{"id":30755,"date":"2012-08-23T07:00:26","date_gmt":"2012-08-23T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/f06.70c.myftpupload.com\/?p=6869"},"modified":"2012-08-23T07:00:26","modified_gmt":"2012-08-23T12:00:26","slug":"adopting-terminally-ill-children-one-familys-story-pt-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/adopting-terminally-ill-children-one-familys-story-pt-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Adopting Terminally Ill Children: One Family’s Story, Pt. 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_post_title featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”4.16″ title_font=”||||||||” title_text_color=”#42313A” title_font_size=”40px” meta_font_size=”14px” background_color=”#B4DBC0″ custom_padding=”50px||50px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_post_title][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ specialty=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”0px||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ specialty_columns=”3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_row_inner _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column_inner saved_specialty_column_type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9mZWF0dXJlZF9pbWFnZSIsInNldHRpbmdzIjp7fX0=@” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.16″ _dynamic_attributes=”src” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.22.2″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Adoption changes families in a myriad of ways. For the past two days, Sue Badeau has been sharing the story of how adopting 20 children. 3 of those children had terminal diagnoses, changed their family. In Part 1<\/a><\/span>, you met Sue and her husband Hector and heard their adoption story. In Part 2<\/a><\/span>, she focused on the experience of adopting children with special needs. Today, in Part 3, Sue shares lessons they learned as they grieved for their sons.<\/em><\/p>\n

Adopting Terminally Ill Children: One Family’s Story, Pt. 3<\/h3>\n

Three Lessons Learned<\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. Everyone can heal and grow.<\/strong> Healing and growth may look different for each individual. We may never see the wholeness we are hoping for, but we can continue to work towards it. I learned this lesson at an early age from my grandfather as he showed me how he cared differently for the various plants in his vegetable garden so that each would have the best chance of growing and bearing fruit.\u00a0 I have come to understand that this analogy also applies to children\u2014they are not all easy to grow, like zucchini, but then, what a boring garden it would be if we grew nothing but zucchini!<\/li>\n
  2. There is as much value in the journey as in the destination<\/strong>. I know, I know, it sounds like a worn clich\u00e9, but we have found it to be true.\u00a0 Years ago, we went on a family hike and this message came home to me in a powerful way as I saw my small son Raj, who had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy<\/span><\/a> and told that he would never walk, clambering along the hiking trail with his brothers and sisters.\u00a0 Years later as we experienced everything from teen pregnancy to a son in prison, I have had to remind myself again and again of this important lesson.<\/li>\n
  3. While God does not \u201cfix\u201d everything in the sense of removing all obstacles, curing all diseases, or unlocking all disabling conditions, He does, indeed, make all things new.<\/strong> I learned this after experiencing a car wreck\u2014I still have some scars and there are things I cannot do, yet I was changed by the experience and \u201cmade new\u201d in important ways.\u00a0\u00a0 And as I think about some my children viewed as most \u201cdamaged\u201d by the world\u2014whether physically or emotionally \u201cdamaged\u201d by all kinds of brutal early life experiences, turning to drugs, early pregnancies or other outlets for their pain\u2014I know that some people look at them and only see the wreck. But I like to look at them and see them as survivors.\u00a0 And I am always amazed how, in spite of the \u201cdamage\u201d they have sustained, they, through God\u2019s grace and healing power, are able to find amazing new ways to do old things that many of us take for granted\u2014communication, relationships, eating, moving, getting through the day.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Toolkit for Parents Caring for Terminally Ill Children<\/h4>\n

    If I were to try to offer words of encouragement to parents caring for children with severe special needs and terminal illnesses, I would urge them to create a toolkit for themselves to help them make it through the dark times.\u00a0 Into the toolkit would go at least the following tools:<\/p>\n