Identity

In the world of adoption there is a lot of talk about "Identity".  When a person is adopted there is the potential for confusion about who they are and where the came from.  When you add in the trans-country piece, the puzzle can get difficult to put together.  When I think of Identity, I think of who I am and what I stand for.  This past week, our oldest son had a homework assignment from his English class in which he had to identify the "values" of a particular character in a story.  That sparked a discussion about our values.  What are "values"?  ...things of importance...what you hold to be valuable.  This can be material, although not necessarily.  In fact, most of my values are NOT material.  My family, my faith, integrity, compassion...these are some of my values.

When I headed off to college, I was the only student from my high school (in a graduating class of 385 students) to attend the university that I had chosen.  I was 4 hours from home with NO ONE who truly knew me!  My freshman year, I struggled with identity.  Who was I?  No one knew my past, my childhood, my favorite things.  They barely knew my name.  I searched, through choices, to find my identity.  And through that searching, I found out more about myself.  I discovered what I held to be valuable.

It is my prayer that all of our children, both those born of my womb and those born of my heart, will through their own struggles to find their identity, find themselves with a stronger sense of who they truly are...children of God.  I pray that they will find Him to be faithful and true..that the things He holds valuable will be of value to them too.

This week, we will be visiting with some of the staff from our adoption agency.  They were instrumental in caring for our girls until the Lord could put us on the same side of the planet.  In her own way, our older daughter has begun to find her identity.  As little girls often do, she has been planning what she would wear to this event.  Yesterday, she informed me that she had decided what to wear: her American Flag Shirt (thanks Old Navy!) and the scarf that we had purchased in her country when we first met.  Her excitement and acceptance for her "two countries" (her words) is evidence that she sees the dichotomy.  Yet, in her own way, she is saying "I don't have to pick one or the other, I can love them both."  I pray that as she moves through this life, she sees one prominent theme:  She has a heavenly Father that loves her and knows her completely and in Him she can find her Identity.