The adoption bug that is?? Do you think that Chinese Special Needs adoption may be for you--but you don't know where to begin?
It is daunting to start the search for your child--and/or to decide what special needs that you may be opened to. To be honest--when we adopted Hope--we were thinking that we wanted a baby--0-2 year old girl, with very minor,correctable needs. God had other plans!
We accepted a referral for a 2 1/2 year old with differences in all four limbs. Now--don't get me wrong--we all know what we can handle...but on paper--her differences seemed pretty severe. Missing fingers, webbed toes- not walking flat on her left foot. BUT--in her picture--we just saw a beautiful little girl. We saw a CHILD- walking, holding a ball, smiling--acting two. We saw our daughter. And funny enough--she is the most agile, coordinated and advanced in her motor skills than ANY of my kids--missing "bits" or not. She is bright, capable, lovable--and mentally exhausting all in 5 minutes. And most importantly--she is OUR daughter.
I think that if we just had read about her needs--it would have seemed a bit overwhelming. But seeing her picture--taking the leap of faith-was so incredibly rewarding. You see--we don't even NOTICE that she may have some differences. We don't even NOTICE that she is anything but the beautiful 4 year old that she was meant to be--differences or not!
Consider that--when you are pouring over children's files--and possible needs. Consider the child first. Consider what you as a family can handle. I bet that at the end of the day--their need will not be the hard part. For us--it sure wasn't!
Children are children. That's it.
They come in all different packages--but they all have beautiful little hearts beating under their skin. They all have feelings. They ALL need love. They all need to know that they are important--for really good reasons--most of which have nothing to do with their perfect or imperfect parts.
Are you thinking that you could be lucky enough to be a parent to a child that has special needs? Perhaps you already are lucky enough to be--and think that you could add another? (you lucky dog!) Well go to No Hands But Ours website--I have a sidebar over their to the left too. Click over to that site. They have a listing of needs. They also having listing of beautiful children with all different agencies that need homes.
Please--go look. Every single one of the children waiting there is incredibly special. And it has NOTHING to do with the needs that they may or may not have.
till next time...
Amy
xoxoxo
3 comments:
You are my hero. Posting about your next special needs adoption in between fairly dramatic surgery experience with another of your children is who I want to be when I grow up.
Keep posting...my little guy on CWA is still there. Wah!
too funny...we "wanted" a little girl 0-1 with hardly any special needs. we adopted a 3 year old that was supposed to have them but doesn't:) i just love the journey God sends us on sometimes.
Post a Comment