The blessings of open adoption

Lately I've become more aware how fortunate we are to have such an amazing open adoption.   I first explained to Roman that he was adopted when he was about a year old.  Honestly, it was hard.  It was hard to explain to my sweet little boy that Mommy Katie was his birth mom, that it meant that he grew in her tummy but he was part of our family and that he was so lucky to have a mommy Katie that loves him SO much that he wants to make sure he is always happy.  You wouldn't think it would be that hard to explain to a 1 year old who doesn't really understand but really I was laying the foundation for the rest of his life.  To open up communication and make it a topic we can discuss anytime.  Now that he is almost 5, we are able to discuss it freely.  Now, we talk about his birth mom and his birth dad.  We talk about when he was born, when we knew he was part of our family, when Mommy Katie knew he was part of our family, why Heavenly Father gave him a birth mom when none of his friends have birth parents and why he is such a miracle.  We can talk about anything.  We have gone from being afraid to tell anyone that we were trying to adopt to being open books.  I want Roman to know that there is nothing to hide about his past, his past is not a secret it's an important part of who he is!

Because of that openness with Roman it has made it very easy for us to keep an open relationship with his birth family.  We love them all!  His birth mom is amazing!  I keep up with her sister on facebook too.  We don't ever really hear from his birth dad, but we send him pictures and updates twice a year.  I hope that when Roman is older and wants to talk to him, that he will be able to.

Roman now has his own e-mail address and e-mails his birth mom himself.  It makes me proud...usually, (sometimes it makes me giggle) when he tells me what he e-mailed to her.  He tells her that he loves her and misses her.  He tells her he wants to see her and her baby, and he tells her that he is thinking of her.  We are always thinking of her and it makes me happy that he is able to tell her all these things himself.

For Birth Mother's day (I wish I had thought to take a picture) Roman chose and made the present for Katie all by himself.  He chose a picture frame that he painted and decorated with stickers, drew her a picture and chose a card for her all by himself.  He even addressed the envelope (and it made it!  Wish I'd taken a picture of that too!)

As a response; Katie made the following montage for Roman.  This is one of the many reasons we LOVE open adoption!  We are so blessed to have Katie in our lives.  We are so lucky to have Roman in our family and the blessings (and craziness) he brings into our lives.  We wouldn't want it any other way!