"I'm Adopted?????"

Well, just when you think you have it all under control, something happens that knocks you down a notch or two.....

Scott and I thought we were doing so well. We talk about adoption all the time with our children. We talk about birth parents and the role they played in our lives. We talk about how families are all different, how some families are created, etc. You know, all the stuff we are "supposed" to talk about with our children.

Last night Vanessa was telling us something she learned at school (?). She was talking about how "adopted means that a different mom and dad had you and then another mom and dad adopted you". We were all hanging out in the kitchen and I said, "That's right Vanessa, just like we adopted you!"

She stops, looks at me with a "what are you talking about" look on her face, and says, "I was adopted?" Scott and I looked at each other, not sure how she missed this point and nodded our heads yes.

She shakes her head back and forth slowly, while saying under her breath, "Ok, that is just weird".

We had to pinch ourselves to keep from busting out laughing. She was so cute. I was pretty sure she understood all of that but it looks like we will need to pull her baby book out after school today and go through her story again. I love doing that. I love going back to the day we first met and remember the feelings I felt as I met our newest addition.

Adoption gives me such a rush. I don't know how else to explain it. There are so many emotions that swirl around me those first few days. I'm always in such awe that a complete stranger is entrusting her child with us. That we become related to someone we have never met in that instant we hold our sweet baby.

Adoption is so much a part of our everyday life. It's who we are as a family. We are not normal. We are not average. We never will be. I love the fact that our children will grow up thinking that this is what a family is, lives brought together by a miracle.