Our Adoption Story

The journey to parenthood is different for every family. For some, it comes as a natural process. For others, it is a journey that requires faith, courage, and an open heart. It started out with doubt and ended in love.

We never considered ourselves to be adoptive parents in the beginning. The concept was far away, complex, and perhaps too difficult to deal with. But it would come back and back as time went on. There was somewhere a little person who needed a family. And somewhere inside our being, there was room to be filled with love.

We started to discuss it more seriously. The questions quickly followed - what if we cannot bond? What if it's too hard? What if we're not ready? These were very real fears, and we did not run away from them either. We read, discussed, and talked with other adoptive parents and listened to both honest and hopeful stories.

Gradually, the fear starts to subside. Love replaced hesitation. And so, we knew that we just had to begin: the story of our family was waiting to be told.

Overcoming Uncertainty and Finding Our Child

There was no plain sailing in the adoption process. It was a process that required paperwork, background checks, home visits, and long waiting times. Every form we signed seemed like a small step in the direction of someone we had not seen but who we already loved with all our hearts.

There were moments of doubt. We doubted whether it was going to be fraud or if we were going to be selected or if we were doing the right thing at all. But the sneaky thoughts that would creep in, we told ourselves of why we started too. Love is worth waiting for.

Then he got that phone call, which changed everything. Our social worker told us of a little boy who needed to be adopted. He was timid and quiet, and just five years old. My heart raced. It was one of excitement and fear - what if he didn't like us? What if we couldn't connect?

We met him at a small park. He sat there on a swing holding a toy car. When we told him our name, he didn't say anything, just nodded. I got down beside him and asked him what his favourite colour was. "Blue," he whispered. That was it. Nothing was the same after the occurrence.

One word was the beginning of our story together. But his shyness did not deter us; not his silence was terrifying to us. That was when we knew - he was one of us and we were one of him.

Making Changes to Our New Way of Life Together

The journey of bringing him home was beautiful and hard. He was carrying a small pack and big eyes brimming with doubt. Our first few nights were tough on us. He would wake up screaming and afraid of being left alone again. We sat down beside him and took his hand to hold until he fell asleep.

Eventually, our house became his home. He would start to run around his room, making drawings, running around the backyard. We learned what clothing he had to wear, what he liked to eat, how he liked to sleep, and what made him laugh.

Not perfect, with temper tantrums, tears, and quiets as he'd have us test our love. But all the obstacles taught us that healing is a process. The more patient we were, the faster he gained trust.

Within months, the young boy who never spoke was laughing and crying at the dinner table and calling us Mom and Dad. It was then that we knew that all our doubts, all our hesitation, all the sleepless nights, were justified.

The Adoption Conversion Process and Transformation

Adoption is not only a gift to a child but a gift to the lives of everyone involved. We thought we were giving him a home, but he returned something of a much greater order to us, a purpose.

Through him, we learnt that love does not flow through blood. It is sustained on the wings of patience, consistency, and a myriad of small gestures of love. Adoption teaches what it means to be faithful: to stick with it even when it is difficult, and to love it even when it is messy.

Every milestone is a celebration, like when he first drew on our refrigerator, his first skit at school, his first whispering "I love you." Each moment is the weight of all that it took to reach it.

Now, when we watch him curl up into a deep sleep at night, we occasionally think back to where we started, the hesitation, the questions, the fear. Like some of the theophanies I mention here, the joy we feel today seems so minor when we think of the questions.

From Doubt to Devotion

It's a miracle to see the changes that occurred over a few years. Those people who were once scared to become parents are now the parents of a boy who fills every corner of their lives with love.

Our story shows that families have no blood (DNA) connections. They are created from love, courage, and commitment. "We learned adoption is not about giving, it's also about getting."

Every time he smiles, every time he takes our hands, we are reminded of that truth. Love found us when we made ourselves open to love.

From skepticism to commitment, nothing was decided - it was discovered what it means to be a genuine family.