Walt Disney allegedly asked ten different people what they thought of a new idea, and if they were unanimous in their rejection of it, he would begin to work on it immediately.



If, in the early 1980s, I’d have asked ten people, “What do you think about me adopting 38 kids as siblings to my birth child? I’m going to mainly do domestic adoptions, traumatized children from the foster care system, they will act out tremendously. Is that a good idea?”



Like everyone wouldn’t have hollered, “No, that’s a sucky idea.” So then, like Walt Disney, I would have forged on ahead with my plans.



Basically that is what happened. I got a little bit of encouragement at church when I whitewashed the plans, changing traumatized to needy, but overall people backed away with that look on their face. “Why mess up your life?” was the unspoken question.



Twenty challenging years have passed in a blur, if anything I’m more on fire now for this idea of mine than ever before. Blogging has allowed me to feel connected to other like-minded adoptive parents, the internet has opened doors into friendships and support, and thankfully the understanding of traumatized children has grown.



Napoleon Hill suggests that one should keep one’s plans to oneself, unless being counseled by supportive friends, avoid the naysayers and the dream stealers. Look what I’d have missed had I listened, back then, to fearful people. My one birth grandson would have missed out on his 11 cousins and his 38 aunts and uncles, the Bubbas…my young sons, are that grandson’s heroes and playmates.



I cannot imagine the emptiness of my life without all my children, or how I would have overbearingly annoyed the tar out of my one child. I don’t know how she’d ever have been able to breathe with me anywhere near. Even now, with her 38 younger siblings, I see her everyday, talk on the phone with her several times a day…I’d have driven her batty were I not a mom to others, I doubt that she’d have chosen to live on an adjacent acreage, she probably would have fled to Siberia for the peace and quiet from me that she would have needed if she’d remained my only child.



Denis Waitley in his book Seeds of Greatness stated:

Successful people believe in their own worth, even when they have nothing but a dream to hang on to. Why? Because their own self-worth is stronger than the rejection, or acceptance of ideas by others.

Yep, I didn’t care what others thought of my plans to adopt from the foster care system. I knew what I was getting into, although I got into more than I’d bargained for certainly. I still don’t care who thinks I have a tough life because I cook “for all those people” or wash their clothes 24-7, all the hard work involved. So what? Everyone’s gotta do something to feel valued.



This is what I’ve chosen to do and I DO feel valued and validated. I have 39 people who don’t think I “ruined my life.” I have 39 children who, in their varying shades of abilities, have turned into, or are in the process of turning into, wonderful human beings; a metamorphosis from the once troubled, distressed children into mighty fine adults.