Adoption vs biological...

Lots of people have asked us over the last 4 years why we adopt when we can have more biological children. When I was young (young teenager) I used to dream I had found a baby on the side of the road and when I took the baby to the police station, they always told me I could keep the baby and take care of him/her myself. I was always so happy and thrilled they would entrust this little baby to me. As I grew older, I found I had a real love for children and almost every job I worked at involved helping children in some way (Director of daycamps for our town, teaching, worker for inner-city youth, educational assistant for special needs children...) When I met Chris I told him my dream was to have a big house and fill it with children (and not just our biological children). We got married and had our first son - a totally unplanned pregnancy (I was on birth control - my second pregnancy also happened while I was on birth control!) but a very exciting time for us. When our son was only 5 months old, we decided to become foster parents. From that time on, we have always had children from other parents living in our home. I have always believed each and every child deserves the love of a family and it was my desire to give this to as many children as our family could. Over the years, Chris and I talked a lot about fostering and the children who lived in our home. I mentioned adoption A LOT but it just seemed like things were a bit "crazy" in our household with young children, going to university, working jobs and just "living life".

I don't actually know or remember how we finally agreed to adopt the first time...Chris probably gave me a tiny bit of positive feedback and then I ran with it booked the social worker :-) I just remember being so excited that we were actually going to adopt! I really don't think anyone believed we would actually adopt until we got Alyssa's referral. It just seemed like something we always talked about but I think people were like..."yeah, we'll believe it when we see it".

Since our first adoption, I have been absoultely convicted about adoption and really believe every family should consider it. Chris and I would never have another biological child - don't get me wrong...we are so happy with our boys....but there are so many children already here in this world waiting for families. How could we have another biological child when there are so many needing us right now??

Last year, our family started a charity organization called "Two Homes One Heart" so we could support the children who were still living at Alyssa's orphanage in Hunan, China. It was a way to stay connected with Alyssa's roots but also a way for all of us to touch other children's lives - especially since we cannot adopt them all. We wanted to make a positive impact in these children's lives and we wanted to share our love with many more children.

When we decided to adopt again...I STILL got asked "why do you want to adopt another one???" I would think to myself "how can they ask that after knowing Alyssa!!" I can't explain it except I look at so many children who need families and I see my own children in them. Alyssa was an orphan and now she is our daughter. There are so many "Alyssa's" out there...I see orphaned children and I think about Caleb and Dylan and what it would be like if they didn't have us...what would they feel like...what would I want for them...would I want a family to love them and cherish them every single day? Absolutely!

We don't adopt children to "save them" - we adopt children because we are filled with conviction that we need them and they need us - we are not perfect parents or a perfect family but together we create a unit of love, family, happiness, fun, comfort and togetherness.

I love adoption!