Gratitude

I love November for many reasons. It's national adoption month, and my birthday and Thanksgiving are in November. I love that Thanksgiving is all about being grateful. There is no other reason for the holiday, and the world hasn't turned it into anything else. Each year at Thanksgiving our family goes around the table and tells 3 things they are thankful for. Every year, at least one of mine is the same. Each year I say that I am grateful for our birth parents and adoption because without them, we would not be a family. I think about how wonderful adoption is a lot. I am on the Families Supporting Adoption board and get to help educate new adoptive couples about the joys and challenges of adoption. I love meeting other special families that get to share in this wonderful experience! I love watching how their sorrow of not being able to have biological children is transformed into unexplainable joy as they are chosen to be parents of their child. Adoption is a different world that can only be fully understood by those who have been involved.

Every day when I see my children I am reminded of the loving sacrifice that their birth mothers made for them. It makes me all the more grateful for my children. So this year as we go around the table, I will once again say I am grateful for adoption and birth parents. I am also grateful for my parents and Dustin's parents and the support they give us. Finally, I am thankful for my husband and the loving father that he is, and how he works hard to support our family.