A is for... Adoption

The winner for the Fruit Infusion Giveaway will be announced tomorrow... babies having a rough couple of days, and I need a little extra time to get the entries figured out.

I mentioned last week that I was going to start doing a series of posts inspired by the alphabet... I think that I'll shoot to post a new letter each Monday. (I know today is Tuesday, but John had yesterday off... so it's sort of like my Monday.)

A is for Adoption. My life has forever been changed for the better in many ways by adoption. My first real exposure to adoption was in high school - a friend that I was close to during those days was adopted. It was something that we knew, but really didn't talk about or explore too much. It was moderate exposure to be sure...

 My next brush with the subject came when I met John. He was adopted shortly after birth, and has two cousins that were adopted. I am grateful to the adoption process for finding a wonderful family for the man that has become my partner in life... and grateful to the OB that called my inlaws one day out of the blue to tell them that a baby boy was available. John's parents story is vaguely similar to ours - a long wait (13 years for them) for children... adopting... then having a baby naturally later. His whole family was forever changed by adoption - and I married into a very special group of people... I can't imagine what life would be like without their adoption stories.

Adoption touched my family again not too long after John and I got married. My Dad and stepmom (Lynne) decided to adopt 2 kids from Guatemala. My little brother, Josh, and my little sister, Gabby, have forever changed my family for the better. They make life much more exciting for everyone, and certainly gives us all a different way of being able to talk through the ups and downs of parenting as we're all going through it fairly close together. Or at least more close together than most kids do with their parents. I was able to go with Lynne to pick up Josh from Guatemala, and I can honestly say that my heart was opened to the idea of adopting at some point by that trip. Josh was in an orphanage of sorts before he came into our family, and when we stepped into that house with the 15-20 kids inside... I could have scooped everyone of them up and brought them home with us. I will never forget that trip.

Once again, my life was forever changed for the better by adoption in 2009. After a year of infertility treatments, and being told we'd never be able to carry a child naturally (guess again modern medicine) we decided to begin the process of adopting our own child. We were led to an AMAZING agency (New Life Pregnancy Center) and even though we suffered through a failed placement - we were led to James' birth mother... and just a few months after beginning the process we brought James home. Our lives have forever been changed by this little man that we are proud to call our son.

Adoption has become a part of just about every part of our family in various ways, and each and every story is a blessing to all of us. It is a breath-taking gift, and without the birth mother's of all of these people - the world would be a different place. It takes a lot of courage to bring a baby into the world while choosing to give them a life apart from yourself. I would like to think that if I were in a situation that warranted it - I'd have the courage and grace to make the choice they did for the life of the child. It's hard to put yourself in their shoes having never been faced with that type of choice, but words sincerely can't express how grateful I am for them. My life will never be the same... and has become much more rich and fulfilled by these amazing people that adoption has brought into my life, and I love them all dearly.