Grief

Back in college, I took a religion class on death and dying.  It was a very interesting class and as a part of the class, we read Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' book On Death and Dying.  In the book, she describes the five stages of grief:  Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.  

Her work was done mainly with terminal patients (she was an MD), but the stages apply to anyone dealing with grief - including adopted children who grieve the loss of so many things in their lives.

Grief is a VERY hard thing to go through, and it is very hard to watch a loved one go through it.  However, it is a necessary and healthy part of dealing with the loss that has occurred.

Part of what makes is even more difficult is if the child gets stuck in the Denial stage for an extended period of time.  In this situation, everything looks good on the outside, but inside, the child's emotions are eating away at them.  Unfortunately, it isn't until the child finally transitions to the second stage, Anger, that this becomes apparent - and when it does, it can be explosive.  Fortunately, so far, the explosion has been positive - emotions and feelings finally being let out so they can be dealt with and addressed.

But it is still hard.

In addition, we have begun to realize that this isn't just an emotional battle, but also a spiritual one.

Please pray for our entire family as we walk down this road together.  It is a difficult road, but we will come out stronger on the other side.