Adoption: A loving Choice

The month of November is Adoption Awareness month and we recognize that Adoption is a Loving Choice.  The choice to find a loving family for their child is a deliberate, yet difficult process for birth parents.   Those who choose adoption do so while experiencing a wild range of emotions and perhaps fears.   Yet as proof of their courage and maturity, they manage to conqueror those reoccurring struggles over the months of the adoption process.  Birth parents are my heroes.

Last month, I had the privilege of meeting my niece’s birth mother (and her parents) while we celebrated the first birthday of my great niece.   I watched as this beautiful, gracious lady helped my niece set up decorations and interact with her biological grandchild.  They have a special but unique relationship.   Yes, you can see the family resemblance.   No, the relationship is not the same as my niece had with the mother who raised her.   But it is sweet and they are both obviously proud of each other. 24 years ago this bio mom was young, it was a bad situation and the father of the baby didn’t want anything to do with his child.  Someone recommended my brother and his wife.   She decided that Adoption was the loving choice.

 Thanks to the adoption choice, my entire extended family was blessed with an energetic, cute as can be, intelligent child.  We have loved and enjoyed my niece’s feisty personality. Our lives have been enriched because her bio mom made a hard choice.  When my sister in law knew that her illness was terminal, she set out to introduce both of her children, who were adopted, to their biological parents. The kids were in their late teens.  They were ready to learn about their bio families.   It took some doing but Lori contacted the bio families. Some of those relationships never really blossomed.  But this one did.  Now my great niece will grow up knowing more grandparents than most children and her mother gets the benefit of extra family support. 

            We are thankful that some are brave enough to find both life and a family for their child. They have discovered that Adoption Is A Loving Choice.