Read up on my boy Todd Hiestand, pastor of The Well in his process of adopting Mason Carlos Hiestand. He shares the process through a series of letters written to his new son from Guatemala. The process as most adopting parents know is long and disheartening at times. It’s a journey. Different from the experience of carrying a child within your body then facing the labor and birthing but a journey that also gives us insight into the heart of God.
These letters should make you all warm and fuzzy inside. I loved reading them and journeying with my brother through this process.
He and his wife, Melanie, went down to Guatemala this week to pick up their new son and bring him stateside. We joke around about being bi-racial and having that in common now. I have no idea what he’s talking about.
Here’s a snippet of his thoughts,
You do need to know something about the first nine months of your life. Your foster mother loved you deeply (I know that she still does too). For some reason, I didn’t think about how hard it would be for her to pass you off to us. I knew it was going to be for you, but I hadn’t thought about her. For the first nine months of your life she cared for you, bathed you, fed you, held you when you cried and loved you well. And now she has passed you on to us so that we could do the same and make you part of our family. I imagine she finds comfort in knowing that you have changed hands and families for the final time.
Honestly, Mason, I don’t know exactly how to process the role of your foster mom. I can understand your birth mom knowing that in order for you to have a full and best possible life she would have to entrust you to another loving family. I can’t imagine doing that, but I can at least get it a little in my head. But for some reason I think the love of your foster mom fits into a different category. She welcomed you into her home, knowing full well that she would one day have to say goodbye.
todd hiestand, web-designer and pastor.
0 Responses to “Becoming a Bi-Racial Family”