Adoption Training

 This week is the 2 Day adoption training. This is a mandatory training, if you want to move forward in the process. I'm going to interrupt this blog post momentarily, before I get into the details of these past 2 days. Here is a cute story for you: 

E was in the back seat of the car as we were driving home one day earlier this week. She was quietly thinking and tracing her finger on all things she could touch... Then she asked, "Mommy, when did I pop out of your tummy?" 

If you're an adoptive parent who hasn't breathed a word about adoption yet to your child, you're in hot water if this happens. Luckily, we have spoke to E about being adopted from day 1. During training, this is something that they ask/train you on. How do we "talk" to E about adoption from Day 1? It's about reading books to her about adoption, talking openly to everyone about adoption, printing off photo books with pictures of birth family in them, hanging those photos around the house, and continue to Video Chat with birth family. 

So, it wasn't hard to talk this one through with her. The response was simple and went like this: 

"You remember your birth mom (name)?" 

E: "Yeah!" 

Me: "Well, you came from her tummy! She loved you so much and really loved daddy and me, so she gave you to us! It was the best day ever! I was there when you popped out of her tummy on your birthdate and got to hold you in the hospital. Remember those pictures in your birth story book?!" 

E: "Oh yes! You and daddy held me in the hospital with (birth mom's name)." 

And joy filled my heart... Case closed. Adoption is a beautiful thing and E is starting to get it. 

Back to the training- 

What is the training like? We go over transracial adoption, talk through how adoption affects birth family/adoptive family/and child, what is open adoption, some situations that are possible to come up in your journey, and hear a panel of discussion between a birth and couples who recently adopted. It's a lot of talking about really difficult topics and considerations to think through about the adoption process. 

What surprised both Ryan and I the most? The company we chose found that 50% of their adoptive families found their children by doing their own outreach. (Word of mouth, blogs, reaching out to others and letting them know they are available to adopt.) I guess that means- Feel free to send out our blog to others you know! 

What did we love about doing this again? We loved meeting more people going through the same process as we are. We also both loved hearing from the birth mom and adoptive parents panel. Fun fact that you can enjoy with us- Birth Mom's Day is the day before Mother's Day!!! Ahhh! I am so excited to show my love and support for our birth mom!! 

What is a struggle about doing it again? It's 2-days of heavy information, and we get the blessing of knowing that everything turns out alright and goes the way it should go for us. It's possible you leave the initial training feeling this is Mount Everest to climb and it's going to take forever.... Plus, it was a lot of repeat information. 

But, as we know, climbing Mount Everest is worth it! Enjoy these photos until next post!