After being introduced to a classroom of emotionally impaired children, I enjoyed watching what brought them joy. As the teachers worked with them you could see who was trying to listen and who didn't care what she had to say.

We were there for the afternoon to sing for the children, so we walked around and helped hand out snacks and got to know the people there with us.

There was one young man who was about the size of a two year old. But he actually was 22. Every time my mom would walk by him he would try and pull up her dress. His mother worked there so she would bring him along to play with the children.

You could see his frustration of just being in the room there. Mentally he was well into his teens, so being left in a room with younger children did not make him happy.

For some reason my mom took to him and she sat down and began talking to him. His expressions changed and he seemed to come to life. All he needed was someone to treat him as the older person he was. Mom talked to him about sports and about cars and TV programs. It made a world of difference.

We sang some good songs that got everyone involved who could move their feet and arms. Then we sang an expression song where people had to frown and smile and giggle and make silly faces too. Of course we did the chicken dance and YMCA... all those fun songs.

We spent almost three hours there instead of the two hours we had been invited for. When we were ready to leave we were asked to please come back again soon.

That day we realized that there is a world of difference in emotionally and mentally ill people. Handicaps have a vast range of seriousness. Sometimes it is more valuable to see what a person is capable of instead of what they are not capable of.

This is also true in our homes when we adopt children with special needs. What we might think a handicap consists of, and what the child is capable of maybe two different things.

One of my best friends has spina bifida. She was born and put up for adoption at birth. The birth parents didn't even know she had a handicap. She spent a few years in Foster Care before she was adopted by an older couple. By this time she had a shunt in her head and one of her legs had been removed up to the knee.

She is wheelchair bound... or unbound as I found out. This girl goes up and down flights of stairs, she drives, she cooks, she takes her own baths and takes care of all of her own personal needs. She is amazing to me. This past year she had wanted to locate her birth father. So we helped her find him. Then we took her by his home to offer him an invitation to meet her and his grandson. Yes she has a 12 year old son.

She met her birth mother a year ago. She has half siblings and has established a good relationship with the birth mothers side of the family.

Unfortunately the birth father did not want to meet her. It is such a small world that the lady that lives with the birth father actually was her nurse when she was in rehab after her leg was taken. She gave her a picture and said give this to my dad and tell him it is ok.

The picture was of her and her son. We have talked a few times since then and I keep telling her it is her father's loss that he does not want to meet.

His lady friend said he was pretty bull headed. Now we know where her determination comes from to over come any obstacle in her way. She is a little strong minded also.

There is a world of difference in all of us. Some of us are 100 percent healthy and we have emotional handicaps that keep us from achieving in life. Some of us have bad handicaps that make them determined to succeed no matter what happens in life.

Stay open minded when meeting new people... especially when adopting children. They can amaze you.