Adoption Stories

After all the adoptions we have done there have been lots of questions from others who are curious as to how you break the news to your children that they are adopted. I think modern entertainment outlets love to have a dramatic moment that a child, who is now an adult who is sat down and told,"you were adopted." it lends itself to great story lines about characters finding themselves, finding birth parents or other roads to self discovery. The reality is, in our house, all of our children have always known they are adopted. We talk about their home countries and they all love their coming home stories.

However, there comes a time when the excitement of fourteen hour plane rides and exciting homecomings at the airport all dies down and our children start asking the harder questions. Today was one of those days. Actually it has been ongoing for several days. Zachary, age six has suddenly become aware that other kids were grown in mommies' tummies and he wasn't grown in mine. Somehow through our discussions over the last few days it dawned on me he thought babies came from adoption. Why wouldn't he? All of his siblings were adopted and we are adopting again. This is his normal. Today, we discussed his birth mother. He wanted to know what she looked like and where she was. I explained to him she was sick and could not care for him so God brought him to me. I realized as we talked I had told him so much about coming home, I never got to tell him the rest of the story...it started with a dream. A dream I was pregnant. It was so real, I woke up expecting to hear a baby cry. Instead I had a ten year old and a twelve year old soundly sleeping. It happened time and again until I finally asked Tim if he had ever considered another baby. He looked shocked. Uh oh, I thought as I studied his face. The shock was not the notion of another baby, it was that he too had the same dream. As we prayed our way through it, we just knew we had to adopt again. After the decision was made, God brought us the money, the method and finally a year and a half later, Zachary. He was fascinated by the story. In the end he had one question. "Was God with you in the dream when you dreamed about me?" I answered,"Yes." I went on to ask him if God was with him when he told me he was to have another brother who was going to be his size and brown. He just smiled and said "yes."

It amazes me how easily he just surrenders to God. The mystery of his adoption so easily solved by just knowing God was there. He went on talking about sting rays and the venom in their tails. He has quite an affinity for sea life. I listened to him tell me all about them and I found myself smiling at his mispronounced "F's" due to the missing tooth in the front. I watched him write out his homework sentences knowing he had just moved on with his evening. I was, once again, grateful that he was my son. God showing me no matter how frustrating this adoption wait is, He is here. My job is to just let him do His job and surrender, just like Zachary. I guess I find myself wondering how this six year old with the missing front tooth got so wise.