We guess bringing a new dog home (the shelter calls it an adoption) got Hannah thinking. As parents of children brought into our lives through the blessing of adoption we know questions about their adoption will come, just not sure when and what if anything would prompt them. We went through similar questions with both Cameron and Amber, obviously different circumstances brought about some different questions/answers since Amber is from Russia and was 7 when we brought her home and Cameron has been with us since birth as his birth mother lived with us and we have kept in touch over the years.
Back to the main story, Hannah was asking last night why someone would take such a sweet dog and give it up. She asked what happens if the dogs do not get adopted? This must have got her thinking harder because today she asked Kevin do we know who her birthmother was, did we know anything about her, and did we know where she was now. She also asked why she was taken to an orphanage.
Well, great questions, but hard at any age to answer. We could tell by her questions and expressions that hearing the word "Adoption" associated with the new dog she took what she heard last night and was wondering why her birth family took her to the orphanage, and of course has fear that what happens if we decide we do not want her, would we take her or Lauren to an orphanage?
Kevin told her that we did not know anything about her birthmother, we were not sure where she was now but guess she was still in the Hunan Province of China. As for why she was at the orphanage, we told her we can not be sure of all the reasons but believed that her birthmother knew she would have a better chance of survival and better opportunities being adopted. Kevin told her that we are so blessed that her birthmother took her to a place where she would be taken care of until we were brought together as a family. We told her that we never leave her and she was our daughter - forever. The simple responses were accepted by her for now.
As she gets older many of the same questions will arise and as she she gets older the answers will be based on her level of understanding and maturity. We will not lie or make up fairy-tale answers (yes believe it or not we have seen/heard of this), but as in the case of her being taken to the orphanage we assume that it was a hard decision for her birthmother and it was most likely a choice of necessity and love. Some questions we may not have the answers to, but we will do our best to give what details we have while assuring her that she (as with all our children) are a blessing from God, each of them a special gift that brings love, joy, and happiness into our family.
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