I adopted a little girl who was closer to a dog than a person. She had been abused horribly. She was full of literal holes all over her body, hair hair was brillo and falling out, and her teeth were black and pieces would fall out when she ate. She was sickly and mean as jackal. She would even bark and howl.
Now remember, I am talking about a four year old. She came to me with 3 mismatched outfits and a black toothbrush. She also had a pair of plastic shoes. I took her home, and sat her down to my homemade pot roast which I have been told is the best on earth.
She started to lap at the plate. I gave her a fork; she put it aside and continued sucking up her food. When she was close to finished, she went in the bathroom, threw up, and came back for more. She then asked me if she could call me "Mommy." I fell in love. Such a feeling of protectiveness overwhelmed me. She followed me everywhere. She was like having a postage stamp attached to my side.
Next, we went to the doctor and the dentist and started our journey toward turning a little puppy into a lovely human being. I am telling you this because of all my children, 3 biological, and seven grandchildren, she is my finest work.
She is 13 now, and yesterday I got in the car to go shopping. My cell phone rang, and her voice said, "Mommy, you be careful."
You couldn't buy love like that. If you have a home and a heart big enough for the battle of a lifetime, think about adopting from foster services. There are so many children like this. They all come with baggage, but look what I wound up with. In Oklahoma alone there are 16,000 children in foster care. Think about it. I'll help in anyway I can.
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Comments: 44
You are such a wonderful person for adopting a child, you should be very proud of yoruself.
and she is a beautiful girl!
She sounds like she is growing to become a wonderful person.
We adopted our oldest (at 7 days old) after we were told we would never be able to have children... Well, before we had her 4 months we found out we were going to have our own too!
From what I had seen and heard, I know that we've given her a better chance in life than what she would have had...
It's funny sometimes to hear the responses when people find out our girls are only 10 months apart.
One thing I learned through all this: if you can take a child who is so far below what the world considers "average" and get him or her to reach average, that can be like another kid getting all As and making the Honor Roll. Sometimes normal or average is plenty good enough! At the start, we were rooting for him to go as far as he could and he has surpassed every expectation so we have no idea how far he'll go. Wherever he ends up,we'll be happy as long as he is happy.
Personally, I never considered adoption unless I was not able to have children. Part of me has heard the horror stories where an older child was adopted, only to find that they had serious problems that any type of intervention was useless since it was a little too late. I believe that every child deserves to have a good home as well as given every opportunity to achieve success, but in some cases the best of intentions are taken advantage of.
Kudos to those of you who took a chance on a child and turned their life around literally by giving them love, support and the opportunity they deserve!
you don't know what this means to me. I have been talking to a woman for hours today who is thinking of adopting. I will give her a link to this.
God works in mysterious ways.
Thank you!!!
Cristina
What a blessing you are.
So why is there all this emphasis on adopted kids being somehow "lesser" than biological or birthchildren? I have both, children I gave birth to and a child that is adopted, and my heart doesn't know the difference :)
I do applaud you in the sense that a lot of people have kids and don't want to learn to be good parents. They place their kids in horrible situations. It's a good thing there are good people out there who, like you, would take in these children and make a difference in their lives.
I was once asked in a Gather article what do you think makes you successful. My resopnse was that you made a positice difference in at least one person's life! You have so Kudos to you!
If she is your adopted daughter, and this is her picture published here on a public site, can you imagine how she will feel when one of her friends sees this?
Let's see... the child gets a little older, googles her mama's name, and finds... WHAT? Mama called me a dog? Nah, not this saint....
I think we need to loosen some of those restrictions and get these kids a home rather than turning otherwise wonderful canidates away because they are single or don't make the right about of money. You said it yourself. You can't buy that kind of love. Love is free. It's free to give to these kids. If you can make ends meet and provide a healthy loving home you should never be turned away to adopt.