Adoption Bloggers Interview Project.

This year in honor of National Adoption Month I am taking part in a special interview project. Feel free to click on the logo above to read other adoptive families journeys. During this project I was matched up with another blogger to interview each other. I had the pleasure of spending the last few weeks reading through Amber's blog.

A few words I would use to describe Amber are resilient, kind, humorous, persistent and an advocate. She is a mother of one sweet little guy adopted through open domestic adoption. She and her husband had a long journey with infertility and then chose to adopt domestically. That in itself was a long difficult journey with 3 interrupted adoptions. I love the way she writes about her difficulties and joyous times through life. Often there is a funny hint of sarcasm that leaves me with a smile on my face. I am sure you will enjoy her story as much as I have.

Life in the Last Frontier

Jessica: How did you decide to adopt domestically?

Amber :Insert the standard story about infertility here… but seriously, I always predicted I wouldn’t be able to have kids, and adoption has been a normal topic in our extended family for a long time, so I was always open to it. As far as choosing domestic adoption versus international, that decision was made mostly for logistical reasons. I absolutely detest flying, and most countries require that one or both parents travel to the country to adopt a child (rightfully so). That didn’t really feel right to us. It would have been expensive and taking weeks off work before the child even came home was something I didn’t really want to do.

Jessica:What factors did you consider when you chose to take a child from a different race? ( fears? Is there more of a need for families for kids of his race?)

Amber: To be perfectly honest, it was never something we had to talk much about. We really didn’t care what race our children would be. We were ready from day one to respect and appreciate a child’s race/culture/heritage regardless of if it matched ours or not. During our education period for the home study, we were enlightened more to the importance of making sure our children are exposed to other children and positive adults that are the same race they are.

Jessica: Why did you choose open adoption, and what do you believe are the benefits of open adoption?

Amber: When we first started the process, I was terrified of open adoption. We had just been through three years of infertility treatment and I didn’t know much about open adoption. We all fear things we don’t understand, and I’m certainly no exception! Our agency spent some time educating us on the benefits to the child as well as both sets of parents. We built upon that foundation with our own research about open adoption and it didn’t take long at all to realize that, if done properly, it would be the best thing for our child(ren).

Jessica :How do you plan to tell your son his story of how he came to you?

Amber: With total honesty. We’ll of course tailor the story to be appropriate for his age and what he can handle, but I want him to know that his birthmom loved him (and does love him) very very much and that’s why she chose adoption for him. (Note, I didn’t say that’s why she chose US, because I don’t want to give him the impression that we think we are better than her or anything like that.) She was in a bad place in her life and was not able to take care of him the way he needed her to, so she did the next best thing.

Jessica :What was the hardest part of your adoption journey so far?

Amber: Without a doubt, three failed adoptions. I am grateful to have never known the pain of miscarriage or losing a child in that way, but I lost two of them (one of them two separate times) and that is incredibly difficult as well.

Jessica: Is your family complete? Do you plan to adopt again, why or why not?

Amber: I very much want to adopt again. However, we aren’t getting any younger, and it turns out people mean it when they say kids are expensive! So, we will see how things go once we get some debts paid off. We are a two-working-parent family and our son goes to what is commonly believed to be the best daycare in town, so it is pretty expensive. There’s no way I can send two of them there right now!

Jessica: What do you hope people take away from your blog?

Amber: I hope that they can feel the love I have for my son and my family, and my genuine love and appreciation of open adoption. I hope that they know how much I cherish my role as a mother. As cheesy as it sounds, I wish I could educate everyone in the world about adoption. There are so many people who are scared away from it because of bad information or sources that are jaded by their own negative experiences. Oh, and I hope they learn how beautiful and miraculous of a place I live in. And hopefully they take away a chuckle or two now and then. ;)

Don't forget to check out the other Blogging pairs here.

Check here for her interview with me.

Don't forget it's National Adoption Month, look into it, it's a life changer!