Disclaimers

In my video from Monday night (http://youtu.be/xBXRfStXc0k), I made a few disclaimer.  I did a few other disclaimers in last night's video, too (You can find that video on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KathleenWhitworthWellness).  However, I want to put some in writing too.

1. Sharing our story is a really scary thing for me to do.  To put our really personal stuff out there for the world to see kind of freaks me out, but I believe that it will help a lot of people. Therefore, I am sharing it.  
2. I love to write personal narratives.  I always have.  The thing with that, though, is that it requires a lot of memory recall.  Given that I have two kids who keep me very busy and very tired, I can't guarantee that I can recall every detail.  If someone out there asks me a specific question, I will likely be able to dig deep to find the memory.  I don't want to pull a James Frey (http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/06/frey200806) and pretend like I can remember everything.  (And, let me just say, I LOVED his book.  He should have probably just included a disclaimer at the beginning of his book, and all would have been right with the world).  I will always do my best to portray our story as accurately as possible.
3. Adoption is an intensely personal journey.  The decision we made along the way are ours alone. No one told us what to do or how to approach it. Our agency gave us suggestions, but, ultimately, everything was up to us. 
4. No one ever knows what he would do in any given situation until he is confronted with it, and adoption is no different. As I said in my video last night, the decision to adopt and the decisions that lie within the adoption process are as individual as the individuals who make up the process: the adoptive parents and their extended families, the birth families and their extended families, the kiddos themselves, the social workers and the adoption agencies.  I will never EVER tell any person who is considering adoption what she should do. Ever.  Shannon and I have our experiences, and I will share those, but I will NEVER tell anyone what to do.
5. My goal is to be a resource for those who are considering adoption or who know people who are.  It can be a very confusing, overwhelming process at first, mostly because, for many people, they're first told "You can't have biological children," and then they have to make a decision: Fertility treatments? Adoption? Both? Nothing?  It's a crazy, whirlwind of emotion. Those feelings are not quickly forgotten.

I look forward to sharing more and to helping as many people as possible.  Feel free to share my Facebook page (link above) and this blog link, too.

Thanks, Friends.
Kathleen