Parenthood

I have an entirely different perspective on life now that I have children. I expect this comes as no surprise to anyone who is a parent. It changes things. It alters the way you see the world and all of the possibilities it holds. The hopes are endless and the fears somehow more tangible.
Protection for precious little lives comes in many forms and the "Mamma Bear" mentality sets in like a magical unseen cloak that is placed over your shoulders from the moment that child becomes your own. That cloak somehow encompasses your children, yourself, your partner and the family you have become.
You look at the miles of circumstance ahead and do your best to prepare for the good and the bad that might meet you. You brace your loved ones closer to you as another corner of change approaches knowing that you will be stronger together than you could ever be apart.
Suddenly, the word family consists of something much more than the family you had so neatly defined before these little lives came into focus. Family becomes not only the people that are related to you, but also the people that most want to advocate for your children and for what they need. Family is suddenly a term that applies not only to those that love your children, but also to those that respect and appreciate what you have created as a family and what your family has gone through to get where you are.
Adoption. It is different. It is a new kind of family for many. It demands a different kind of appreciation, a different kind of respect. A respect for what our children have been through, what they have seen, what they will remember. It is about respecting each new change and each new process that will be faced as they take on a new identity in this world and this new family that is now their own.
It is about "getting it". Getting that you may not fully understand all that goes into adoption. Getting that you may not agree with it or that you may not ever truly get it, but understanding that you can still respect it and the decisions made because of it.
It doesn't stop once we bring them home. It keeps growing with each day. We keep changing and keep discovering that as we evolve as a family, the definition of the term also begins to take on a new form. The strength of this family only grows deeper as we continue to create a new life together.