Tolerance: It's not just for you anymore

In this ever increasing world of political correctness, I find that people urge others to have tolerance of their differences (gender, sexual orientation, race, social status, background etc) and are quite offended when they fall victim to intolerance or prejudice by others.

However, I have found that sometimes those who require tolerance of others are the last to offer tolerance in other situations. It really reminds me of the movie Crash. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Not to spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it, but the premise is that everyone has prejudices against them, and also hold prejudices against other people. Did you know that the actual definition of prejudice is "an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason. Any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable. Unreasonable feelins, opinions, or attitudes." I have thought and thought about this for several days, and have actually deleted several entries...but I feel I have to say thank you to those of you who are open to this adoption.

Thank you for not being judgemental and negative. Thank you for realizing how awesome this opportunity is for us, our children, our family and our community. I have been reading a lot about large families. Some people choose to have 1.7 children (man I feel sorry for the .7 one), while others choose to have larger families. It's all about choice. Personal choice. I'm not against families who have 1.7 children, but I also don't expect to be judged negatively because I have 6. It's a choice. Is it more work to have more kids? Maybe, I'm not sure. I can't remember what it was like to have 1.7 children. Do they play with each other, encourage each other, teach each other and take care of each other? Absolutely. Do I think I am cheating my natural born children because I'm adopting 2 orphans from Africa who have no parents? Absolutely not. I believe (and I would have to, or I wouldn't be able to do this) that these children are going to add so much to our lives, and that we are going to be so blessed by them, that the extra laundry, the extra groceries, the extra time etc. will be absorbed without us even noticing. 6 is not that much more than 4. Trust me, when you're drowning in housework, you're drowning, it doesn't matter how deep the water is.

So I guess my point is that I believe my children are extraordinary people. I think they have the ability to look beyond what society tells us is the ideal family. I believe that we are teaching them so much: how to not be spoiled and selfish, how to love all of God's children, that color and background doesn't matter, how to share, how to care for others, how to be patient and how to help one another. I am so excited for the future of all of my children because I believe when you can think outside of the "norms," you have such potential to make a positive difference for others, and I think they are getting a really good example of that. So thank you so much for your love and prayers. Sorry if I sounded a little "preachy," this is definitely something that I feel passionate about.