Tuesday, November 8, 2011

National Adoption Month

As I mentioned before, November is National Adoption month, and since we obviously really dig adoption around here, I am going to be doing some adoption-related posts this month.

Shortly before Noah was born, Ryan and I went to a BBQ for his work.  One of the women approached me and said, "I hear you are adopting."

"Yes, in about a month," I said, smiling.

"Man, I should've done that," she responded. "I wish I would've gotten my kids the easy way."

I think I almost died when she said that.  I felt like I'd gotten the wind knocked out of me.  "It actually hasn't been that easy," I squeaked out, when I could manage words again.

"What do you mean?" she said.  "You get a kid without a single stretch mark."

This conversation made me realize just how uninformed a lot of people are about the adoption process.  Unless they have known someone who has gone through it, I think some people truly believe that adopting a baby is as easy as signing a clipboard and handing over some money.

Um, yeah right.

I love adoption.  It has been a difficult journey, but it has been an amazing one too (with the best happy ending in the world).  I want to be an advocate of adoption and educate people about the process.   I want more couples to consider adopting because they know our story, and I want more birthparents to consider placing babies for adoption because they know our story.  AND I want our friends and family to offer meaningful support to those who are adopting because they know our story.

So now is your chance to ask me questions about adoption--anything you want--the before, during, and after.  I will answer questions in periodic blog posts, and I am also going to post some of the journal entries and letters to the baby that I wrote throughout the process.

AND, way more exciting than hearing from me, you will hear from Katie, Noah's birth mom, this month!!  She has agreed to "guest post" on my blog, so if you have any questions for her, please email them to me.  She is really open and she loves to write, so feel free to ask anything.  Seriously.  I have asked her some hard questions over the past many months, and she has never hesitated to answer.  I am excited for all of you to get to hear from her because she is truly awesome.

My email is rachel dot nielson at hotmail dot com.  Or you can leave your question(s) in a comment.

Happy November!

5 comments:

  1. I am so excited for this. I never get tired of hearing from and learning from you. You and Katie are both great examples to everyone. I'll try to think up some good questions (that I haven't asked already).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your story makes me laugh a little. See, my parents adopted my youngest brother, and after he'd been home about a month, they said, "Why didn't we do this with all the rest of them!?"
    I think, though, they were talking more about the fact that he was 8 years old, already slept through the night, was potty trained, and knew how to feed himself-- and less about the joys of paperwork, notarizing paperwork, home visits, more paperwork, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I too wish you were able to be at the Halloween party :( I miss you! You're right! How did I manage to not say anything about their costumes? I meant to too. :) They seriously crack me up. XOXO

    ReplyDelete
  4. You have been so open about it all along that I feel like you answered my questions. But, I wonder often about Katie. How is she doing? How does she feel now that it has been a few months? Is she healing emotionally? Is she happy and getting back into life as a teenager? Does she know how many people think about her and are grateful for her?

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you!! Thanks for the comment!