November is National Adoption month. It is a time to raise awareness about adoption and providing families and homes for every child. For this post, I asked a friend to write a little about her life. This is Rachel, Steve, and their beautiful daughter, Ella.
My daughter and I look nothing alike. Her hair is thick and curly—requiring daily combing and moisturizing. Her eyes are large, expressive, and brown, in contrast to mine: green and small. Her skin is a brownie-batter brown while mine is a pale peach.
But for all of our physical differences, we share so much. For one, we are both bossy (we know what we want). We love to dance and act silly. Baking (and eating lots of chocolate chips) is one of our favorite activities. We both need our sleep, we love curling up on the couch next to the blazing fireplace, and we enjoy creating art. Reading books together is magical.
Outsiders usually realize, especially when my husband and I are out together with our daughter, that Ella is adopted. She’s the chocolate goodness in between her parents—happily swinging between our hands, laughing, and pointing out airplanes and babies. Though we get second glances often, the glance is followed by smiles and compliments. Our daughter is beautiful and charming—full of love for life. I am blessed beyond measure to be able to call her mine.
Though we look quite different, our day to day lives are that of any other family—busy. There are tantrums and errands and appointments. There’s dinner to make, laundry to wash, and bedtime stories to be read. It dawns on me at the most random of times that my daughter had another mother before Ella and I ever met.
Adoption is an important part of our lives because without it, we wouldn’t be a family. Adoption is its own world, full of possibilities. It’s through this joyous journey that I met Jill. I was attending a local baby fair with a girlfriend when we stopped to look at Jill’s photography display. The first question my friend (also an adoptive mother of a black child) and I asked Jill was, “Have you ever photographed black kids?”
Jill and I laugh at that memory. As I explained to her, we’ve had Ella’s picture taken before by a studio that put my daughter against a black background. When we were shown the proofs, Ella’s hair disappeared into the background, making her appear as a bald, floating-head baby. It was atrocious!
Jill assured me that she could take beautiful pictures of my family, and she also revealed that she was also an adoptive mother. Adoption is a subject close to Jill’s heart, as it is mine. I immediately liked and trusted Jill to capture my family on film.
Jill offers free sitting fees to newly established adoptive families. This gift allows families an affordable opportunity to capture the beauty of adoption in a photograph.
As you read this, you might feel your heart quicken slightly. Adoption is perhaps something you’ve always wanted to do, but you weren’t sure you had the time, resources, or heart to move forward. Let me tell you, adoption takes one step at a time. You have to constantly confront yourself—you have to ask hard questions and challenge your heart to embrace the unknown. It’s not an easy process, but when I look at my beautiful daughter, one who wasn’t born from my womb but came to me through the grace and faith of another woman, the journey is worth the risk.
To follow Rachel’s journey as an adoptive parent, check out her blog.
She is doing a great giveaway this week! You can sign up to win a children’s book here.
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