But Your Baby Will Be....Black

 Today I want to talk about the hard truth of adopting a baby whose skin color doesn't match our own, and it comes down to one simple statement: SOME PEOPLE SIMPLY WON'T UNDERSTAND. 

People will say hurtful things. 

People will think even more hurtful things. 

People will judge. 

People will be upset by this. 

People just won't get it. 

And that's okay. 

We realize that God doesn't call us all to the same things. 

In fact, I even like this-- if we were all called to do the very same things in the very same way, not much would get done. 

Today at Libby's Christmas party at school, we talked to her classmates about adoption-- not in  a formal way, just through several individual conversations.

It was obvious some of the kids had never heard of a white family adopting a black baby.

 But after a minute of thinking about it, they seemed to just accept it. 

She will be our daughter. 

She will be Libby's little sister. 

And once they thought about it, they got excited. 

Emily will have a home. 

She will have a family. 

And we will have her. 

The kids get it. 

They understand that you don't have to look alike to be family. 

Now if we could only work to teach adults the same message. 

So far, I have learned two big things through our adoption journey: 

1. Waiting is hard and not my gift.

2. Some people do not think before they speak. 

I've had people ask me if I know she'll be black.

I've had people tell me that we are white...you know, in case we somehow missed that. 

I've had people tell us how lucky our daughter will be (this, by the way, is NOT what we believe-- we are are NOT her savior; only Jesus is worthy of that title. We are not trying to be heroes or good Samaritans. We are simply following God's call for our family. Period.).

I've had many people turn their noses up to the fact that we are adopting internationally rather than domestically. 

And I've had a lot of people make very confused faces and stare in silence. 

But, you know what else I've had? 

I've had so many friends and people I have never met go out of their way to pray for and support our adoption. 

And that, my friends, is something to be thankful for.