Media Monday: Family Connections Magazine

I graduated from BYU with a degree in Marriage, Family and Human Development. The department has changed since I went to school and is now called The School of Family Life. They are trying to reconnect all of their alumni and current students, so they put together a magazine called "Family Connections" that came in the mail a little while ago. I was excited to read it, and loved the story of adoption that I came across.

It was an alumni profile about the Lundell Family. They adopted three children of Asian, African American and Samoan descent and then they were able to have two biological children. The husband entered the military and ended up getting deployed for Iraq, leaving the wife with a 6 week old baby and 3 kids that were having separation issues from adoption. She writes that she has been able to use her training as a family therapist to help their family. I love this paragraph, "Catherine feels a sacred obligation as a parent to an adopted child. 'How would their birth mother feel about my interactions with this child if she were watching?' is a question she often asks herself. Catherine feels a deep responsibility for the trust that was placed in her as a mother to someone else's child."

Our Thoughts: We love that she used what she learned in school to help their family grow. I have definitely remembered different things I learned from my major to help our family, and love that I have that knowledge to draw upon. We especially loved how they feel such a sacred responsibility to care for her adopted children the best they can because of the trust that the birth parents had in them. We, likely, will feel the same way!