While narrating the our foster care story of the last year, the effort to become parents does not stop. Today we send off our application to a private adoption agency pursuing that route. One part of that application is a statement on why we want to adopt. Here's what we wrote:
This past Advent our church had a theme for worship: “What’s Your Wish?” Everyone was asked to write their wish on a little card -- the one thing you most wanted in life. We wrote “Children.”
We can imagine the looks on our mother’s faces, gigantic smiles as they meet our kids and enthusiastically fuss over them. We look forward to tucking our kids in at night and reading them bedtime stories. We can’t wait to watch them grow and learn and explore. And we dream of a future when we are grandparents, sitting around a table for the holidays, surrounded by our children and grandchildren. We can't imagine our lives without them. And we can't imagine not adopting. Scott’s father was adopted and Michael's best friend is adopted, so adoption is part of our life.
Last year, we began pursuing that wish and were open to every possibility. We took classes and completed background checks to become licensed foster parents. Fostering one young man, we learned a lot about ourselves as parents and about the joys and struggles of parenting. We enjoyed the fun of sledding in winter, riding roller coasters, taking him on his first big trip, walking him to the bus stop for the first day at a new school, and dropping him off for a big dance. We were anxious when he was bullied at school, struggled academically, and had to be rushed to the emergency room. Our experience as foster parents powerfully affirmed our wish to be adoptive parents.
Currently, our life is rich and full with marriage, careers, friends, hobbies, and volunteer activities. We work passionately to make the world a better place and to help people in need. But one thing is missing: children. We've been so blessed and want to share those blessings. Raising children -- having a family -- is the most important thing we can do.
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