Should You Consider Adoption Part 5

The last concern that we heard when we were starting the adoption process was a shocking one for me. I heard from some of our extended family that it is not possible to love an adopted child the same as you can a biological child. I personally cannot understand that the idea is even out there in the universe. I do not have any children biologically but I cannot imagine loving them any more if I had given birth to them myself. When my daughter was about 1 she was diagnosed as failure to thrive, they kept running all these … Continue reading →

Should You Consider Adoption Part 4

Another concern that I have heard is that they adoption is way too much money. I am not going to lie some adoption agencies are very expensive. There are two in the Dallas area that when we called them they said for a toddler it was $25,000.00 plus ½ of our W2’s. When I got up off the floor I started calling around and found an agency that worked with CPS and they did not cost anything. We did our parent training with them, they did our home study all at no cost to us. They get paid by the … Continue reading →

Should You Consider Adoption Part 3

When I am trying to think of reasons that I have heard some that people don’t consider adoption is they want a healthy baby. If you are having a child the old fashioned way can you guarantee a healthy baby with no complications? Here are some scary statistics about births in America: 1 in every 618 births in America is premature * That is about 440,000 per year born premature *50 babies are born premature every hour of every day * 25,000 babies born as stillborn every year * One in 33 are born with birth defects My point is … Continue reading →

Should You Consider Adoption Part 2

I am trying to help bring to light the major need for people to adopt from the United States foster care system. I know there are some concerns that people have when they think of adoption. The first one that I want to talk about is that they want a newborn only and they do not think they can get a newborn from the foster care system. I personally know that is not true. There are a great many infants in the foster care system. They may have been given up by their mother, turned into a safe site through … Continue reading →

Should You Consider Adoption Part 1

Would you be surprised to know there are about 115,000 children in the foster care system in the United States waiting for a family to call their own? I am not sure what I can do just as a regular person to help people consider giving these kids a family. I am not sure where the hesitation comes from for people to adopt. I am going to go through some of the deterrents that I have heard. Adoption not only benefits the children you give a family but it also give you such a gift of the love of a … Continue reading →

“Big Fat Greek Wedding” Star Advocates for Foster Adoption”

I’ve written about Angelina Jolie, Katherine Heigl and Madonna adopting internationally, and about Sheryl Crow adopting an infant and Sandra Bullock’s adoption of an African-American infant from New Orleans. (Breaking news on Bullock: gossip sites like “Anything Hollywood”and “igossip” are saying Bullock wants to adopt a sibling for Louis, and wants to start the process now and hope that it won’t take as long as Louis’ adoption. Bullock and her then-husband Jesse James applied to adopt nearly four years ago. I haven’t heard any mainstream verification of this, though. ) It seems rarer to hear about celebrities adopting from foster … Continue reading →

They Don’t Have to Love You Back

My friend, a teacher, told me that one of her co-workers always says that she became a teacher because she wanted to be loved. So what’s wrong with that, you ask? Well, it’s backwards. Being loved is a great feeling. And when choosing a career, it is okay to think about what satisfies you emotionally. However, you can’t expect to always get it. Everyone in the social service professions—ministers, doctors, social workers, teachers, counselors—must realize that they are there to serve, not to be liked. This teacher’s statement may appear innocent. However, she was also known for sending students to … Continue reading →

Adoptive Parents Need Compassion

A good friend died a few years ago. He was the most compassionate man that I have ever known. He was a staff pastor at the church that our family attended for fifteen years. Early on, I recognized that he was someone special and asked him if I could tag along when he was ministering to people. We met about twenty years ago. I was struggling with the things that God was doing with my life. I was feeling a lot of compassion for people, but I was also mad at some folks and downright difficult with others. My friend … Continue reading →

I Vowed I’d Never Look at Those Photos Again…

I vowed I’d never look at those photos again. They interfere with my life. I can’t get them off my mind and I can’t get anything done. Another packet of them arrived in the mail yesterday. I left them in the car overnight so I wouldn’t look at them. But today I couldn’t resist. I’m referring to the “waiting child” photolistings, online or on paper. “Waiting children” basically means children for whom there is no waiting family. They may be from the U.S. foster care system and hard to place because of age or number of siblings. International agencies use … Continue reading →

Getting Right With God

Yesterday, I wrote a lot about what I used to be like and how I am remembered in my home town. An event took place about twenty-five years ago that completely changed me in every way. In my college days, I was wild and up to no good. When I married at twenty-nine, I had stopped the riotous living, but my heart had not changed at all. Shortly after Nancy and I got married, we moved to my hometown and I joined a law firm. We starting attending the church that my family had attended for several generations. We became … Continue reading →