november – adoption awareness month

November is National Adoption Awareness Month and most people will draw a smiley face on their hand (it’s part of how we got our logo idea). But a smiley face just doesn’t feel authentic to me right now when I think about adoption…

Our adoption journey has had smiles & hearts full of awe, gratitude and excitement, but it’s mostly been hard, painful and faith-stretching. 

The truth about adoption is there are smiley face, thankful, “wow God!” moments. But there are lots of gut-wrenching, angry, heartbreaking, “what the heck!?” moments filled with grief and loss.

So I drew the smiley face, but I also drew a few other faces that I’ve felt the last 22 months.

Adoption comes with a variety of feelings and it’s okay for grief + joy to co-exist. You can have contentment with your current family dynamics but still long for and have dreams of life with your future kid(s). 
Adoption is a beautiful picture of the gospel. Adoption is a front-row seat of God’s faithfulness. Adoption is also extremely painful, hard, emotional and multi-layered. And I think people need to remember that.

So go hug an adoptive-mama — they need it.