Adoption

Adoption...it's one of the hype words lately.  Whether it be domestically or internationally, it's a beautiful thing.  No Jay and I haven't adopted a child, nor is that in our "known" plans for our family, but I have lived it for 23 years.

My parents have done foster care for as long as I remember. I honestly don't remember a time without a foster baby in my home until I was in college.  Although they can't foster any more, I think they totalled in the 60's of children that came through our home, some for days and some for years.  It was their calling, their gift and they were great at it!  Allen was born on March 25, 1988 and weighed 2 lbs. 1 oz.  I was 10 at the time and I remember my parents getting a call and one or both of them were at the hospital doing feeding times, holding him, rocking him, multiple times a day for months.  He was so small he could fit in the palm of your hand.   At the time he was just another foster baby that they committed to take care of as their own until God moved him to a more permanent home. But something started to happen and there was a connection to him unlike any other they had ever fostered.  The nurses named him Allen Michael and tears came to my parents' eyes as they took it as their sign that this was God's way of telling them this child was theirs.  You see, my dad's name is Michael Allen and from that point on, in their hearts, he was theirs.  It became official on June 16, 1988 and none of us have ever looked back.

Adoption has it's share of excitement, blessings, joy and love as well as trials, heartache and brokenness. Regardless of the reason the child has been put up for adoption (young mother, can't take care of the baby for whatever reason, financial difficulties, disease, immaturity etc.) or how incredible the adoptive family is, there is a disconnect from the birth mother and child that can't ever be broken despite time or space, which is God's design.  There will always be questions and curiosity of who they are and where their roots came from.

However, I can tell you from experience, that God can work through those and deal with them beautifully like a masterpiece.  He can give the adoptive parents, family and child a widened heart that contains all the love and more that could ever come from a genetic family.  As a sibling of an adopted child, I will tell you that I (and my family) love Allen as if he was born of my moms womb and not her heart (my mom always used that phrase!).  God can indeed turn something broken into something delicately beautiful!

I want you to read another beautiful story of adoption coming from a sibling's perspective. She explains how her adoptive sister longs to know, meet and have a relationship with her "first" family and how God turned brokenness into beautiful in her family as well.   She is a great writer and I promise you won't regret it. Go HERE to read it.

Also, to save the best for last, I want you to go on over to another blog and read a tearjerking perspective from the adoptive mom and her overwhelming love for her adoptive son.  It just happens to be my MOM!  Go HERE to read it and be sure to bring your tissues!

Here are some pics over the years of our family.  He may not look like us or have the same genes, but he is, most definitely, one of us.  And we wouldn't have it any other way.  :)