Disney "World of acceptance"

Where we live in the northeast is not what you would call the "mecca" of diversity. A christian singer Nicole C. Mullins has a song with lyrics "mama looks like coffee, daddy looks like cream, baby is a mocha drop American dream". That is what I consider my niece, a Mocha Drop American dream.

There are times though that Drew and I have experienced rudeness from strangers that DO NOT feel the same way we do about her, or us. The most surprising thing is they make it well known and say things. When did it become normal to state your opinion on something you know nothing about? We have had people from every race and color say things to us about our "child", the first few times I was literally aw struck that someone could actually say things like that out loud. I have opinions (and trust me I'm no saint when it comes to keeping them to myself) but some of these things left me utterly stunned without response.

I am not sure why, but the local Home Depot is where most of comments come from. Not the workers but the customers. Same with the local Chinese buffet (I'm pregnant and I love Chinese, don't judge). We get strange looks and comments from every color of the rainbow at least in our own hometown.

One lady at the Chinese Buffet said to me with Makenzie within earshot "Why don't you stick to your own kind, you have to go around stealing our men?" My initial response was (because I had food on the brain) "Your eating here too? I like Chinese food" It clicked as she gave me a strange look she was talking about My niece not the food. I then grabbed my niece, covered her ears and let the lady know a thing or two about her attitude. I know it was not at all a response of grace or kindness, but to think that in 2011 there are still people that feel this way was a disgrace.

Another time a lady walked straight up to me and Drew, looks at me and says "I hope he doesn't believe that "that's" (pointing to Makenzie) his!" JAW HIT FLOOR!!! what in the world? She is referring to a little girl as a "that"... hello, she is a little human being! And this lady has NO IDEA that Drew has devoted his entire life to this little girl, that he loves her. Oh, can we mention that little girl is living without her mom for an entire year to defend this country and the freedom to have any family she wants! There was/is so much I wanted to yell and explain to her. This time we just stood there jaws dropped. The worst is that the "that" heard the whole thing and is old enough to realize what was going on.

There are probably ten more examples I can share here, but I want to get into the something that has restored my hope in our situation. Disney World.

Disney World brought all stares and rude comments to a complete halt. Everyone in Disney World is part of the great rainbow we call the earth. There were so many "different" families, we were left alone. Not one side glance or comment. It was beautiful. There were people of every race, religion, and ability. We had one lady ask us when we adopted our little girl, we explained the whole story to her and her eyes were not filled with judgement they were filled with compassion. She then told us about some families in her church who were trying to adopt from other countries and the things they were going through. Families can come in any shape, size, and color and the Disney atmosphere embraces that, now the rest of the world needs to catch up.

My brother said it right... "wait a minute, lets not be judgmental! Isn't that Gods job?... life gets awfully difficult when we put each other down."