I have heard it said by others that they would never adopt for fear of how it will affect their biological children.
Since adopting,
our children now:
Love deeper.
Think of others more.
Pray for orphans across the world.
Pray for families adopting by name.
Pray for our sponsored children by name.
Will not let anyone refer to Elijah as their adopted brother,
he is their brother (period).
Save their money to help adoptive families and orphan care ministries.
Share the beauty of adoption.
Share that we were all orphans, adopted through Christ.
I would say they have been affected alright.
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Amy is the mother of four blessings. She and her husband, Paul, have three biological children and one beautiful blessing from Ethiopia, adopted July 2010. They would love for you to follow their adventures at Filled With Praise.
Perfect post! We have 3 bio children and are trying to adopt…..we have heard the same thing from others. Thank you for bringing up the postitives!!!!
AMEN! 🙂 Love your family’s heart!
Affect them it will!! I too had the naysayers – my bio kids wouldn’t have enough attention or resources, they would act out and feel ‘not special’, they would resent the adopted children. Then along comes Pastor Keith who told us with tears in his eyes about how we were teaching our children to love as Jesus loved, reach out to those in need, put others before themselves. Guess what! Keith was right. We adopted 2 children and my bio kids love them, are sensitive to those in need, appreciate what they have and….drum roll…..my oldest daughter and her husband have every intention of one day adopting! Guess we didn’t damage their little selves too much after all!
What a sweet post. I love it and want to forward it on to everyone I know who says their bio kids are enough:)
Yesterday I was walking through Walmart and passed another (white) woman with an Asian boy in tow. We followed each other with our eyes, turned to watch each other pass, then finally brought our shopping carts to a halt and we each starting backing up to talk to each other. Of course, most of our time was spent admiring each others kiddos and sharing our adoption stories…even though our boys are from different countries. What really struck me, though, was when we were sharing about our agencies she said that she used the SAME agency to bring her son home from Korea that her parents did to bring her siblings home from Korea and Vietnam 30 years ago. As we said our goodbyes and walked away, I was praying for my kids to be effected the same way she was by her siblings adoptions.
Thanks so much for sharing. We’re in the process of adopting and most of the time the comments are positive but there are a few who question how our other children will be impacted. All kids are impacted by the addition of a family member – no matter how the family member is added. Our kids can not wait to have their little brother or sister home. Right now they’re learning to wait on God’s timing (as am I) as the adoption is taking much longer than expected. What a valuable lesson for them (and me…even if I don’t like it!). 🙂 I know they are learning so much through this process already and that their hearts fill with more love every day.
Thanks!
I have been asked to step in and adopt a relatives baby and I have been hesitating because for a couple of reasons. One my husband and i considered our baby raising to be over and past us. my second reason was I have three children ranging from seven to fifteen and I was unsure how it would affect them. I was happy to come across you post.