Parenting is not for the faint of heart – no matter how God has called you to be a parent – there is nothing easy about it!! I have felt since our first adoption, that parenting an adopted child was very different and, for me, much harder. I question so much more than I did with our biological children. So when I ran across this book, 20 Things Adoptive Parents Need to Succeed by Sherrie Eldridge, I felt ready for the help!! It is a wonderful resource for parents – I could give you tidbits from every chapter but I will let you read it and leave you with one great nugget here:
"Every adopted child has special needs, different needs, emotional vulnerabilities that accompany the dynamics of adoptive family living. Adoption experts Holly van Gulden and Lisa Bartel-Rabb say in their classic book Real Parents, Real Children: ‘Though the term ‘special needs children’ is used in a very specific way in adoption, we believe that all adopted children have special needs – needs that children raised by their birth parents don’t face.’ You also have special needs as parents, not only because your children have certain emotional vulnerabilities but because you jumped through extraordinary hoops to adopt…It’s not that there’s anything inferior about you. Far from it! Adoptive parenting is not for the fainthearted. You experience grief, loss, fears of rejection, and challenges too numerous to mention. You simply have different needs than biological parents do."
Be encouraged – there is help out there and it’s ok to ask or search for it – we have answered a high calling and may need some extra grace to accomplish it!
(For further encouragement, visit my blog HERE – I did a post last week on our journey with our most recent adoption – God is faithful!!)
