Samuel’s American Homecoming- Two Years Ago Today

“We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.”

― Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

Today marks the 2 year mark for Samuel’s American homecoming.

The boys then:

 

The boys now:

Some adoptive families celebrate this day and some do not for various reasons (the loss of the birth family, trauma associated, loss of country, etc…)

This election day we are celebrating not only our right to vote, but for the great strides we have made this year as an American family given the freedom to pursue our son’s reconnection with his first family. Our desire for a global community is being made possible by this liberty.

American election season is sometimes mean, ugly, or silly. We have the the luxury to take any of these stances.

So, today we are celebrating being American. Good, bad, or ugly- we are proud to be a part of a country where we continue to have great hope for betterment and improvement. I’ve seen oppression in other parts of the world, but here I see possibility (yes, still).

Quotes from the past for the consideration of our future:

“While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the rights of conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to him only in this case they are answerable.”

 – George Washington

“Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear. “

-Thomas Jefferson

“Under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own person, which includes the liberty of moving and using it at his own. This is what is called personal liberty, and is given him by the author of nature, because necessary for his own sustenance.”

– Thomas Jefferson

“What I do say is, that no man is good enough to govern another man, without that other’s consent. I say this is the leading principle – the sheet anchor of American republicanism.”

– Abraham Lincoln

“…the man who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere critic-the man who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly, not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

“Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept there can be no end save victory.”

― Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder.”

 – John F. Kennedy