Adoption Education-DONE

Last weekend Jason and I went to Chicago. Nothing fun or touristy, instead we went to an all day adoption class.

When I saw the sign on the church, I knew we were at the right place! 

 

 

Adoption, you see, is a different way of becoming a parent. It's not a given. Every part of adoption requires not just parents who desire to have a child, but the approval of someone else. Part of that approval process is parent education. It doesn't matter that we already have 3 kids or that we've adopted twice before. They don't care that Jason is a teacher or I'm a nurse practitioner. We needed that certificate of completion. BTW, this was AFTER we've already done a bunch of online adoption classes.

True Confession-I really did not want to go. We didn't have time. Didn't want to spend the money on a hotel. Didn't want to be away from the boys. Didn't want to sit in a class all day.

The verdict- it wasn't that bad. It was very cool to sit in a room with 17 other couples who were also on this journey.
People from all walks of life. Younger than us, older than us, gayer than us.
People on a journey to adopt from all sorts of places-China, Ethiopia, Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Columbia, and right here in the good ole US.
From annoying know-it-alls who practically tried to teach the class, to the super cute couple that I hope to keep in touch with.

Not much of what we learned was new, but it was still good to hear it. Not just for our Mei Mei's sake, but for these 3 amazing boys we are already parenting. Because the truth is sometimes its easy for us to forget that our family is any different. To us, Dex and Q aren't our "adopted sons". They're our sons. They're not our "black kids" they're our kids. But the reality is our family is a little different. Not better, not worse, just a little different.
So having a refresher course on how to best support our kids, now and in the future, probably didn't hurt us a bit.

The Truth-This is nothing compared to what kids in orphanages are going through right this minute. It's nothing compared to the impossible decisions birth mothers make to give their babies the best chance at a good life. If this is what we need to do, we will do it. I will do my best to remember that this is the LEAST I can do.

Plus, we got to eat at Giordano's. Honestly, that pizza alone was probably worth the trip.