Guided Imagery

Well, tonight's class was a good one. The primary focus this week was for us to gain empathy for the kids by doing an exercise where we would view things from point-of-view of the kids we will adopt.

We sat there with our eyes closed and for fifteen minutes or so the facilitator had us visualize the images she was describing and think about how it impacted us personally.

She started by saying that the family police were coming and taking us from our family. We had 30 minutes to say goodbye and pack one small suitcase. That our new "family" was waiting for us and was so excited that we were coming.

From there, we were taken to our new "home" in a nicer neighborhood with nicer homes and bigger yards. We went to the front door and rang the bell. And waited. The door opened and there they were, our new family, complete kids and the dog.

This goes on for, as I said, 15 minutes or so.

Oh, and she forgot to tell us that we could have no contact with our "former" family.

Imagine if you went through this? I don't have the time or memory to tell you all of the situations she described but at the end she asked us to write down in only one or two words what we thought and then she went around the room and asked us to read our note. Mine said "This Sucks!!" But I also told her that for the first time I got a very clear understanding of what the kids will go through as they move through the system.

I never knew this was going to be so much work. At least it will be easy going AFTER we get the kids, right? RIGHT?? :o)

We know it won't be so no snarky comments. Just keep praying for us.