Last Fall my daughter Angela came home and she had a sad look on her face. All afternoon I watched her as she played and noticed that something was most definetly up. She was not responding to her dad and I with her usual joyful and sparkling eyes. Nor was she to attentive to her friends in the yard when they came over.

That night in bed as I rubbed her legs and feet. We began talking like usual. All of a sudden she asked "Mommy what does Adopted mean?"

I took a deep breath and I asked her why on earth she wanted to know something like that. She then began telling me that "her sister April had told her she was adopted....and now her friends were teasing her and telling her she was just an adopted kid."

Her concern nearly broke my heart. I began to tell her a long but true story. One that I had hoped would not need to be talked about until she was a bit older. But thanks to her sister's mean attitude and now her friends at school and around the house. I had to tell her the truth.

I told her how much I loved her daddy and how I had always wanted to have children to raise with her daddy. I told her that for some reason God did not allow me and daddy to have children of our own.
So mommy had to pray and ask some one else to give her the most precious gift of all. A new baby.

She seemed to understand that daddy and I loved her very much but that I could not have a baby grow in my belly like most women can.

Then I told her that some nice lady could not afford to raise her baby and she gave that baby to me and daddy to raise. That baby was a beautiful little girl that we named Angela. She is our Angel from Heaven. She grew in our hearts not in our belly.

It seemed to be enough of an explanation for her for that moment. But it was not going to be enough of an explanation for her friends. For a few weeks Angela came home sad. Over the weekend we talked some more. She said the kids were making fun of her because she was Adopted. That most of them didn't want to play with her because of it.

That following Monday I went in to the school to speak with the principal and Angela's Teachers.
I didn't want them to allow Angela to be teased by the kids. Much to my surprise. Even the Teacher had a reaction when I told her that Angela was adopted.

At first I was upset. I thought it was no wonder the kids reacted harshly .....they are just children. But for a Teacher to act like I had just told her my child had a Desease was uncalled for.

I began to notice how people are treated when they say ..."I am Adopted." I decided to check out some res ponces on my own and for a few weeks I made it personal and told everyone I knew who did not know me that "I was adopted." Of course I am not adopted. Knowing my siblings sometimes I wish I could use that excuse but I can't (giggle).

I got some of the coldest most impersonal responses.
"Oh you are Adopted." or an "Oh wow." I even got an apology by some people. That is when I knew I had to do something to help my daughter to understand people and their mind set.

Even in the year 2006....People still have these mind sets. It is like they think you are from Mars if you say I am Adopted. Or God forbid they treat you like you have some illness.

This is one reason I am so happy that November is National Adoption Awareness Month. It is time to get the word out that adoption has existed since.... the birth of Christ Jesus. Joseph was not the biological father. He was the adopted father of baby Jesus.

You would think people would know these things. Then again maybe they just don't think until someone makes them feel the words.

I am so blessed that my Angela understands what adopted means. It is nothing bitter or bad. Nothing to be ashamed of or to hide. It is the most precious thing that has ever happened to her, her daddy and I. Adoption made us a family.

It gave us the daughter we could have never had.
It gave us a greater love than we could have ever understood. Adoption is a gift that I know comes from the throne room in heaven.

Only God could calm the heart of a birth mom who gives up a child for adoption. Only God could place a child in the arms of a barren mother who
can only feel motherhood through the gift of adoption.

It is time we make the world aware. Let them know that Adoption is a precious gift .....It always has been and always will be. No star has shined brighter since the birth of Jesus. An Adopted Child.