(R and me, Feb. 18, 2008, about 20 minutes after becoming a family.)Warner Brothers' new horror movie Orphan proclaims that it must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own. Let me tell you about how an orphan changed my life...
I've talked about this movie before on this blog. Now I will talk about it in more of a personal way. (I'm going to write this simply through my perspective, not "ours," my husband's and mine.)
First off, I never once thought I would adopt a child. I was NEVER against adoption, just hadn't occurred to me as the way A and I would build a family. I went through stages in my life where I could picture my little blonde hair, blue eyed children... then stages where I never thought I would be a mom... finally to the stage in which my heart and soul ached for a child, and slowly my heart opened to the idea of adoption, almost like clues on a treasure map.
You see, MY daughter, she's a treasure. An amazing treasure, a precious gift. How has she changed my life? In about a million ways, both huge and tiny. I love that child so much.
Our adoption ride with R has been smooth. I expected it to take a year to bring her home; it took 8 months. I expected it to be extremely difficult for R to bond and attach to us; I think she loved us as much as we loved her instantly. I expected to go into tremendous debt after R came home because we were only supposed to have one income; instead I was able to take sick leave and take 10 weeks off with her. All the pieces fell into place.
This child, this girl of mine, she's amazing. I think those of you who know her personally would agree that R just sparkles. Ya can't help but love the child.
And love her I do. The instant I saw her picture for the first time, then months later held her in my arms, I loved her wholly, completely, totally. Just as any other mother who births a child would, I'd imagine, or maybe more. After all I did have to ache for months to hold my child while biological mothers get to hold their children the moment they are born. (You lucky ducks, you!! A subject for another post, for sure.)
The title of this blog is "Always and Forever." The reason for that, of course, is that I will love my child(ren--- don't forget we have another on the way!!), well, always and forever!
