Some would say......

 Some would say you are not my "real" child/ren........

 I say it couldn't possibly be more real to love you in the way I do.  To get to be a part of your world 24/7.  To have the privilege of praying over you, teaching you, playing with you, and crying with you too.  The love I feel spans over time and time lost with you physically.  There is nothing that could convince me that I did not give birth to you.....just in a different way. 

 There are some people who think that it would be too hard to "love some one else's child".......

 What they haven't seen is the miracle that occurs through adoption.....the miracle that is still mysterious to me, but I have seen it clearly because it is the one God has done in my heart over and over and over.  The miracle that says there is a little girl or boy waiting for you...and somehow your heart leaps into your throat and you just know this is MY CHILD LORD!!!  Thank you for this precious gift!!!!!!   (whether through foster care, domestic adoption, or international adoption)

 There are some that worry.....but they don't share your gene pool? 

 Yep, but they share my heart!  They couldn't be more like me if they were in my gene pool.  My children have too many mannerisms in common with us to even list them all!  Each child different and yet there is such a similarity.  They share our love for the Lord and really is there anything more important than that? 

 Awww..but some say you have taken them out of their "culture" of their people.....

 I know what you are speaking of.  You are saying that they should be surrounded by people of their own skin color, have role models they can identify with, or sometimes in the country they were born.  I say our "culture" although it is made of those things.....really it is made up of our FAITH first!  Everything in our world in our home revolves around this one thing - Jesus Christ.  We believe that is the best culture to grow up in no matter where you were born :) !!!!!!

 Aren't you afraid that their mother who gave them birth will be more important to them when they get older and want to have a more in depth relationship with them?

 I pray all our children DO have a relationship with their birth mom.  Why in the world would I discourage that?  OF COURSE it is scary that someone else would take my place as mom or my husband's place as dad......but really can that happen?  NO!  Why?  Because they all know that we love them more than the world!  They are secure in that!  There is nothing to fear.....just barriers that need to be broken down sometimes in our way of thinking.  We believe they loved them more than the world as well- THEY CHOSE LIFE FOR THEM!!!!  PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!

 Some say it is SOOO expensive.......

 I say for a precious pearl of great worth ....you would sell EVERYTHING you have to buy that great treasure!  The ransom paid for any child to help pay the social workers, lawyers, and others that have to do paperwork in order to make sure that everything is done in a legal and upstanding way- AMEN!  Have bake sales, garage sales, ask for the money, plead for that child or children - whatever you do fight for them- THEY ARE WORTH IT!!!!!

 Some say....what about failed adoptions, Reactive Attachment Disorder, the "unknowns", the "hard stories of adoption" that happen......

 I say......it happens.....there are many things we deal with all the time, but why would you not follow Christ because it might be hard to do?  If I am comfortable then that would be great, but my JOY would not be the same either.  I would have missed all the JOY of the journey too.  The heart ache hurts deeper than I can describe, there are seriously no words you can say.... but it makes every triumph, every small step forward, and only a small step back a serious VICTORY FOR GOD!!!  Because you see HE is the one who chose my children for me.  I have to rest in that.  To know that HE alone can help me cope with everything that happens.  I have to rely solely on HIM- and isn't that where we should be?  Don't get me wrong I am not trying to say it is just this or that....instead I am saying rely on HIM!

****Note: sometimes there are times when disruption is the only way for your child to thrive, to survive in the healing that is hard.  In this case......God still is in control and just think of the role you still played in God's AMAZING STORY!!!  Easier said than done I know, but still even then I believe that God still has the plan not us. 

Some people say......lots of things, but I just say that on this Mother's Day.....I am BLESSED BEYOND WORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And you know what?  I have learned that a lot of times people say things because they don't know yet.  They haven't experienced what we have:  The Amazing Healing of our LORD and Savior!!!

It is our job to keep sharing this wonderful miracle and about the 163 MILLION children that are counting on us to help others find their family :)

Happy Mother's Day to ALL!!!!!!!!!!!