Adoption Is

This is the first in a series called “Adoption Is” for National Adoption Month 2019. Read the entire series.

November is National Adoption Month or Adoption Awareness Month, depending on your official source for national months. Adoption is the backbone of our family and we’re proud adoption advocates.

I’m going to try to describe our life as adoptive parents over the next 30 days. Yes, it’s already November 3, so let’s knock out days 1-3 right now.

In 2013, we became legal parents to J and T. Not in the hospital, not in a courthouse, but because a letter came in the mail.

It wasn’t the start of our adventure, because we had been their foster parents for more than a year. But little did we know that our adventure was moving into high gear. 

There are so many types of adoption. We adopted our foster placements after they were unable to reunite with their biological families. Many of our friends have adopted internationally. Other friends are in the process of adopting domestically. And, our friends just down the street became parents to two wonderful little ones via a kinship adoption.

There are no two identical paths for adoption. No two identical stories. And, since adoption is a process, there’s no perfect flawless experience. But there is absolutely no greater, harder, more fulfilling experience.

Looking back over the past six years, we can’t imagine life without our J and our T. We could never imagine the road we’ve been on.

We can’t count how many highs we’ve enjoyed or the valleys that we’ve experienced. One thing is for sure: we couldn’t imagine life without adoption.

Day 1: Adoption is J.

Day 2: Adoption is T.

Day 3: Adoption is Adventurous.