Adoption

Today we became five and moved forward on a journey my parents started almost forty-five years ago.  We adopted a young girl who has lived with us for almost two years.  We did not take her in thinking about adoption, but we willingly moved in that direction when it was apparent that the house she was removed from would never get better.  We had two children already and really believed that we were a temporary solution until the birth mother got on her feet again.  The boys embraced our decision and then struggled with what it meant to "share" us.  The younger son had the hardest time, but he is slowly taking on the big brother role and adapting well.

One would think we spent long hours talking about what needed to be done and how to do it, but honesty the conversation lasted for less than two minutes, and Kerri had to be reminded to let me know that we would picking her that first evening.  I knew from a young age that I wanted to adopt a child since my parents had opened their home to me, but also figured out pretty early that not all people feel the same way.  During our first extended conversation, Kerri and I discussed adoption and she shared that she had had a similar desire.  As I noted to a group at our church, the discussion the night before the young girl entered our home and our lives was simply turning the page on a discussion we began almost twenty years earlier.

I am not a proponent of the pay it forward idea since every day is filled with grace that we rarely notice so special events should not necessarily cause people to do good works.  Today is remarkable because of its ordinariness.  We woke up this morning to start the day because the dogs woke up at 6:30.  We got ready for work and other activities, and until 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, our lives looked like every other day since her arrival.  I am happy to say that we celebrated with a dinner and cupcakes, but then went back to the routine of our lives.  Some part of our family is made up of DNA and some part of our family is sealed by law, but all of our family are wrapped in love binds us beyond DNA and the law.  That might be the greatest gift my parents gave to me, and hopefully, we have passed on to the boys: the ordinariness of bringing someone into our home and our family.