Conference Update

The adoption conference was wonderful.  My favorite classes were the Adoptee Panel and the Birth Parent panel.  Great insights were provided into how each of them felt about either being adopted or having made an adoption plan for their child.  All were beautiful people with beautiful hearts.  It is amazing how they were all willing to tell their story to others so opening.  We  both left with our hearts full of love for adoption in general, our own miraculous adoption and the possibility of a future adoption story.  The Lord knows each of us and our needs. 

With the birth parent panel it was evident how the hand of the Lord played His part in bringing families together, providing needed comfort, peace and healing.  Each story reminded us how important the Lord's hand was in bringing our daughter into our lives.  As each birth parent spoke we also reflected on the love we have for Bethanie's birth mother and her family.

The Adoptee panel allowed us to skip ahead 13 plus years and imagine how Bethanie may feel about adoption when she is older.  Three of the four adoptees were married, two had children of their own, one had adopted a child, and one was still in high school.  The common theme or take home advice was openness and love are key to success.  We are grateful we have been telling Bethanie since birth about her amazing arrival into our family.  Our favorite quote from the session was from the adoptee who was always told, "You are growing up in the right family, you just had to take the scenic route to get here".  Humor was another theme that seemingly helped each of these individuals grow up to be amazing adults.

We were able to attend four break out sessions a day.  During a few of the sessions where we couldn't decide on just one we would divide and conquer.  So all together we attended, between the two of us, 10 sessions.  Hopefully we will be able to apply what we have learned as we teach and raise our daughter and also to just be more educated about adoption.