An Eye Opener

T and I went to our International Adoption class yesterday. It was a beautiful day outside and we spent 6 hours inside getting "educated". It was a wonderful 6 hours! There were 21 people in all representing 4 agencies. Most already had children and were adopting from China, Khazakstan, Pakistan, and Vietnam (us).

As you know, I have been wrestling with guilty feelings of being selfish....doing whatever it takes to have a second child. Yesterday, my guilt subsided. The class had a discussion about the positives and negatives that all parties involved in the adoption face. The parties included the adoptive parents, the birth parents, and the adoptee. The bottom line is that we ARE doing something good (even though it may have some negatives for all parties). I realized that no matter how far we travel, the life we can provide for our future child will be better than the life our child will have living in an orphanage. This is in its simplest terms. There are so many ramifications for our child (and us), but we will get through it.

We will get through the tough questions that strangers may ask. We will get through the innocent questions asked to our child on the playground which may be hurtful at the time. We will get through the looks people will give us because our children will not look alike. We have so much love to give that we can get through anything.