Selfish

Recently a few people have told me they think I am amazing for what I do. (Meaning adopting children with special needs.) I usually just say thank you and move on because that is what my mother taught me to do. And, to be completely honest there's a part of me that is flattered. But, I think I need to set the record straight.

My husband and I adopt our children for totally selfish reasons. We want to be parents. We couldn't do that on our own, so we looked to adoption. (There's a lot more to that story, but for this post we'll leave it at that.) We didn't set out looking for children with special needs, and we didn't set out looking for children with out special needs. We just wanted to be parents, to whatever child the Lord would send us. Just like most of you want to be parents to your child no matter what their needs are.

We have since been blessed with the two most beautiful little girls in the world! We were aware that one of them had special needs before we were matched with her, the other her needs didn't arise until she was older and had already been in our family for years. They both have diagnosis, but their diagnosis do not define them. They are little girls who have the same interests as other girls their ages, and for the most part do the same things other girls their ages do. They are funny, talented, mischievous, little angels, and I thank the Lord everyday for their birth families who sacrificed so much to make them mine.

If anyone in our family is amazing it is those birth families who sacrificed so much of themselves for their children.