The discussion...

During our drive home we discussed the idea of adoption. There are many children who enter this world without the benefit of families to support and nurture them. The reasons children become "orphans" are numerous and the sheer number of children is overwhelming. We both agree that we can't help every child, but we certainly can make a tremendous difference for one. Mike even came up with the starfish story... If you're not familiar with it, it's worth reading. http://www.cedu.niu.edu/~fulmer/starfish.htm

On the more selfish side, it gives us a chance to experience what it is like to raise a daughter. It will give our sons a chance to understand what it is like to have a sister. We have brought three wonderful biological children into this world and in my heart I feel it would be selfish to bring another into the world now that I know there is this alternate way to bring our child into our family.

Our family dynamics have set up a perfect situation for adoption. We have three sons that are very close (despite the normal sibling spats over toys, tv time, which book to read, etc... I could go on and on LOL). They are also very similar in appearance. An adopted son would probably have a difficult time finding his place with his three already close-knit siblings. A little girl will already have the benefit of being naturally different than her brothers. She also will have the benefit of being the only girl on either side of the family. Her older brothers will absolutely adore and protect her.

If our family was made up of both girls and boys already, I think this would have been a more difficult decision for us. But, like I said earlier, God could not have given us a more perfect combination of children to preposition us for a successful adoption. There's nothing our little boys love more than new "babies".