Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Sigh.....

The game of 20 questions started this past week from a few people. I was bombarded with questions about my children, scoliosis, adoption, Ethiopia, Korea and more. It was kind of overwhelming, kind of annoying and really really frustrating. I actually felt bad for the question askers as their view of life and the world is so very sheltered and judgemental.

I bit my tongue a little during the conversation due to the environment we were in but it was so hard. I had so much I wanted to say and either couldn't find the words or was just trying to be polite. Well this is my blog and I don't need to be polite here.

First things first, my husband and I chose adoption. No we cannot have children biologically yet we are blessed with 2 beautiful little girls that are our own. Yes my children are my own and yes I love them as much as I would had I given birth to them.

Ethiopia is beautiful. No it is not gross or horrible. I can't wait to go back and no I am not crazy for wanting to go back or wanting to share all of Ethiopia with my daughters. Poverty does exist in Ethiopia and it is heart breaking to see yet Ethiopians were smiling, welcoming and truly wonderful people. I cherish the time I spent there and I grew as a person. Futhermore, I did not save my daughter. She lost so much. Wait why explain....chances are if you are reading this you understand and if you don't understand then I doubt I can explain it well enough that you will.

Yes I want to see Kiya's mother again. Yes I would love for Kiya to meet her mother and no I am not worried that she will take Kiya away from me. No Kiya is not HIV + and even if she was it is none of your business. Not once did I ever worry about getting HIV while in Ethiopia. Seriously, I was asked this.

No I don't think it will be easier not knowing Katie's mother. I actually think it will be harder. I am excited to experience Korea and saddened that I will likely never meet sweet Katie's mother. The adoption process is long and no I just can't go to Korea and claim my child. To my knowledge, Katie does not have any medical conditions and it wouldn't matter if she did.

No we did not know about Kiya's scoliosis when we brought her home. Even if we did, it wouldn't have mattered. Kiya is my daughter. She has a curvy back. We will deal with it as a family and no I never thought about suing my agency for not telling me. They didn't know either. I am just grateful that Kiya had amazing nannies to take care of her and help her grow. And now has an amazing doctor to help her grow straight.

I am exhausted just thinking about all of this. The askers were just so overly curious and clueless. Adoption is hard. Scoliosis sucks. That said I am blessed to be a mom. I wouldn't change things. Sure I wish I could wave a wand and make Kiya's back straight but she is my little princess curvy back and all so it is what it is.

I am hoping the askers have had their fill and will move on to someone else. I am not sure if they start it again that I will be able to bite my tongue. To be fair I don't think they truly understood the depth of their questions. I really do think they were very curious and hadn't been exposed to a lot so they see my life from the outside and it doesn't make sense so they asks questions. Fair enough to some extent I suppose but my life makes perfect sense to me.

I think this would have been different had it been the first time I was asked inappropriate questions. I wish it was the first time....sigh...and I wish it was the last....sigh.

1 comment:

Leah said...

In response to your rude comment (from one of the great boards I read):

'I'm sorry you are so afraid and uninformed about adoption or _______, here's a website for you to learn how to sound like an informed person. I gotta run.'

'Sorry, I'm not willing to have this conversation right now, how about you email me.'

'I'd be happy to finish this conversation some other time, when you've calmed down and I feel prepared.'

'I did not ask for your opinion, nor are we in relationship enough for your opinion to matter to me.'

'My husband and I are happy with our decision and it's not open for discussion anymore.'

'My husband and I believe that this is part of our faith journey, what are you doing in your faith these days?'

'Can I use this conversation as a blog post?'

'I'm flattered you care so much to have these unfounded concerns, but I don't.'

'Oh...you're one of those...' - and walk away.

'I appreciate your opinion, but it's still wrong.'

'If I had known that you weren't going to listen to me I would never have engaged in this conversation.'

'I can't help you with this.'

'I don't think I'm getting as much out of this conversation as you are.'

'If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.'

'You are being rude right now, hopefully you weren't aware of that.'