About a "regular" boy

Alex and I were at an appointment and the gal asked Alex to tell her about her siblings and so she began with Tori. "Tori is my half sister and she has always been with me before we were adopted" she then said "Griffin was born in Astrakhan Russia and he's adopted too" then there is "Jared he's just regular".  We all laughed thinking how funny that was since it appeared that his entrance to the family seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary.  There was no long battle story of mounds of paperwork or court appearances or International travel or of a battered life.  Jared's beginnings were just ordinary.

When I entered the world of adoption it has always been important to me that every one of my children think their story is special and unique.  So what is Jared's story, how do we go from "regular" to something that is "special"?

What seems to be more and more true is Jared's beginnings are becoming less the norm.  Jared was born into our family and received all of the love and attention every child should have.  There are tons of pictures of Jared marking all of his major milestones from birth! Jared was the only child for four years so he experienced and was exposed to so many wonderful adventures. He was loved and protected from the beginning. No one who posed a threat ever got close.  Jared was never abandoned, never went hungry and never lived in fear. He had good things and always expected good things. Every accomplishment Jared achieved was celebrated. Oh how I wish all my children were just "regular" and had their beginnings just as Jared did.

I do think Jared was given something very special and that is his heart! He loves big and his heart is turned to God.  Jared prayed for a little brother and in 2003 that prayer was answered.  When we were approached in 2009 about adding to our family it was Jared that said I don't think God is asking us to add anymore boys to our family. God added two girls!

Jared turns 14 on Friday and because he is "regular" I had a lot of pictures to choose from to make this video.