Adoption Panel April 19, 2013

This past Friday we had the wonderful opportunity to attend an adoption panel that was put on by Families Supporting Adoption. We look forward to these get togethers so much because there are other people there that are in the same shoes as us as hopeful adoptive parents. The thing I like the most about these monthly get togethers though is I want to learn as much as I possibly can about being the best parent I possibly can. I know that I will never be fully prepared when we are chosen but why not be prepared with the most knowledge as we can. At this panel there was a wide variety of panel members that were from 2 families. There were adoptive parents, adoptive grandparents, birth mothers, and adopted adults. These families this past weekend reinstated my testimony of adoption in my heart.and how it is such a great thing. The love that each of these families had for each other was incredible on both the adoptive family side and the birth parent side. This panel brought back some great memories of the adoption classes that we were required to take over a 2 day period during our approval process. Before these classes we were not sure what we thought about the idea of open adoption and were sort of against it too. However, after going to listen to the panels of people it changed our heart completely on the thoughts of open adoption. The love we gained for expecting/birth parents grew indefinitely. If you ever have the opportunity of going to one of these panels I would definately recommend it. They are open to anyone to go. The idea that lots of people have with adoption is not accurate, just like LDS Family Service's motto says and it is so true is that. Adoption- Its about Love. How true is that? Expecting parents place their children out of love and hopeful adoptive parents are trying to grow their families out of love as well. I love adoption and am so thankful for it, without it we would never have the opportunity to grow our family.