How We Wednesday….Talk Adoption


Hey Hey!

You guys!  A COLD front has hit Texas and in turn, it’s made me not want to leave my couch!  #ortheblankets  #orthefireplace

Today is How We…Wednesday!  Once a month, Shay and I join forces to discuss HOW WE do something.  Our hope is you share HOW YOU do something and we all leave learning from each other.  #thatsthegoal

The topic this month is something near and super dear to my heart…we’re talking ADOPTION.


For those of you new here, eighteen months ago this week our family of five adopted a sweet baby girl from China.  To be honest, she changed our lives by turning us all into mush.  She has us wrapped around her little finger, all five of us love her so very much, and we cannot even begin to imagine our lives without her in it.  


You can read all our adoption posts…

Bringing Home Britt Posts…

Adoption Questions Answered…

Post Adoption Updates…

To be honest, this is one of those days I’m hoping I learn a LOT more from YOU than you learn from me.  I don’t have anything earth shattering to say about how we’re teaching our children.  My big kiddos remember everything about when we got Britt, so I feel like they lived it just as much as Tab and I did {but clearly, in different ways}.  We do talk about adoption all the time.  I don’t want it to be like Britt remembers us telling her one specific day about being adopted.  It’s something we’re trying to talk about more and more, because as she gets older she’ll “get it” so much more.  My big kiddos and I did just have a talk about what details they should share with others.  Like I said, they remember EVERYTHING from the trip and the experience, but there are details that are super personal to us and especially Britt. 

Growing up I didn’t know anyone close to me who’d adopted or who’d been adopted so the idea of adoption wasn’t something my eight or nine-year-old self would have been discussing, but with my kiddos it’s very different.  Earlier this week, Nixon was working on his Star Student poster for school and it asked him to tell something “Hot Off the Press”.  Any guesses what he chose to share?  {I have no doubts his entire class already knows.}  BRITT!  He talked about adoption, how his family adopted, how his little sister is amazing, and he didn’t include this but totally should have-how he lets her do anything she wants!  ha!   #spoiled

More than anything, I want my family to be advocates for adoption.  Adoption is simply amazing!  I’m blessed with an amazing family and awesome friends.  I cannot even begin to imagine how it would feel to not have someone in my corner…family, friends, or anyone!  Some kiddos live their entire lives not having a mom or a dad, simply alone…just the thought-breaks my heart.  Adoption has changed all six of us Slaughters in big ways…it’s taught us to love even bigger.  We could have missed this, but I’m so glad we didn’t.

Once again, if God has placed adoption on your heart, I pray you’ll act on it.  

How do YOU talk adoption with your kiddos?


Join us next month when we talk ALL THINGS CHRISTMAS!



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10 Comments

  1. 11.14.18
    Mix and Match Mama said:

    She's turned us into mush too. Especially Mr. Andrew 😉 .

  2. 11.14.18
    Sheaffer {Pinterest Told Me To} said:

    Beautiful post! So proud of your whole family and love Britty so much!

  3. 11.14.18
    Anonymous said:

    This is beautiful friend! We just love you guys!

  4. 11.14.18
    Shari U said:

    My family is very much like yours; we had 3 bio kids when we went to China in 2003 to adopt our nearly 16 year old daughter, who was 10 months old. She was an immediate “fit” and all the kids just loved and adored her from day one! She has blessed our family in more ways than I’ll probably ever realize. I stated talking to her about her story from the very beginning. As she got a little older I revealed a little more, to the point where she knows everything I know. I’ve told her that I don’t ever want her to have a moment where she says “I didn’t know that” and if that ever happens, it’s not on purpose! We’re going on a Heritage tour in June and will take an extra few days to go to her orphanage city. When Abby was young I talked about adoption all the time, to anyone who would listen! As she got older (maybe 7-8) I realized I needed to offer her a little more privacy and by the time she reached middle school I determined that it’s her story to tell and I stopped talking about it to others and stopped posting about her adoption on social media. If someone asks me a question i’m happy to answer it and it’s quite obvious she’s adopted, but it just doesn’t come up much anymore. Of course I post hundreds of photos of her, but just as my daughter and not specific to her adoption. You have a beautiful family and your Britt is absolutely precious, I love seeing pictures of her and hearing about her progress!

  5. 11.14.18
    Unknown said:

    Sounds like you are doing great! My kids are both adopted (infant domestic adoption). They are now 8 and almost 10. Adoption and being a trans-racial family are the most normal things in the world to them. I've found that it's much easier talking to my kids about adoption than other adults. It seems like so many adults have some crazy ideas in their head about adoption. Of course, we do our best to gently and kindly educate as things come up.

  6. 11.14.18
    Amanda @ That Inspired Chick said:

    Love this and y'all! And no one gives better side-eye than Britt! (Or does she just save that for me?? haha) That Inspired Chick

  7. 11.14.18
    Emily Scott said:

    Lovin everything about this post!!! I am adopted and have 6 siblings who are also adopted (my parents are my heros!!). I think you said it best when you said you don’t want there to be a specific moment where Britt remembers you “telling her she was adopted” clearly it would be hard for her not to know our family is like that also, 3 biracial, 1 African American, 1 cacasion, and 2 Korean sooo even if our parents didn’t “tell us” we would have known something was up. BUT adoption for us was everyday, ordinary talk. And I think the biggest thing that did for myself and my siblings was remove that hush hush stigma that adoption has sometimes. Did we ask my parents hard questions that they were probably on the inside freaking out, yes, but they didn’t show it they welcomed questions and that made everything about being adopted seem just like any ordinary thing. We celebrated adoption as well,l regularly, like I said there are 7 of us so over the years our gotcha days became one BIG GOTCHA DAY cause Lord knows that’s expensive haha. And now that we are almost all grown and out of the house we get to speak at different events and functions and tell our stories which is so fun! And I can’t wait to use the wisdom that my parents used one day with my kiddos as my husband and I plan to for sure adopt if that’s the way God wants to build our family. Love following along with your sweet sweet fam!!

  8. 11.15.18
    csuhpat1 said:

    Very nice. I talked to my kids about adpotion because I was adpoted at birth. So they know about it and know that it is a good option for their life.

    Thanks for hosting and I hope that you have a wonderful rest of the week.

  9. 11.15.18
    Unknown said:

    I love that Nixon shared all about Britt! Such a proud big brother and I can totally see why! ♥️

  10. 11.15.18
    Beth in the City said:

    My family adopted my baby sister when I was 11 and she was 9 months. We talked about adoption all the time and it was totally normal. My mom made a baby book for her. It only had two pre-adoption photos of her but there were pictures of us getting ready for her. Trips do DC for paperwork, her adoption documents, etc. And then lots and lots of pictures once she arrived. She her my mom tell her story over and over, and when she was older she would go get her book and tell her story herself to all of our guests. I think it really helped her.