Last week, Superhero 1 turned 12. I asked him if, as a right of passage, he’d like to contribute a guest post to this blog. I told him his perspective as a sibling in an adoptive family was incredibly valuable and that he could write about any topic he wanted. Even though writing is not this introvert’s jam (nor is speaking, using more than two words to describe his mood or producing more than a paragraph on any given topic), this passionate superhero jumped at the opportunity to address the question he receives most often: What is it like to have two adopted brothers? This is the uncensored, unedited view of a boy who has had brothers from other mothers for four of the last 12 years.
Read moreThe Journey to Jason: An Adoptive Father's Perspective, Part 2
Our sweet friends the Whirleys hosted and advocated for Jason, a then-12-year-old orphan from China, in December 2016. In March 2018, this family traveled to China to bring this now 14-year-old boy home forever. We asked Hunter Whirley, an amazing tell-it-like-it-is Army combat veteran, to share with us the journey to Jason from an adoptive father’s perspective. Warning: This is not yo' mama's travel log. This is Hunter's [sometimes spicy, sometimes sassy but always straight-up] story. We're so grateful to him for sharing his unique perspective.
Read Part 1 HERE.
Read moreTwo Boys, One Birthday
They’re not twins, and the event wasn’t planned, but Superhero 1 and Superhero 2 share the same birthday.
People ask us all the time how we managed to deliver two babies on the same date exactly three years apart.
Count back nine months from April 4 and you’ll see that July 4th is an extremely important holiday in our home.
Fireworks outside, fireworks inside. Just call us patriotic.
We may have also made the mistake of telling Superhero 1 he could have “his baby” when he turned 3.
We just didn’t realize that God would hold us to our word EXACTLY when Super-Spouse was stuck on a broken-down plane in Germany and my water broke in the United States.
In the booth of a TGI Fridays.
While singing “Happy Birthday” to the boy who got a baby as his gift.
(Thank you, waitress at TGI Fridays, for rushing my order on that burger when I refused to leave the establishment without my lunch. We hope the generous tip my daddy offered as he helped wrap me in a trash bag and waddle me to the car made up for the inordinate amount of placenta we left at Table 9. Don’t worry. We will never, ever, ever be back again.)
Read moreThe Real Resurrection Life
When I met Jozeph Capps three years ago, I didn’t know his story.
I had stalked his mama following a mama-and-me music class where I discovered that she, also, had a passion for Chinese superheroes whose “special needs” were just superpowers in disguise ... and was this beautiful mama to several of them.
Leia and I became fast friends, and as I fell in love with her heart, I got the honor of being exposed to the hearts of her (then five-going-on-six) children.
From the first time I met him, I could see that Jozeph’s was made of gold.
Read moreThe Journey to Jason: An Adoptive Father's Perspective, Part 1
Our sweet friends the Whirleys hosted and advocated for Jason, a then-12-year-old orphan from China, in December 2016. In March 2018, this family traveled to China to bring this now 14-year-old boy home forever. We asked Hunter Whirley, an amazing tell-it-like-it-is Army combat veteran, to share with us the journey to Jason from an adoptive father’s perspective. Warning: This is not yo' mama's travel log. This is Hunter's [sometimes spicy, sometimes sassy but always straight-up] story. We're so grateful to him for sharing his unique perspective.
When Supermom asked me to write for her blog, my first reaction was: “You sure about that?”
So may this be on her head, allowing the sordid storytelling of a redneck Texan, former Army dude who someone allowed to adopt a Chinese teenager. [Editor's note: We'll take it and even barely sanitize it in order to gain your valuable adoptive father's perspective! ;)]
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