When pressed further by my friend, I readily admitted that Vonne was the driving force behind our choice, and that it was quite possible we weren't done growing our family, in large part because she felt our relative wealth created such responsibility toward others.

"I think you will end up having as many children as your father did," Ngewa predicted. "Perhaps your children won't know all their uncles and aunts, there will be so many of them. I think that, if you don't stop, you will end up like my grandfather, with too many wives!"

"Amazing," I mumbled to myself, wondering exactly how many unknown relations are out there.

After all, experts estimate that many of the Chinese girls put up for international adoption are actually second daughters, borne by couples still eager for a son. This second chance is allowed under the country's so-called one-child policy, which perhaps is better described as a one-male-child policy.

If this is true, my Chinese daughter could easily have a biological sister and brother, in addition to — obviously — her two birth parents and all the relatives naturally attached to them.

Given the "blind" nature of our adoption process (infant left on a doorstep, note attached), this may seem like pointless conjecture. But fast-forward two decades, when DNA testing becomes commonplace worldwide, and my family could easily discover new members by the boatload.

In the end, our village may know no bounds.

In a world seemingly cleaved by antagonistic tribal identities, I think such extended kinship is good, and so does Ngewa, who made me promise to someday bring my family to Kenya.

"If you do," he winked, "I think we will end up as relatives!"

I'm sure we already are.

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Thomas P.M. Barnett is a distinguished strategist at the Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies and the senior managing director of Enterra Solutions LLC. Contact him at tom@thomaspmbarnett.com.