly because I'm usually not very good at the whole empathy thing. My brother once told me he thought I had borderline Asperger's because I'm so inwardly focused most of the time.

Anyway, there's a new crop of kids up, and we're flipping through them. Some are interesting for various reasons:

Nicholas, Jacob, and Kayla would be kind of funny because my cousin's kids are Kayla, Dustin, and Nicholas.

Ashley, Billy, and Aaron all state a preference for a family in the country, as well as horses. We live next to a horse farm.

Ethan and Athena have interesting variations of one another's names. I've always been interested in unusual names, and Athena certainly fits that description. Athena is also strikingly beautiful, even at 11, which already gives me nightmares about when she reaches dating age.

("Come with me, son... let me show you my gun collection. Have I mentioned how precious my daughter is to me?")

I'm also interested because for some reason I find boys who want to be Marines or other soldiers intriguing. I'm not really excited about the prospect of sending a kid off to the military, but if that's what they really want to do I certainly would support them. And my dad and uncle were both servicemen (Marines and Air Force, respectively), so it feels like there's some synergy there.

Brittany and Mark are intriguing because, well, just look at them. These two know how to have fun.

Harley, Sierra, and Phillip are apparently being placed seperately for some reason. My first instinct is to want to ask if there's some problem with taking all three. Also, a girl named Harley and another named Sierra? That just tickles my brain in the place that likes unusual names.

Argh... now I need to go do something else for awhile. Getting all misty-eyed over kids is never good for my state of mind in front of the compiler.