November is National Adoption Month. Adoption Sunday was a few weeks back. Tomorrow will be National Tomato Day (ok, I made that one up....). Our calendars are chock full of days and months that have been earmarked for some event or cause. The day or month comes, gets a bunch of hoorah and then goes back into the calendar closet to collect dust until the day or month comes back around.
My question to each and all of us is what will you really do with that event or cause. Obviously in the case of our family, adoption is something near to our hearts. It is much more than an event, cause, or date on a calendar. It's our daughter and son. It's two kids that had no hope of a real life or future, if they made it that far alive. It's a beautiful daughter who would have by now probably have been forced into horrible life choices by predatory people or lack of any other options, or dead. It's a wonderful son who would continue to ride out the orphanage ride until he aged out, and ended up in prison, or dead.
To us it is very real and personal. It was not just something to fight and sacrifice for, it was SOMEONE to fight and sacrifice for. The question for all is what will you do. To what extent would you fight and sacrifice to protect and save your own children. To what extent would you fight and sacrifice to protect and save a child that you would have to choose to make your own.
Adoption isn't the easiest road which is always baffling to me. There are millions of children literally dying to have a family. The process and cost of adoption makes it really, really hard to get it done. For any of us who already had children prior to adoption we know we would do anything for them. We would kill to protect them and die to save them. We would sacrifice any personal want or need to provide for them. There are literally millions of orphans out there who need someone to save their life. Let's go get them.
Welcome to our blog! We are so excited that you would take the time to follow our adoption journey! Thanks for coming along for the ride as our adoption of Kayleigh and Michael was completed in May 2012 and as we embrace our new world of parenting five teenagers!
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Orphan Sunday
Today is Orphan Sunday in churches across America where they will highlight the need to rescue orphans, and to celebrate the ones that have been rescued. In our circles it has been truly wonderful to see so many children be brought into homes and families and to have the opportunity to have a family, be loved, and have a future :)
To be totally honest, I'm not the biggest fan of making a scene over our two adopted kids. We have generally skipped these days at church. It's not that I don't support celebrating all the kids who have been adopted, or support the cause of adoption (obviously, we do....). I just don't want them to feel like they are something other than us, or different, or like they were a project or something. I hope that makes sense. To me, they are just my kids. I had 3 kids. Now I have 5 kids. Not 3 kids plus to adopted. Just 5 kids :)
When we adopted Kayleigh and Michael, I know I made the decision to just have them be my kids. In the words of Gary Smalley, love is a decision. I decided to just love them as my kids, even though I had not been their parent for the first 15 and 13 years of their lives. To just accept and love them, to treat them no differently than the others. To just have 5 kids. Same household rules, same expectations, same love, same bad jokes, same wrestling and tickling (yes, it still drives Jodi nuts.... :).
As with our first 3 kids, there is still that level of each relationship being different as each kid is different in personality, etc, but they just part of us. I think for our family that has been a great way to go. K & M have integrated into our family so very well. I was talking with one of my girls and their comment was that it was hard to think of the time when they weren't part of our family.
I enjoy all the things we do together, embarrassing Kayleigh at McDonalds (I dance while we wait for our order....), wrestling around or riding bikes with Michael, piled together on the couch watching movies, etc etc. I love getting to love these kids. I don't celebrate their being here today. I celebrate it every day.
To be totally honest, I'm not the biggest fan of making a scene over our two adopted kids. We have generally skipped these days at church. It's not that I don't support celebrating all the kids who have been adopted, or support the cause of adoption (obviously, we do....). I just don't want them to feel like they are something other than us, or different, or like they were a project or something. I hope that makes sense. To me, they are just my kids. I had 3 kids. Now I have 5 kids. Not 3 kids plus to adopted. Just 5 kids :)
When we adopted Kayleigh and Michael, I know I made the decision to just have them be my kids. In the words of Gary Smalley, love is a decision. I decided to just love them as my kids, even though I had not been their parent for the first 15 and 13 years of their lives. To just accept and love them, to treat them no differently than the others. To just have 5 kids. Same household rules, same expectations, same love, same bad jokes, same wrestling and tickling (yes, it still drives Jodi nuts.... :).
As with our first 3 kids, there is still that level of each relationship being different as each kid is different in personality, etc, but they just part of us. I think for our family that has been a great way to go. K & M have integrated into our family so very well. I was talking with one of my girls and their comment was that it was hard to think of the time when they weren't part of our family.
I enjoy all the things we do together, embarrassing Kayleigh at McDonalds (I dance while we wait for our order....), wrestling around or riding bikes with Michael, piled together on the couch watching movies, etc etc. I love getting to love these kids. I don't celebrate their being here today. I celebrate it every day.
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