One of my very dear friends has secondary infertility – I often wanted to beg through the years that they pursue adoption and end the heartache that they were experiencing – but wise enough to know that everyone’s heart has to be in the right place to pursue adoption. I am BEYOND excited as they reach their final paperwork steps in their open domestic adoption and look SO FORWARD to share in their joy with their new little one – secretly hoping that it happens quickly for them – but knowing it will all fall in to place at the “right” time – when their child is ready for them.

But have you ever wondered if you are ready to adopt? I ran across an article on Adoption.com at
http://adopting.adoption.com/child/self-assessment-adoption-quiz.html
it gives a GREAT starting point for families considering adoption. It opens the communication and thought process. A brief explanation from their website:

The goal of this quiz is to help you (and your spouse) identify, clarify and discuss your feelings and goals about adoption. If you have a spouse or partner, complete the assessment separately, then compare and discuss your answers.

I believe my friends often wondered how I “reached” that point so “easily”. To be honest, I think adoption was always in my future. During my many years of infertility – I may have not seen it – but when I look back – I think my life experiences prepared my heart many moons ago. I am a “middle” child – having an older brother, older sister and younger sister. We often teased as all children do – but my mom would always stop us from teasing one another about our “differences” – except for this one particular thing. My sisters and brother – for whatever reason – decided to put the adoption spin on my teasing. They had this whole story on how a Dodo bird had flown on our roof top, laid an egg – the egg rolled off and my parents adopted me because the mother dodo flew away. My mom’s thoughts on this subject was it was SO far fetched – since I wasn’t a bird and not to mention -- the bird didn’t fly (so it could never be on the roof) and was extinct – that she didn’t need to stop them from teasing me. But being a child – I believed that some how I was different from the rest of the family – but it also gave me the feeling “well – I love them just like they were family” – and it grew my thought process that love makes a family – not who or what you are. Although I never took a quiz – I felt it in my heart – I was ready to be a mom – it didn’t matter to me how my child was added to my life – it just mattered that I was a mom and in 1991 – that dream came true! Since then I’ve been lucky enough to have two little boys enter our lives. I hope you find the quiz beneficial in your decision making process.