When I hear the words: "Can I ask you a personal question?" coming out of the mouth of someone I met a few minutes ago, I cringe. I cringe because I immediately know that this person is going to ask an extremely personal question. An irrelevant question and that has nothing to do with them.
And then it comes: "Did you struggle to fall pregnant?"
The reality is, no. We never tried to fall pregnant. Adoption was our first choice. I never had to deal with infertility issues. I'm lucky. But there are so many women out there who weren't as lucky as me. Women who tried everything to be able to carry a miracle inside their bodies. Women who have grieved losses that some of us will never understand. To some of these women, adoption wasn't their first choice. It was a last resort to have a family.
It doesn't matter why someone chose adoption. It doesn't take away from the fact that a new family was brought together through this act. Adoption is a gift that God gave so that people can understand how He adopted us through Christ. How we became fully His children.
Did you know that in many countries you are allowed to write biological children out of your will, but not adopted children? Adopted children become so much your own that you can't distance yourself from them from a legal perspective.
I believe that adoption, even with all the loss and heartache attached, is beautiful. Adopting a child is just as special as starting a family any other way. I often say that I could not have given birth to a child more my own that little Levi. He is so much more than I could ever have dreamt of. He is fully and completely mine. When I look into his eyes, I don't see my own reflected in them, but I see love. I see a love that is stronger than biology because it was a choice.
