Grandparents

The Daddy Guy and I are blessed to still have both sets of parents alive, in our lives, and in our children's lives. We don't live closely to either set of grandparents, but my parent are around two hours away and the Daddy Guy's are three hours in the opposite direction.

As the Daddy Guy and I have grown in our marriage and grown our family, we know that it probably looks a little different than the families we grew up with. We both went to public school, our kids are currently homeschooled. There were only two kids in each of our families, we currently have three with another on the way. Both of our moms worked as we grew older out of necessity, we are thrilled that I can continue to stay home. NONE  of these choices are a reflection of a response to how our parents chose to raise us. We know we were (and are) loved. We know that our parents made thoughtful decisions about our childhoods. We had good childhoods. The choices are just different today in a different time, and they only reflect where God is leading our family at this time.

This past weekend, our family was the recipient of a fundraiser held by strangers. Talk about humbling. It was a partnership between a great organization called A Sea of Hope and a local church. The Daddy Guy and I were only responsible for gathering more items for the auction.

During the few weeks leading up to the auction, my mom put her money where her mouth is and worked to gather items for the auction. She used some of her own artwork. She asked friends to donate. She drove up for the night of the event. It blessed me to have her here.

Also in attendance for the event was the mom of one of the ladies who started A Sea of Hope. She bought not one or two paddles to bid, but FIVE. She was serious about bidding! She was so kind and gracious and excited for us.

My mom and I were talking after the event about how I appreciated the effort she has put into helping us through this process. She said that once she understood the importance of helping these children, she knew she needed to do something. I think she hit on something there. When we get a lukewarm response from people when they're asked to help, it's not because they're uncaring, it is because they don't know.

We belong to the Reece's Rainbow online community, and occasionally we hear a story about grandparents who might be less than supportive of a family's decision to adopt. Sometimes the reaction come out of fear (we are talking about kids who usually have some kind of significant need), sometimes it's cautionary, other times it just because they don't understand the need. To those families, I would just suggest that you persevere. It's my guess that you and your immediate family have been praying about adoption for some time. You're not just jumping in without forethought. However, once you made the decision, you announced the good news to your family and didn't quite get the reaction you hoped for. Just remember, you've had months of God preparing your heart. Give your loved ones the benefit of the same. Pray for your family. When the opportunity arises, gently share with them why you're doing what you're doing. Give them time and facts to help them process what is a HUGE undertaking financially and emotionally.

I was so blessed by these two grandmas this weekend. It is something I have thought about ever since Friday night. Even though their children are grown and out of the house, and they're not called to adopt at this phase in their lives, they are working hard to help others come home. Even though our family life doesn't look exactly like what we grew up with, we appreciate where we came from and we love our parents. Even more, we love how our parents love our kids.