Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption
International adoption is costly.
But, families who know God’s calling them to bring their little one home can be pretty creative. Some families have massive yard sales. Some use a talent they have and start up Etsy stores. Some teach a skill they have. Some sell coffee or homemade jam. Some design and sell t-shirts (don’t stop there – click here or here) or calendars. Some hold online drawings for timeshares or auctions.
And, others…write a book.
The Sardos family are no strangers to the cost involved in adopting — in addition to their four biological sons, they adopted 3 little girls from China. And, now, they are bringing home yet another–a little boy named Jude from Shanghai. “We do this because in our hearts we know this is the path we must take.”
When the oldest of their 3 girlies asked them what country her brothers were from, the idea for the book was planted. John and Jane worked together over the course of 6 years to create a book bringing their family’s story to life for the benefit of all sorts of families. They sat together, one coming up with one line, and the other finishing it in a sing-song rhyme to tell their family’s story of bringing a little girl home and then starting the process to bring a little sister for her home. Jane’s sister did the illustrations that bring in a Chinese flair in style, and John colored them on his computer with bold, bright colors.
As an elementary school principal, they have had the privilege of seeing firsthand the blessing their book has had on children. They donated copies to all the schools in their school district. Each of their three girls read it aloud in their classes and gave every child in their class a copy. A church local to them took copies to schools in Africa this summer. And, people have been moved. Their girls are proud of their stories. And, other children who were adopted can read it and be encouraged to be excited about their own stories. And, children who were not adopted and may not know much about it can start to see how adoption isn’t “weird” at all.
I couldn’t tell you how our walk to the bus this morning led to a sex ed discussion.
There was a “do babies start out as small as this?” (fingers pinched to show a tiny size).
Yup.
“What do babies look like when they are that small?”
“Do they hatch from an egg inside the mom’s body?”
Well, sort of.
Ashlyn laughed “I have eggs inside my body?!?!”
Then, Drew piped in, “Did Lydia be born in a China belly?”
Yup. She was.
And, that was that. On the bus, off to kindergarten, no big deal.
And, I’m left wondering how I could possibly still need to answer that question. Oh my. At least it diffused the sex ed discussion.