My REAL brothers

I have wanted to post this since it happened last week. The BIG P's were out of school last Monday,(after Easter) and I took all 4 p's to the park. I left the little p's in the BIG P's care and ran a errand 1/2 mile down the street. While I was gone the Big P's enjoyed swinging the little p's in the swings and taking them down the slide. What made this an interesting day at the park were the questions the Big P's were asked about their little brothers. While swinging the twins a couple of little black girls came up to Parker and Paeton and asked them why they were swinging those black babies? They told the little girls they were swinging their brothers on the swings because they think it is fun. Then the little girls asked them, "are those your REAL brothers?" They confirmed that "yes these are their REAL brothers." Then they asked Paeton if, pointing at Parker, "is he your real brother too?" Paeton told the little girls that yes Parker was her real brother also. She went on to explain to the little girls that our family adopted her brothers from Ethiopia last summer. I guess that satisfied their curiosity, there were no more questions after that.

They did however over hear a conversation a white boy and girl were having with their mother. They were asking their mom the same question, "why is that boy and girl pushing those little black babies on the swings?" The mother proceeded to inform her children that she did not know for sure but she thought the boy and girl were probably babysitting the babies.

I was taking Phelix into the medical center to visit his doctor today. As we were approaching the entrance an older black woman smiled at us and said, "ooh, that baby is so pretty! Is it a boy or a girl? Ooh, he's so pretty, looks Indian or something. Is this your baby?" I told her he was my baby and thanked her for the kind compliments and told her that he had a twin brother at home. I told her that we adopted them last summer from Ethiopia. She said, "You did, you did that? God bless you! You adopted him? Ooh, God bless you! Can I hold him? I want to say I have held an Ethiopian baby!" I let her hold him, I think he made her day. She told me she was going to put us on the prayer list at her church. She thanked me again and blessed us again and she was on her way.

I write about these experiences and questions to let you know how it makes me feel and how I have decided to handle these situations. I wish I did not have to tell people the "whole" story, but the fact is, our family looks different and that raises some questions. My children are my children. We have 4 of them and are so proud of each of them. We love them so much it is not possible to put it into words. I could just leave it at that but that would not satisfy the curiosity of most. Although part of me doesn't want to have to go into all of the details, another part of me has decided to go into all of the details. I want to spread HIS love through our adoption of Phelix and Phisher into our family. I want people to know we are not some super family. We are just a regular ole family who answered the Lord's call. I want people to know how incredibly blessed we are to have Phelix and Phisher in our family. I want to tell people how rich our family is now that the twins are in it. I want to share with others how much we have grown as a family in our faith and relationship with the Lord during the adoption process and after. I want to world to know how FULL our hearts are, how in serving others and caring for the orphans He asks us to care for we have truly received the greatest gift. The gift of meeting Him and walking along side Him in this Earthly life.