Critic

I took advantage of Jon being off work on Monday to run some errands with out the boys. While I was out, I saw someone I've known for several years. Someone who genuinely cares about me and my family and someone who I greatly respect. This is someone who LOVES kids. I worry that one day a mom will call the police on him. He has a tendency to not think when he sees a cute kid. He will pinch cheeks, give hugs and high 5's and gush over kids whether he knows the kids (or the parents) or not. We were talking about the adoption, and while he wasn't mean, he certainly wasn't nice. He made comments like society and our church has put pressure on us to adopt. He thinks we should do more locally. He said the more kids I have, the longer all I'll be is a mom and not a nurse. He is worried we'll end up regretting our decision especially when we start paying the big fees.

I expect that we will be criticized, but I expect it to happen when we have our little girl and are out in public. I expect people to make ignorant comments. I expect people to be cruel. I expect people to not think about how their comments will make our little girl feel. It completely caught me off guard that someone who knows me would say these things to me. I felt like he thought I was adopting because all the "cool kids" are doing it. It felt like he didn't trust me to think through such a big decision or that I wasn't thinking about my family at all. I was torn between politely explaining myself and telling him to kiss my back side.

I think I handled it well. Since he is someone I respect, I explained some of what started the adoption conversation, how we came to the decision, how the training has opened our eyes to things we never thought about and how we have prayed every day about our decision. I told him that after all the ups and downs, we are still 100% committed to the adoption process.

In the end we agreed to disagree. It crushed and completely shocked me to have this conversation with him. Is he crazy or is he the only one brave enough to say these things? I know deep down that it doesn't matter what he or anyone else thinks. When you are so excited about something, and think you're doing such a good thing, it catches you off guard to know that not everyone agrees with you.