"Light on"

I've heard, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" There's a very special side to our family that I'm honored to witness. Have you ever took the time to just watch and listen to what your children are doing? The majority of my time is just that. Watching different gestures, behaviours and our children's interaction with each other. I witness daily the compassion our children can have, the friendships built being siblings and it can be very admiring. As my children's Mother, I'm proud to see that our children are growing respectfully with each other. Accepting each other's differences and 80% of the time, I feel we're a tight connected family. We're a team mastering all odds with the occasional few misses and I feel very thankful that I've been given the chance to Mother all our children. When I think about our family, I think about our Adoption Worker. I can definitely rant about all the loop holes within our Government system although our Adoption Worker that has been with us from the beginning has built our family through adoption. She's basically the only worker we've been in contact with for over eight years. She knows us personally and she's been a huge support during every adoption matching process, placements and has been supporting us through different stumbling blocks. She's completely understanding, compassionate and very patient. (Very patient with me I'd might add) I truly believe finding the right Adoption Social Worker is key with having successful adoptions. I've told her many times over how grateful we are for her and without her, we wouldn't be the family we are today. Some people have a career to do, others take that career and make a difference. This is our worker. A passionate individual that does her career beyond expectations. I think there should be an award within the Ministry for Social Workers that have impacted and made a difference to so many lives. Through-out life, outstanding individuals should be recognized. Hero's are. When I look at our family, the hero here is our Adoption Worker. She has placed eleven children in a forever home, changed their lives regardless if they know it or not for the better. I'm very thankful to her foremost. The next beautiful piece is our children. It's just amazing how they've accepted us as their parents. I couldn't imagine the transition from multiple foster homes then being adopted without being hesitant about their place in life. I know some of our children have been hesitant but their resilience with this love that was just waiting to surface is remarkable. It's finally their place to belong, their home - their place where their story begins. Having a family, a stable home with no more moving is their saving grace. The picture above was taking quickly without much thought and it's one of my favorites. I find it to be so innocently personal and beautiful. My husband, a father to his new daughter sitting near the ocean. He's clearly showing her what I adore best, nature and she's so captivated by it. You can see her hand with excitement held openly in the air. The innocence of our daughter is so beautiful on a daily basis that I feel I need to make sure the world is provided for her. Mostly, I feel this for all our children. I just want the best possible future like any other Mother. That doesn't mean having a Doctor in the family, it means having a happy healthy child/adult child. We built our home for forever and I know a few of our children with special needs will be with us until death do us part. Crazy? Judging by the picture above it's a very honorable life we lead. Regardless of our challenges that arise occasionally, there is nothing more heart warming then our children's lives. (Their experiences and memories that we continue to build) I can respectfully hope that within their future we've given some fundamental skills, some love and a family where they'll remain as innocent and special as in the picture I love above. When I look at certain pictures, I tear. It's a reminder that our life is the best possible life we could have - a life with children. A smile I have is when our littlest daughter above sees the moon and she yells, "On" meaning the light is on. It's as sweet and simple as that. It's a whole world of heaven to her and that's something I will have to thank the higher power for - which is the gift of simplicity. And she's right, the light is on and life can be as simple as that if we choose too. You know, we're not crazy - we're far from that; possibly from another planet and I wouldn't change our family given the chance because for us, taking away isn't an option. We're meant to be family builders - that's our path we lead and I'm so thankful for it!