Four and a half years ago our family received the call to adopt our little African princess, Geraldine.....and almost three years ago we brought her home to America, full of hope for her future. The reality was, she wouldn't have had much of a future had she remained in Africa. She was suffering the effects of malnourishment, and many of her specialists have assured us that she has beat the odds, and now she is living on what we like to call "God time." Beyond her life expectancy in Africa....
But when we brought her here, to America, our hope for her wasn't simply for her to live. It was for her to thrive. We believed anything would be possible for Gigi. Anything. She would be able to do anything she put her mind to, but until last week -when Barack Obama became President - Elect; I guess I didn't realize that I had a doubt in my own heart that in our world that really wasn't true because of her racial make up.
Now this poses a couple problems for me; spiritually it just doesn't line up with what I know to be true - because of what the Word tells me, in terms of all things being possible! But the realities are we live in a country that has yet to have an African American or Mixed race President.
Secondly, the level of racism that we have personally experienced as a result of having a bi-racial family has shown me and our family how far our country still has to go. As a white family we never had to face any type of racism, now because of our adoption of Gigi we've brought her into a largely white world; and we see how people engage with us; and we have many opportunities to "turn the other cheek." Most are gracious, many our curious, some are ignorant, but a few are racist.
Something in me honestly broke when Barack Obama became President Elect, because I knew that now when I tell Gigi she can become anything in America, she has a person who she can identify with that looks like her that is American in the highest office in our land....
So November being National Adoption Month is a big, huge, enormous deal for me and my family. I am so proud to be the mom of an adopted daughter, a daughter who happens to be from Africa! Mark and I would love love love to adopt another child. Gigi asked Mark and I the other day if we would, "get her a brother from Africa."
Who knows, anything is possible, right?
Julie, you and your husband have done a profound thing. And the spin offs of your action will continue to be a discovery. I have discovered, that God is only one who is constant. The best of christians including pastors, no matter what color the are, are subject to change. Guess that's why God gave us an advanced warning, trust not in man - Wale
ReplyDeleteJust surfing in from Great Britain, what a lovely post. Your daughter is beautiful and you've given her a great life. It was very exciting to watch the election from over this side of the pond, the whole world was rooting for Obama basically!
ReplyDeleteSarah
Hey Julie! Love what you've written on here! Hey, look for my book (Pure Praise) in the mail in the next few days! I'm sending it to the address you have on your facebook page.
ReplyDeleteDwayne Moore