So my best friend and her family came up for a visit this past weekend. Did I mention she has twin 22 month old boys?! Wowzers!! This was the first time she has come up to visit me (I usually go to visit her) since our wedding. I knew that we would probably have to move a few things out of the boys reach once they got here...decorative, breakable fall pumpkins, etc. However, I had NO idea the things they would think to get into! To be honest, it scared the living daylights out of me! Here I want to take in young children when I'm living in a war zone for toddlers. Their radars were set on 'seek and destroy' from morning to night. They claimed a few casualties, but never fear, Aunt Gina came back with a counter attack...
We decided to let the boys burn off some energy at the park so I took them to the awesome Kidsview park here in town. Being as I don't have kids, I didn't know if there would be anything age appropriate or not, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. The boys were having a ball climbing up and sliding down. We were good about always having someone go up with them and then having someone wait at the bottom of a slide for them. Well, so they had mostly been going down the tube slides and all was well until Jacob found another slide...a wavy slide. Sure, great, so I line him up and send him off...he launched off the first 'wave' and went airborne, only to come crashing down and hit his head on the next 'wave'. Oops! Did I do that?! Fortunately, after a few second melt down, his body of steel was good to go. Whew!
Despite my plots against them, the boys survived their weekend visiting Aunt Gina. In all seriousness though, I was so happy they came up to visit because I just don't get to see them often enough. And I love those little adorable boys, despite what onlookers may think. It was a good learning weekend too. Once Clint and I start readying our house for foster/adopt children, I shall have to invite them back up and let the kids loose so that I can discover any hazard I may have missed!
Now on to a change of subject...well, still about kids really. Yesterday, I think I witnessed a breakthrough! The woman I work with that made so many horrible comments about adoption a couple of weeks ago came into my office. She is a Christian and listens to KLOVE. Of course, this being national adoption month, there is a lot of talk about it. On the station, they were interviewing a couple who had adopted. They were discussing about how it took awhile for them to get on the same page because the husband was hesitant. He said, "As soon as I said the words, 'why don't we have our own kids' I realized how foolish a statement that was." My coworker told me about hearing this story and I could see the gears turning. She had said those very words to me. I think she realized that her statement wasn't good, but she couldn't come out and say it either, but I've got her thinking!
However, she told me this adoption story a few days after stating this, "I just want to give you a tip. If you take in a black baby and they are really light-skinned, don't think they will stay that way. That's how they start out, but they get darker." Wow! Clearly need some work on her heart in that area. Can you just imagine? Like I would honestly freak out at the sight of a darker child? I wish I could speak eloquently, but I was honestly left stunned over the remark and simply stammered out that I didn't care about the color of the skin. In fact, my mom tells me the story about when my younger sister was born and going to the nursery to see her. They pointed my sister out to me, but I kept insisting that another baby, a black baby, was my sister.
Last night, a couple in our church invited us over for dinner. They are about our age and told us they plan to go through the foster/adopt process as well. They too have been faced with animosity over adopting a child of a different race...from family members. It's nice to know that we are not alone and that we will potentially have a couple going through the same trials and tribulations. Although, with them being a youth minister and an elementary school teacher, I'm sure they will make it through much more gracefully than we will so therefore, it will be nice to have a GOOD example to follow. :)
1 comment:
You will be amazed at the change people go through (unfortunately not all of them). But God is not only preparing you guys for your new addition but He is preparing those you are in contact with. He is working in this woman's heart b/c of you two making the decision to adopt. The family member that says they WILL NOT accept a black family member will have a heart broken when they meet that new addition! (happened with us)It is true that if you adopt a newborn black baby that they most of the time will get darker. You can look at tips of ears or nail beds to take a peek at the overall color outcome not because it makes a difference in your love but because this is how God made us and it is BEAUTIFUL!! My Clara came out almost the same color she is now but that is rare. There is nothing like a beautiful, brown chocolate drop that oozes love!! God grows people through the journey...try to take the ignorant comments with a grain of salt and sit back and enjoy watching God grow other people along with you two!!
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