While I remain bogged down in filing out our home study paperwork and scheduling the doctor appointments, vet visits and trips for fingerprinting, life continues to move forward as we prepare to grow our family through another adoption. As we share our journey with others, one of the common questions we receive (after the looks of disbelief and awestruck wonder, of course) is
"What do your kids think about adopting, again?"
I was reminded this week just how amazingly blessed we are to be on this journey and how Elijah's adoption has dramatically and positively impacted our entire family. Emma was given the assignment at school to write an essay of a person who has influenced her life. She chose Elijah, and here it is:
Who Influenced Me?
Emma Roesler
Everybody has been affected by someone or something. It could be a teacher, a parent, a friend, a pet, or even a song, a movie, or a book. Sometimes these people only change you a little. Other times they turn your whole life upside down. The person who has been one of the greatest influences in my life is my brother Elijah.
My family isn’t your typical family. My mom had four kids, my older brother, Isaac, me, my sister, Hannah, and my other brother, Jayden. How does that make us unique? Because, I have another brother named Eli.
When I was twelve, my parents wanted a fifth child and decided they wanted to try to adopt a kid. Adoption is really expensive ,and we didn’t know if I would get a new brother or sister. We didn’t know if we were going to get a new sibling at all.
After about a year, in October, my mom, my sister and brothers, and I were at my grandparents’ house in Iowa. My dad was at drill. At dinner that night my mom told me and my family that we were going to get a new baby brother. Right after she said this, my dad called. She said “I have to take this” and got up and left us with a big piece of information and a bunch of unanswered questions.
The new addition to our family was born October 9th, 2012. He was born without a left foot and something called gastroschisis. This is when a infant is born with his intestines outside of his body. He came home to live with us on November 21st, 2012, the day before Thanksgiving.
Getting a new brother was a big deal. It made me feel excited, worried, anxious, eager, upset, elated, and uncertain of the future.
Eli is African-American and he is adopted, but he is still my brother. He is a human just like you. He is from Florida, not Outer Space. He has a prosthetic so he can walk. Also, we aren’t going to lie to him about his adoption. Hopefully ,that clears up any dumb and/or obvious questions you have about him.
Elijah is just like any other boy. He loves to laugh, play with balls, and torture his siblings. His favorite words are ball and no. Recently he has figured out how to open doors which makes doing my homework, alone in my room, extremely difficult. He has a lot of energy and likes hitting people, but how has he changed me?
Before we got Elijah, I didn’t pay much attention to racist remarks. Eli made me realize how discriminatory America still is. The picture many people get when I say African-American is of a black gangster with terrible grammar which isn’t true. Let’s also not forget the “n” word along with others.
Elijah also taught me to do things I don’t like such as changing diapers, squeezing into places meant for babies, not teenagers, being the dog while playing fetch, controlling my temper, remaining calm in stressful situations, and learning to laugh when I make mistakes. He taught me that life is unexpected and that it’s okay to cry. The most important thing Elijah showed me is that family doesn’t have to be someone you share the same blood with, but family is who you love and care about.
Eli has changed my perspective of the world and I will never be the same again. He is my angel and even though he will be in first grade when I graduate, he will still be teaching me new things everyday and I can’t wait. The only question left is:
Who has influenced you?
