Adoption Celebration

November is National Adoption Month. Last night Grace United Methodist church was holding an Adoption Celebration along with One Heart Ministries. We were invited to go by my parent's friends who are also in the process of adoption. We went to dinner first and then to the celebration. (Don't we always go out to dinner first?!?!? ;) For the record, we ate at Mi Ranchito off Olive Blvd.  ) I don't think Carlie and I knew exactly what to expect. I think we both have a desire to meet and socialize with people going through the same process as we are and this was really a great opportunity for us to experience this. 


The evening was enjoyable, but not what I had expected. It was a worship service to celebrate the process of adopting children...loving a child in need of a forever family. There was a couple that spoke about their international adoption, a single woman who spoke about her adoption through the foster care system, and a mother of a teenager who, along with her husband, were just starting their adoption process and were planning to go through the foster care system also. I really enjoyed listening to their stories and wished they had had more time to speak and that there had been more speakers to listen too. We noticed immediately that most of the people there were adopting through the state of Missouri, which is a very different process than what we are embarking on. We spoke quietly to each other about this before the service even began but we made a concerted effort to keep an open mind.  Although I DID notice this difference throughout the service, I also noticed one similarity...as I listened to the speakers and watched the families around me it was obvious that we may be adopting in a different way but we were adopting for the same reason that everyone else there had. They wanted to love a child and have a family. And so do we.


Last week Carlie and I were visiting my Aunt Patty. We were talking with her about the blog and about what we've been going through lately with all of the adoption stuff and she said something that has stuck with Carlie and me. (She doesn't even know this unless she's reading this right now!) We were telling her about the paperwork, phone calls, home visits, and decision making and she said "This is your labor. What you are going through right now is your labor." She was saying that we may not have monthly doctor visits or 15 hours of contractions but all of this "stuff" is our labor for our baby. We liked that and think it is a TERRIFIC way to look at this journey.  I feel like this Adoption Celebration, and other events we may attend like it, are an important part to our "adoption labor". I hope that we can find some that focus on private adoptions or at least present us with the opportunity to hear some stories of families that adopted privately, without the assistance from the state.