The first picture above is the first photo we ever saw of our son. The second is him 2 weeks ago on a family vacation to celebrate 2 years as a family. He has changed our lives tremendously since we first saw his face. He is loved by many, and has touched the lives of so many people. So many friends and family have shared in his story along with us. From the first announcement that he was our son to the ups and downs of the adoption roller coaster. They watched in pictures and updates of us traveling to Korea to become a family. They shared in our happiness and our emotions of adoption. Now they follow along with our everyday happiness, challenges, and life. Because of this, I am sharing this message. My prayer is that God will reach someone else the way he reached me years ago through blogs and will place adoption on someone else's heart.
I ran across this post today from another adoptive mom. It's another one of those posts and stories that tugs at my heart. Someone once said that "Once God has given you a heart for the orphan, it does not end. It's like a wound that never quite heals, but aches all the time." I truly believe that, because it's something that I think about every single day. Not a day goes by that adoption isn't on my mind. As are all of the waiting children that are still doing just that. Waiting. There are many myths revolving around adoption and this is one of them. It doesn't have to take years to adopt. It can, but only if you choose that route. Many people go into adoption wanting only a healthy infant/newborn. Usually a healthy infant GIRL. Landon was a waiting child and although his special needs looked scary on paper and he was a little older than we expected, today he's as happy and as healthy as can be. And I can without a doubt say I cannot imagine life without him. He basically waited because of one thing. He was a BOY. We went into the adoption process uneducated about the need for adoptive parents for boys. We requested a girl on our application initially. Once our agency discussed the need for families open to boys and the number of baby boys coming through the agency, we changed our application to either gender. I cannot imagine life without my precious little boy. God doesn't allow someone to choose the gender of their baby when they are pregnant, so why should we choose when we adopt? We found Landon on the waiting child photo listing and were matched with him very quickly after reviewing his file and requesting to move forward with his adoption. From application to Landon being placed in our arms was a total of 9 months. I'm not saying the process is that fast all the time. Although the Korea program is currently going through a big change, the process does not take years to complete. Special needs adoptions, even through other countries other than Korea can be completed rather quickly.
It saddens me that some people won't open their hearts and homes to a child simply because they are a boy or because they have special needs. One of my absolute biggest pet peeves is the phrase "as long as its healthy." Especially when asked if someone wants a boy or girl, "oh it doesn't matter as long as its healthy." So are you not going to love your child if its not "healthy" in society's eyes? Everyone prays for a healthy child, no one wants their child to be sick or have any challenges, but sometimes that child may be born with or develop special needs. These children who are waiting are no different. Some have minor special needs ranging from birth marks to repaired heart problems to cleft lip/palate or just simply being a boy or toddler aged. Others may have more involved special needs. Regardless, these children all need (and deserve!) homes, love, and families. Can you see the life beyond the special need? Adoption is something that God placed on both mine and my husban'ds hearts. Eric & I would be more than happy to answer any questions, talk to you about adoption, or just listen. You can email me here or contact me via facebook any time. I pray that if God is tugging at your heart that you listen. You may regret not listening to Him, but I guarantee that if you DO listen to him, you'll never regret that.
Here is the article and below is a great video about some different special needs.
Article
Video
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