Adoption is part of our story.
It was nothing I ever thought would be in those pages, but it is written all through them now.
Our family adopted two boys, from two different birth mommas in two different states; details you would probably only know if you walked in those moments with us.
Our boys both have blonde hair and the most beautiful crystal blue eyes that you have ever seen. They both have terrible cowlicks and we keep their hair short. They both have dimples in their chins.
More often than not, people tell me how much the boys look alike. They have similar features and I get the comment almost every time we are all together as a family that they look just like my husband (face in palm). You get the idea here; they do not look like me, no brown hair or curly q’s for me to claim them.
Sometimes when we run into people who know we have adopted, we get the ever so-annoying question:
So, are they REAL brothers?
Each and every time this stops me in my tracks and if I am being totally honest, irritates me. REAL brothers? I answer with a resounding “YES.” And then they question me again, “Real?”
I know exactly what they mean. Do the boys have the same DNA, the same mother and father? I know the info they are trying to acquire, but it still bugs me.
My boys are REAL brothers. In fact, my boys have three more brothers and a sister that are REAL, too. Our family may have been woven all together with love and a little differently than most, but we are a family.
Let me muddy the waters even further. Our oldest of the little boys has two more brothers and a sister at his birth mom’s house and our littlest guy has another brother with his birth mom and another little brother on the way – they are all REAL, too.
This question has created a pause for me as I look at this amazing, wonderful, crazy family we have built when the pages of our story added the word adoption.
So… are they REAL brothers? You bet they are and we are a REAL family, too.