Ignorance...At the Pediatrician's Office?!

Let me start by saying that moving across state lines with children who are on ADHD medication is a nightmare.  You have to have a paper script to take to the pharmacy because they are all controlled substances, so that also means you can't take a paper script from your Ohio doctor to a pharmacy in PA to get it filled.  UGH.  So, that being said, we had been anticipating this appointment today with our new pediatrician so we could finally establish a doctor who could give us the prescriptions my girls need.

I also want to point out that I have A LOT of experience with doctors and I know that a lot of the best doctors have a pretty crappy bed side manner.  I've come to accept that, however, I would think pediatricians would be the exception to the rule.  The doctor we saw today got an earful from Caroline so I don't think she'll ever make this same mistake again.  

She was entering in all of the information about Caroline and her health history.  She says "I know since she was adopted we will not have any family health history, but I want to get the names of all of the members of your family into the computer."  I gave her my name and Mike's name.  She then asked if Caroline had any siblings.  I responded, "She has a bio twin named Charlotte, and.." she interrupts me and says "Oh, ok so she counts as a real one."

OH. NO. SHE. DIDN'T.

To which Caroline responded, "What?  So what does that make my other sister?  Is she imaginary?  Is she fake?  No.  She's my REAL sister too!"

PROUD MAMA MOMENT.  It was the best response ever, because there's no way an adult could have gotten away with that sassy response, but oh from the mouths of babes!

"Of course she's real, you know what I mean, you just don't share genes." was her response.

I awaited Caroline's response, thinking for sure she'd argue that of course, none of them share "jeans" because they all wear different sizes, but, alas, she was able to contain herself for once.

I used this as an opportunity for grace, but I was pretty shocked that a pediatrician didn't know better and wasn't educated on the proper terminology.  I find it hard to believe that my family is the first adoptive family that has come through that office.  It's one thing to say that in front of the adult, but it was not ok to say that in front of my child.  Luckily we had JUST had a conversation about this because of an interaction Caroline had with a boy from our neighborhood last week (You can read that funny story here) so she had the perfect tools to respond appropriately.  I hope Caroline's candid response made this doctor realize that she needs to choose her words more carefully next time.

The Bratts are in town now, rural southeastern PA, and we're going to make a serious impression!

A SHELTER???? MEOW!

Ever since our twins joined our family back in 2010 we had lived in Medina, OH.  Mike and I both grew up in this small Cleveland suburb, so we knew a lot of people around town.  Anyone I didn't know personally was accosted with adorable photographs if they went shopping at the local greenhouse and farm where my mother worked.  Sometimes people would come up to us on the street and say, "Hey, aren't you Charlotte & Caroline?" even though I had never seen said person before in my life.  That could've been the result of the girls going to every VBS in town for two summers straight.  Don't judge, using Jesus as free respite isn't again the rules, we talked, He's cool with it.

This being said, the girls were never really approached with very many questions about their adoption.  Add in the fact that they were still young enough that kids didn't notice racial differences and that every November (Adoption Awareness Month) I have gone into their classrooms to share a book about adoption and answer all of the children's questions about it, there hadn't been much opportunity or need for them to stand on their own two feet and answer the tough questions alone.

Then we moved.  We moved to PA, outside of Philadelphia, to a town and a school even whiter and more rural than the one we came from.  The questions began before school even started.  This is the conversation I walked outside to in my backyard:

"A SHELTER????  You mean an orphanage?  Yes, I used to live in an orphanage in Africa, NOT in a shelter.  What do you think I am?  A cat?  MEOW!!!"  I stood back trying not to wet my pants.  I wanted to see where this was going to go next.  

The boy and Caroline both laughed.  Then he said "So your real mom just left you there?"  Caroline responded with an annoyed tone, clearly wanting to get back to the game they were just in the middle of, "Yeah, sure.  Let's play."

I swooped and and made some politically correct statement that their birth mother was too poor to take care of them so she made the loving choice to allow another family to take care of them.  Then I came inside.  I thought about what I needed to say as a follow up to this interaction.

Once she came inside for the night I told her how proud I was of her.  I liked how she made it silly so that he didn't feel dumb.  It is likely that she is the first adopted child he has ever met and he was using the vocabulary that he was familiar with when it comes to adoption, albeit pet adoption.  She has such great comedic timing that I knew the humorous approach would be her strength.  I then gave her suggestions about how to better answer his question about her "real mom".  "Is my mom imaginary?  I'm pretty sure she's real.  I think you mean by birth mom."  These were my suggestions on how to handle it in a humorous way while still educating him on the correct vocabulary.  

We then talked about how much of her story she wants to share.  I reminded her that her story is private and it is nobody's business how she came to be adopted.  She can share what she feels comfortable with, and we went through a few different levels of sharing information.  I want to empower my girls.  I don't want there to be any shame with their stories, and one day I'd love for them to be able to use their story to share God with others by telling them how He has worked in their lives.  Baby steps.

In the meantime we will continue to keep an open dialogue about how to handle the tough questions. And don't worry, if the stories are funny, you'll be sure to hear all about it!

Breaking Out of Our Bubble

We live cooshy lives here in America.  The reality of this has slapped me in the face this past week and it made me very uncomfortable.

The past few days social media has been flooded with articles, images and posts about the suicide of our beloved actor Robin Williams.  We all loved him, we all grew up with him and of course we are all saddened by his death.  I will be the first in line to advocate for those with mental health issues.  My children are plagued with these issues and will likely be for the rest of their lives.  I am a card carrying member of NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Health) and have even attended the training to become and instructor for their classes to educate parents of children with mental health challenges.

HOWEVER, it disturbs me how caught up our nation has become with this death this week, especially given the other events that are going on around the world. 

There are CHILDREN BEING BEHEADED in Iraq by terrorists.  

Children are dying in orphanages all over the world, some who have families ready to adopt them and bring them home, but are unable to because of governmental red tape.

Thousands are suffering and dying in Western Africa from the Ebola epidemic.  

Countries are at war with one another, and as is with war, innocent civilians are dying in the crossfire.  

Hundreds of Nigerian girls have been missing for months now who were kidnapped from their school by terrorists, and are certainly facing unimaginable atrocities.  

I know, it is easier to just bury our heads in the sand and push these horrific happenings out of our minds.  How in the world could we sleep at night if we didn't?  We all just go on with our privileged lives as if all is well.  Can you imagine what the victims of the above mentioned cruelties would think if they saw how much of our media in the US has been devoted to the death of a famous movie star?  Talk about first world problems!  

I know it's so incredibly overwhelming to think about these horrific things, I mean what can we even do about it anyways?  We can pray.  We can get down on our knees and intentionally pray for these people all over the world who are suffering at the hands of evil and illness.  Ask God what He wants YOU to do.  It may mean donating monetarily to an organization that is working directly with those affected, it may mean organizing a fundraiser, you may feel led to write/call/email your government representative to express your passion and concern over these issues or you may feel called to take more specific actions.  We need to "check ourselves before we wreck ourselves", meaning we need to maintain perspective.  We can't keep living in our American bubble.  All of these things going on in "someone else's backyard" will eventually directly affect all of us.  It's important.  All of God's people are important, not just the famous ones.