I have been so excited about this trip, and it's so quickly approaching. I have recently made contact with the social worker (now barrister) that was in charge of the YWAM families adoptions. Essentially, she inspected my parents backgrounds, approved them, and brought me to them. My adoption was one of the earlier ones, and I am the first adoptee to contact her after these years. I cannot wait to meet her (again) and to ask her some questions.
I have been reflecting a bit about what it means to be adopted, born into certain circumstances, adopted by an American Caucasian family, and raised as their child. As we watch our friends welcome the births of their first children, I am struck by how immediate the family tie is formed. I become curious, then, about how an adoption bond is formed. My parents, my brother, and I share a closeness that is as close as blood, and I wonder about the incredible power and grace that has touched my brother's and my lives. I am so touched by the willingness of other volunteers and by the mothers to work and sacrifice to allow more children to experience the gift of adoption when the birth families are not able to be the children's families. I am also struck by the legacy of what it means to be "given up" and then "chosen." These mixed feelings of gratefulness and abandonment, self identification, reinvention, and self esteem are blended in me, and I don't yet know how to express them. As I sit here, I'm not entirely sure now what it means really to be adopted.
Josh and I have been asked to do some staff training classes in addition to the "physical care" work. We will be teaching about family work-life balance and child nutrition. We'll be working primarily in the Wee Care department, which is the special needs home. I don't have any experience working with special needs children, but the advice I have been given is that they need love, attention, and patience --like any other kids. We're really looking forward to it. Josh and I are expecting to be scheduled on the same shifts, so we're really getting excited. I know I'll probably fall in love with the kids there, and someday, maybe we'll get to adopt from there. But, first things, first. :)
If you'd like me to send you a postcard from Hong Kong, please email me your mailing address. I'm not nearly organized enough to have kept track of the addresses. But if I have them emailed to me, I can't lose them as easily. I will try to send them so that they get to you before we get back!
