Today is World Adoption Day. This is a day that I get to honor someone that I absolutely adore. Today, on World Adoption Day, I get to honor my nearly eight-year-old brother Joshua. As usual, I get to brag about how incredible he is. This time, however, I tell you his story in hopes of encouraging people to open their hearts to children who do not have families.

It was nearly March when we got the phone call. We had been asked weeks earlier if we were interested in taking a foster child, despite our lack of experience with the foster care system, and we had said yes. My parents had waited, my brothers and I had hoped, but weeks went by without a phone call. So when it came suddenly on a Tuesday morning, we all were instantly excited. The baby would be dropped off that Thursday, and we had to get to work.

We had no clothing for the baby, no toys, no crib. We had to clean, baby proof, and prepare mentally and emotionally for the uncertain adventure that was to come. My parents had to take classes so that they would be certified as foster parents, and my two other brothers and I had to prepare for another sibling. I waited anxiously and cautiously that Thursday. I was anxious because I knew that this baby boy may not get to stay with us forever. I was cautious to guard my heart because the idea of getting too attached and then having to let go made me sick to my stomach. For the first week or so, I kept my distance.��

But that didn’t last long.

Eventually, I let my guard drop. I stopped introducing him as my foster brother. When people asked me who he was, I simply said that he was my brother. I forgot my fears and my anxiety. Instead, I loved that baby boy with all that was within me. My love for my baby brother has never, and will never, change.

Overall, Joshua has been an adventure from the very beginning to this very day�. We have attended meetings with social workers, and we have stood before a judge and vowed to love him forever. We have all worked together to help raise him, and we have all struggled to help him since he has been diagnosed with epilepsy. Joshua� was, and still is, the silliest and most imaginative child you will ever encounter. If he ever wants to tell you about Woodland, you better cancel your plans for the next three hours. He loves to make things up, and he loves to explore. He can tell you about symbiosis, what the different clouds are called, and just about anything to do with animals. He is so caring, and he always wants to give hugs. If you want to dance, he’ll dance. If you want to sing, he’ll sing. If you want to cuddle, he’ll cuddle. He can speak sa�ss with ease, he is wiser than most adults that I know, and he is not afraid to welcome people into our family.

One of my favorite examples of how loving and open he is to everyone is the time that I came home from New York. I brought one of my close friends with me when I came home for the summer. I had initially joked that she was like a sister, but Joshua did not take it as a joke. To this day, he calls her his sister. To this day, he tells people that he has two sisters. To this day, he includes her in family drawings at school. This boy, who knows that he is adopted, will welcome anyone and everyone into the family. We tell him all the time that we chose him, and that we get to choose our family. He does not think of family in legal terms or biological terms, he thinks of a family as people we choose. If that does not make him incredible, then I have no idea what makes someone incredible.

At the end of the��� day, you may not be interested in foster care or adoption. But at the end of the day, it is you who misses out. Fostering and adopting children is the craziest, hardest, most rewarding thing you will ever experience. I have learned more from a boy who is eleven years younger than me than I have learned from anyone else in my entire life. He has made me happier, wiser, kinder, sillier, and smarter. I pray that everyone in this world will have a person like him in their life. I hope that everyone will consider foster care and adoption. I have said it many times, and I will continue saying it until the day that I die: You are capable of being the parent of a foster/adopted child. Your future biological children are capable of being the siblings of a foster/adopted child. The question is not whether you can or cannot. The question is, are you willing?