Four Things About Adoption

I found this on a different adoption blog and thought it was really neat. The lady who wrote it has adopted 4 kids from Ethiopia and two from Korea!


Four things about adoption

Four things I thought about adoption when I was a child--
>I imagined it might be cool to be adopted by someone really rich (you know, in those moments when my mom wouldn't spring for those Calvins I had my eye on)
>I imagined what I'd do if someone left a baby on my doorstep
>I couldn't understand how anyone would ever be able to relinquish a child
>I thought it might be neat to adopt a child myself someday

Four things I've learned since then--
>That adoption issues are incredibly complex
>That most birth mothers have their children's best interests at heart and are doing their best with terrible circumstances
>That there are huge numbers of kids in the world waiting, many of whom who will never have a family
>That the privilege of adoption has been an incredible blessing to my family

Four silly things people have said to me about adoption--
>How much did they cost?
>Do you have any real kids?
>Didn't their real mom want them?
>Are they sisters?

Four things that are hard about adoption--
>Waiting
>Waiting
>Realizing that many people would have been able to parent their own biological children if only they'd had the right support at the right time.
>Facing your child's grief and loss issues, and feeling sad when you can't make all their sadness go away.

Four ways my adopted children have surprised me--
>With how soon they began to ask adoption-related questions
>With their resilience in the face of huge upheaval in their lives
>With their similarity to me in various ways
>With the way they have completely and utterly captured my heart

Four things I wish everyone knew about adoption--
>That getting educated about adoption issues is way more important in the long run than worrying about the paperwork.
>That there are millions of awesome kids in the world just waiting for families
>That the funding will come if you just jump in and do it
>That parenting adopted kids is just as miraculous and wonderful as parenting kids born to you.