Continuing to Learn and Grow in Our Adoption Journey

In the last few weeks Bird and I have participated in some wonderful training sessions for waiting and adoptive parents.   I've mentioned before how we participate in an adoption support group in the area.  I can't sing it's praises enough.  Last week, they offered a class from the  Wise-Up workshop/training and we gladly took part.  I loved this course and the wonderful tools it provided our family for answering questions about adoption.  I also love how it empowers children to choose how and if they want respond to questions or comments about their life with friends and sometimes even strangers.  I say if they want to respond to questions or comments because some people can be quite insensitive when asking questions.  I want Yaya to know she has the right to choose if and when she wants to answer a question about her adoption or her families.  I also what her to know she can choose who she wants to share her story with.  If you would like to know more about this course and where it's offered click on the highlighted link above for more details.  Shelley Balla-Hawkins, MA Clinician with Lilliput Children's Services is the woman who taught the class. 
In addition, we were asked to watch and critique some adoption education courses provided on-line at My Adoption Advisor.  We were thrilled to be considered let alone asked for our thoughts and responses.  We felt the information provided was quite interesting and helpful.  Especially for those who are in the early stages of adopting, are adopting without an agency or for those who are ready to explore new avenues of networking. It also presented common questions, worries, fears both expectant and adoptive parent's have in common.  I appreciated the section on how to prepare yourself for  meeting with potential birthparents. 

Something which really touched me is how one of the courses encourages you to in a sense advocate for the expectant parents/birthparent.  I love this!  The course encourages you to ask the tough questions about why they're considering adoption for their child.  Find out if someone has helped them look at all of their options or offered support services to help them parent if this is what they would prefer to do.  Have they sought counseling support services for the stages of grief they will encounter along the way?  Do they have someone to be with and support them after they deliver their baby and walk out of the hospital with empty arms?  Asking those difficult questions is hard but also very important for them to make a healthy and educated decision, a healthy match and hopefully create a healthy long-term relationship.

We continue to wait on God's timing for our second adoption and as you can imagine some days are  easier than others.  There are days or weeks when we fear we might never be chosen.  We worry  we've said something wrong on our profile or here on this blog.  The thing is, what we have shared about us and our life is all true.  We aren't perfect.  Our life isn't perfect but we don't claim to be either.  What we strive to share here is what a day in our world is like. We hope that the love we have for one another and those around us comes through in our stories, photos and actions.   Hopefully, someone will fall in love with us and decide to become part of our family through the blessing of adoption. 

Today, as always, if you have any questions about our adoption journey we encourage you to leave a question or comment below.