THANKfullness

I happened across the post I did last year around the holidays. As I read it, it just really summed up how I feel again this year and made me go back to a year ago and remember how excited I was about the possibility of a referral in the near future and finding out who our child(ren) would be. I am so blessed to be here a year later with everyone doing well and our sweet Selina so I thought I would share it again...

Since deciding to adopt from Africa, I have learned so much. Through this adoption journey I have had my eyes opened to so many things that I never would have seen. I have spent countless hours on the internet reading articles, personal stories and watching videos of life in other countries. What I have come away with is how thankful I really am.

I am thankful that I was born here in America to a family that was able to care for me and meet my basic needs. At that same time, another woman was born in Africa probably in difficult conditions and her life is very different from mine if she is still alive. Now that I have been to Africa, I know that she has lived a more difficult life while I have lived a comfortable life. I never was concerned about where my next meal would come from and I always felt secure and safe in my home.

I am thankful for my education. My grade school education, junior high, high school, my bachelor’s degree and master’s degree. I used to only be thankful for my college degrees. Now I understand that I am blessed to have been able to go to grade school.

I am thankful for my childhood. This includes dance lessons, violin, volleyball, key clubs, honor societies, badminton, band and my sorority. I was able to not only go to school but I also was able to enjoy any extracurricular activities that I wanted. I had a childhood that was carefree and joyful.

I am thankful for my freedoms as a woman. This includes the ability to decide when and who I was going to marry. I was not forced into marriage. I am in a marriage in which I am an equal partner. My opinion counts (a lot!) and I am happy and in love.

I am thankful that I chose my profession. I decided what I wanted to be when I grew up. Not my parents or the government. I was further fortunate that my options were not really limited. I always felt that I could be whatever I wanted to be. Now I understand how liberating that really is- to contribute to your community in the way that you want to.

I am thankful for the freedom to create my own family. TR and I are allowed to give birth to as many children or adopt as many children as we would like. Our government is not going to tell us how many children we will have. When we decided to adopt, we were able to follow our hearts and find our children whether they were near or far.

I am thankful for my health and the health of my family. Working in the special education field, I have first hand knowledge of a variety of disabilities and I have met with hundreds of parents no different than me that are living with children with disabilities. I have attended the funerals of some of these children. When some women are pregnant they make the mistake of focusing all their energy on if their child is going to be a girl or a boy. A special education teacher knows that a healthy child is such a blessing.

Also, doing the 3 Day Walk for two years, I have come to be especially thankful for my health. I was able to put my shoes on and walk for sixty miles without aches, pains or any other condition (besides a few blisters)! I walked with women who have cancer and have had cancer. I have lost an aunt to cancer. I walked part of the walk last year with a coworker with breast cancer who passed away from it five weeks later. I used to complain that I wasn’t the size I wanted to be or wished a part of me were smaller or bigger. Those days are over. Thank you God for my health. I will never take for granted the ability to wake up and go to my day free of any ailment.

This year I add the blessing of Selina. I am so thankful that we have been entrusted with her as she is a gift from God to our family. She is such a stong, strong little girl who has overcome so much in her short life. Not only are we thankful for Selina, but we are also thankful for the opportunity to get to know about her birthplace. We will forever be connected to Ghana, a country of kind, spiritual and beautiful people that I have had the good fortune to be able to interact with and connect with during my month in Ghana.

Thank you God for opening our hearts to adoption and for being with us on this journey and for such a blessed year.