Native American Dreams

Last Night I had a dream that I had adopted a Native American child. In the dream, it was actually a little boy and I remember questioning in the dream whether we were to name him ourselves (we actually though about a name... I remember it being something like "walks with feather"), or whether he should take on the name that his parents left him with. All of this leaves me with a question, although it's probably stupid...pre-adopted children: Are they referred to as some birth-given name, or are they not given names at all when handed over to adoption agencies, or do the agencies themselves name them? Or are they referenced by case file # or by the parent's names? Just a curiousity.

I understand why I dreamed had a dream on Native Americans - it's because I picked up an awesome magazine at the new-age store called "Sacred Hoop" - a magazine about modern-day shaminism, tools, etc. It's an amazing mag and I would really like to collect the funds together to purchase the entire set (all 45 or so issues). Maybe I'll check e-bay to see if I can get it on the cheap.

So, I had this interesting dream and today, while catching up with my wife on the details of our house situation, she said it was strange because she was just online yesterday looking up Native American Adoptions... cool stuff!

My search has now begun looking for a child of native descent - what's involved, what agencies support it, etc. It would be really cool if we adopted a child of Cherokee descent, since my wife has Cherokee blood in her too. As an added bonus, I have recently in the past 3 years become very interested in native cultures: their ceremonies, medicine, & spiritual side. Maybe I'm really a recent 'walk-in' of native ancestry...

Well, like God sending us a message with an offer on our building, maybe this is a sign as well - something that we're both looking into!

Adopted people are cool!

Last night I met my a friend of my brother who was adopted, along with his sister into a family that never had any natural-born children. He was a super-nice, really-cool guy. So we talked for a little while about what it was like for him, and he basically said that it felt no different than anything else - that he feels so completely loved by his parents, and even feels more love from them than he sees in many others who come from natural parents (whereby maybe many parents who are just naturally fertile sometimes take it for granted, letting their guard down in terms of the gift they have received). We see it all the time - I just saw it the other day when a woman in the grocery store was pulling hard at the arms and yelling/complaining at her child who was screaming in the grocery store. I surely felt bad for that little guy, for he had parents who didn't have the patience & nurturing nature that all kids surely deserve. Maybe it was just a bad day - I shouldn't pass judgement, for I'm sure there will be times when I will want to blow up at my kid, I just have a feeling that I'd be able to control myself better, and I know that I'd really try to understand my child's needs during moments just like this.

Anyway, little moments like the meeting last night are God's affirmations of what can be, in a very positive sense.

Looking forward to adoption even more now.