Jessica Satterfield and her husband are parents to three lovely adoptive children. They are a family that has embraced diversity and celebrates it every day and in every way possible.
Jessica and her husband have been married for eleven years. After a series of unsuccessful IUIs, they decided to adopt children so that they could give them the love they couldn’t give to a child brought to the world by them. So they first adopted a little girl, a few years later they also adopted a little boy and then one more boy.
According to Jessica, she and her husband think of their children’s biological mothers every day; they are thankful to them for giving them such beautiful gifts as these three children are for them. Yet, days go by that they completely forget, when they’re together as a family, that the children are adopted.
“I glanced in the mirror one night when I was putting my children to bed and suddenly remembered that I didn’t grow them in my belly when I saw our reflection staring back at us. It might sound weird that I forget that my children are adopted, but I do. Because to me, they’re just my children.”
However, this doesn’t seem to be the case with other people who notice them on the street- they will always turn their heads or stare at them. Jessica has decided to believe that they only stare at them because they admire their love and the beauty of their family. Just like what happened at a fast-food restaurant, where an older man approached them only to let them know that their family was beautiful. This left Jessica in tears of pride and joy.
Of course, this kind of reaction is not the only one they come across every day. As the mother narrates, when their little boy had just been with them for a few weeks, they went to the park. Another little boy then approached him and asked: “Why is your mom white and you’re brown?” And he answered: “Families don’t have to match to be a family. What makes a family is their love.” Jessica’s heart almost exploded to this answer; she was so proud and happy she couldn’t contain herself.
“When I look at my sweet children, even though we celebrate them, I don’t always notice our differences. I just see my children, the ones I waited on for so long, the ones I prayed for, and dreamed about. “
The family of five does not believe that “love is color blind”. On the contrary, they want their children to know as much as possible about diversity and why it is important to embrace and celebrate it, as well as adoption. They want their adoptive children to be ready to answer and educate others in similar situations, which for others would have been awkward.
If this story has something to teach us, that is the fact that families don’t have to share the same color or ethnic background, but they definitely have to share love and caring for each other.
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