Happy Father's Day everybody.

I have always loved Father's Day. When I was young, I enjoyed it because I have such a wonderful, loving and devoted father. For a good part of my life he has been my only parent and he has always deserved at least one day a year to celebrate his role as a dad, even if it meant burnt toaster waffles and microwaved coffee in bed.

And then I got married, and watched the man I love become a dad for the first time. I have since had two amazing men to celebrate on Father's Day.

Dads in adoption often get over-looked. When you get on the adoption email groups, the adoption forums and the adoption blogs, it seems that the majority of people talking about adoption are moms. It seems like the majority of people openly obsessing over referral waits and travel dates and every piece of the paperwork, are moms. It seems that the people giving and receiving the bulk of the adoption-related online support are moms.

But even though they may be under-represented in the online adoption communities, in most of the adoptive families that I know, the dads are just as involved, committed, loving and devoted as the moms.

I know that in our adoptions, my husband went through the emotions of the process just as much as I did. He may not have obsessed about it all quite as much as I did, but the wait was just as hard, the excitement of the referral was just as real and the sheer joy of being united with our children was just as overwhelming.

He rejoiced over the pictures we got during our wait just like I did. He cried in frustration as we waited to bring our kids home just as I did. He was full of excitement and anticipation as we were getting ready to travel, just like I was. He cried tears of joy when they were finally in our arms, just like I did.

He was my rock. He was always strong when I was having a hard time, but on the days that I was feeling strong, he let me know that he needed me to be his rock, too.

Although a lot of women complain about reluctant husbands when it comes to adoption, I don't think that it is so much that many husbands are truly reluctant, as much as I think they just tend to adjust to the idea of big family change in different ways and at different rates of speed than women generally do.

My husband is an awesome dad. For some of my kids, he is the second father that they have had in their lives. For some of my kids, he is the only father they have known, and for some of my kids, he is the only father that they have. All of them know that they have his unconditional love and support. All of them know that he is their dad. It doesn't matter to him how our children came to be his children. He loves them all equally and has dedicated his life to his family.

He has an incredibly soft heart, and he loves and cares about all children, especially those without fathers of their own.

To him, and to all other dads out there who love their children and have devoted themselves to being the best dads that they can be, Happy Father's Day. To dads who love the children they have created, to dads who have been separated from their children for whatever reason and to dads who have become fathers through the miracle of adoption, I say, "Happy Father's Day."

Here are some posts I have written to celebrate dads in adoption:

Adoption ABCs - Family and Fathers

Unphotographable - Fathers

Unphotographable - Father Daughter Love

Happy Father's Day

Remembering All Fathers