Family is such a strong theme in today’s society. Has been for centuries. I for one do not wholeheartedly agree with the statement that Family are the people that gave birth to you. In reality, it is the people who have been there for you through thick and thin, pain and joy, success and failure. Nothing in this world can compare to the feeling of sharing your life with the people you care most about.
Let me tell you a little bit the word adopted in reference to families. It means to take into one's family through legal means and raise as one's own child. What a wonderful word! Yet, there is a negative connotation associated with adoptees like you and me. Throughout the ages, if one was not biologically related or partially biological there was no room in the home for them. Think of Cinderella. When the evil stepmother came into the picture, Cinderella was out. What a shame. The larger shame is that this stigma is still a very real concern for thousands upon thousands of orphans left in Russia as well as the rest of the world.
I want to tell you a different story about adoption. The story of two people who were so in love with God that they decided to take FIVE little Russian kids into their home out of the kindness of their hearts! So perhaps you can call me the trash and left overs of the people that gave birth to me, it is true, but the bigger brighter truth is that I was a gift from God to the couple I now call Pa and Ma. And they are my Family!
Humbly yours
Саша