People often ask me how many siblings I have. I have three younger sisters. I love them each dearly. The Lord put them all into our family in His own good timing and way. The next question is usually as to whether I can show a picture. I show people a picture of my family, and their faces go from "smiling and interested" to "smiling and confused." The reason? People expect a family of blond-haired, blue-eyed girls. Instead, they see two blond-haired, blue-eyed girls; one brown-haired, brown-eyed girl; and one black-haired, brown-eyed girl. That is not typically what people expect to see in a family photo. Of course, the next question is, "Are they your real sisters?" To which my answer is, "Of course. We have the same parents."
There is a common misconception about adoption that a lot of people seem to buy into. This misconception is that children brought into a family by adoption are different than children brought into a family by birth. In reality, they are all equally part of the family. They have different backgrounds and different genetics, but that doesn't change their status within the family. This is hard for some people to wrap their minds around. They simply cannot get past the idea that family members by adoption are equally members of the family as family members by birth. We don't differentiate between children by C-Section and children by natural birth. It's simply another way to bring a child into a family.
Adoption is so much more than papers and a name-change. That child is welcomed into the family with the same joy and excitement as a child who is born into a family. That family becomes their own family. The parents are legally the parents. The birth certificates are re-generated to have the new parents' names on them. Once papers are signed, the new parents become the only parents. There is no going back - that child is now fully part of the family. That child receives the same rights and privileges as any other child. Two of my sisters were born in the country of Colombia. That does not make them any less my sisters.
This is a beautiful picture of what we have in Christ. As believers, we are adopted into God's family (Romans 8:15). There is a reason that we call each other "brothers and sisters in Christ." The Father's adoption of us changes our identity. We become part of a family. There is no chance that it could ever be reversed. It is simply out of the question. We become heirs with Christ and will inherit blessing. Because of my personal experience with adoption, I have somewhat of a better understanding of what this means. I don't have a perfect understanding because we all live in a cursed world. But it is amazing to think about it in that light.
Being in a family that has received some children through adoption rather than birth has really changed my perspective. I didn't understand what it all meant before. Now I get it. I guess that, when someone hasn't gone through it personally, it makes it harder to understand. People don't realize the sometimes insensitive nature of their questions or comments. I often have to correct people in their questions as to whether they are my real sisters. Of course they are. My answer usually sounds like this: "If you mean to ask whether they are my biological sisters, then the answer is no. However, biological or not, they are just as much my real sisters as my hand is my real hand."
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