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This Thanksgiving week, Josh and I have talked a lot with the kids about being thankful, what it means to be thankful and all of the very many things we have to be thankful for.
We want our children to be grateful for the lives that they have. Not in the sense that they are grateful that they were adopted or in any way that they are “indebted” to Josh and I, because no child should feel like that. Every child has the right to feel that they belong in their family and that they have as much of a right to be there as all of the other family members. All of our kids know that Josh and I are grateful for them and that we consider them blessings.
But we do want our kids to be grateful that they have so many things that others do not. They have a loving family. They have a warm home. They have plenty of food. They have all sorts of “stuff”. They have nice clothes. They get to go to school and church. They get to go to the doctor when they are sick and have access to any medicine that they need.
I know a lot of people that live sort of oblivious to the fact that there are people out there in the world that do not have these things that so many take for granted.
Because of their backgrounds, many of our kids know from personal experience how much some people live without. They also know about the volunteer work I do for AHOPE, and know there are many, many orphans in the world.
As we talked about the things we are thankful for, many of their answers were predictable, but some of my kids’ answers were different than those of the average American kid in elementary school. Here is a sampling of some of their answers.
Mercy was thankful that her and Des got to stay together (they were almost separated before we adopted them).
Nathan was thankful that we are adopting Solomon and that so many more of the kids at AHOPE have been matched with adoptive families.
Ryan was thankful for his family and church and all the people in the world who help other people.
Des was thankful that Josh’s brother got to come spend the holiday with us and was grateful that there is medicine for people who are HIV+.
Shane was thankful for never-ending desserts at the restaurant we had dinner at and that he has lots of brothers and sisters to play with.
Benjamin was thankful that there is soccer in America and that his family is “great”.
Amanda is thankful for kittens and that she has four sisters (probably in that order).
Maggie is thankful for her “big huge family”.
Belane is thankful for mom.
Marcus is thankful for quite a lot. He gave a five minute speech, of which 3-4% was understandable. We picked our words like “Unkie”, “Mom”, “Dad”, “Solomon”, “Sponge Bob” and “airplane”.
I am thankful for so very much, but most of all, I am thankful for my husband and the beautiful family we’ve created together.
*If you have not yet participated, make sure you visit this post and enter the fun giveaway for National Adoption Month thanks to Curls.
* Photo from Erin Henderson
