If you had to do it again, what would you do?

My wife and I are just researching and researching, trying to find out what people have done to have the most luck/least hassle. We live in Northern California (Monterey). Hindsight being 20/20, if you are an adoptive parent (of a newborn - as that's what we want) and you were going to go through the process again, how would you do it? Everything through one agency? Homestudy with one person and facilitation with someone else? Would you stay in state or out of state? Thanks for letting us know, and if you need to send a private message about who you worked with then please do so. :-)