Adoption Gave Me More Than Children, It Gave Me Generations
By Lisa Anderson, India Director at Children’s House International
Lisa Anderson shares how adopting two children from India grew her family across generations, bringing grandchildren, in-laws, and a legacy of love. Learn more about India adoption through Children’s House International.
Priya’s Kindergarten Graduation Made Me Stop and Remember
This year, my granddaughter Priya graduated from Kindergarten.
There she was in her little cap and gown, smiling with that bright, proud smile children have when they know something important is happening, even if they do not yet fully understand just how much it means to the people who love them. I looked at her photos and thought, How did I get so lucky?
Not just lucky to be her grandmother, although that alone is more than enough. Lucky because when I chose adoption years ago, I did not fully understand what I was saying yes to.
Years ago, my India adoption journey began with the hope of becoming a mother.
I was saying yes to motherhood, and I knew that. But I was also saying yes to a future daughter-in-law. A future son-in-law. Grandchildren. Family holidays. School programs. Kindergarten graduations. New babies placed in my arms. Little voices calling me “Noni”. A family tree that would keep growing long after the adoption paperwork was complete.
Adopting my two children from India did not simply make me a parent. It changed the entire shape of my life.
And now, when I look at Priya in her graduation pictures, or think about my granddaughter Emmy and the other precious grandbabies who have filled my world with noise, laughter, and love, I see adoption in a way I could not have seen at the beginning. Adoption is not just one beautiful moment when a child comes home. It is a gift that keeps unfolding for generations.
For me, adopting from India was the beginning of a much bigger family than I ever imagined.
What Family Looked Like Before Adoption
Before I adopted, my family was very small.
I am an only child of only children. That means I did not grow up with brothers or sisters. I did not have nieces or nephews. I did not have a big circle of aunts, uncles, or cousins filling up the house during holidays or gathering around the table for birthdays.
For many people, family means a long list of relatives, traditions, and generations all woven together. For me, family was quieter. Smaller. There was love, of course, but there was not a large extended family surrounding me.
I do not think I realized how much that shaped me until later in life.
When you come from a very small family, you learn to be independent. You learn to make your own way. But there is also a part of your heart that wonders what it would feel like to belong to something bigger. To have more chairs at the table. More names to write on birthday cards. More children running through the house. More people whose lives are connected to yours in the ordinary, beautiful ways families are connected.
When I began my adoption journey, I was thinking about becoming a mother. I wanted to love children, raise them, guide them, and give them a home. At the time, I thought adoption would grow my family by two.
“I knew adopting from India would change my life, but I could not possibly understand just how far that love would reach.”
Looking back now, I smile at that thought. Because adoption did not just give me two children. It opened the door to a family larger than anything I had known before.
How India Adoption Changed My Life
Adopting my two children from India changed everything.
It changed my name. Suddenly, I was “Mom.” It changed my schedule, my priorities, my worries, my prayers, and my dreams for the future. It changed the way my home sounded. There were little feet, little voices, questions, laughter, needs, messes, school papers, appointments, bedtime routines, and all the ordinary daily things that make a house feel alive.
But more than anything, India adoption changed my understanding of family.
Family was no longer something small. It was no longer limited to what I had known growing up. Through adoption, my family crossed oceans. It crossed cultures. It crossed every expectation I once had for what my life might look like.
When my children came home from India, I knew I had been given a gift. Any adoptive parent understands that feeling. You look at your child and know your life will never be the same again. There is joy, there is responsibility, and there is a kind of love that grows deeper with every year.
But I did not know then that adoption would keep surprising me.
I did not know that one day those children would grow up and bring even more people into my life. I did not know I would gain a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law. I did not know their families would become part of my story too. I did not know I would hold grandbabies in my arms and think, All of this began because of adoption.
That is what amazes me most now.
When people talk about adopting from India, they often talk about the process, the paperwork, the waiting, and the day a child finally comes home. Those are important parts of the adoption journey, of course. But the story does not end there. In many ways, that is only the beginning.
My adoption journey gave me my children. Then it gave me their spouses. Then it gave me grandchildren. It gave me birthdays, graduations, family photos, and a whole new generation to love.
I adopted two children from India, but the blessing did not stop with two. It kept growing.
The Gift That Keeps Growing
Today, I have four grandbabies.
For someone who once had such a small family, that still feels almost impossible to believe. My life is full in ways I never could have planned on my own. There are little people to love, little milestones to celebrate, and little personalities unfolding right before my eyes.
Priya’s Kindergarten graduation was one of those moments that made me pause. Watching a grandchild reach a milestone is emotional for any grandparent, but for me, it carries another layer of meaning. I know that moment exists because adoption became part of my story.
And then there is Emmy, my son Thomas’s daughter. Seeing Thomas as a father and watching his family grow has been one of the greatest joys of my life. There is something deeply moving about watching your child become a parent. You see love continue. You see lessons passed on. You see your family story move forward into another generation.
Adoption made me a mother, but it also made me a grandmother.
It gave me a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law. It brought their families into my life. It gave me more people to care about, more people to pray for, more people to laugh with, and more people to sit beside at family gatherings.
When I think about all of that, I realize adoption did not simply add children to my family. It expanded my entire world.
Seeing This Same Blessing Through CHI Families
Since becoming the India Director for Children’s House International, I have had the privilege of seeing this same kind of blessing in many other families.
I have watched families begin their India adoption journey with hope, questions, paperwork, nervousness, and faith. I have seen parents meet their sons and daughters. I have seen children welcomed home. I have seen families stretch, grow, learn, and love in ways they may not have expected at the beginning.
But one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed is how adoption often brings entire families closer together.
I have seen large Indian families become even more connected after their son or daughter adopted a child from India. Grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins, and extended family members often find themselves drawn into the joy of welcoming a child home. The adoption may begin with one parent or one couple, but the love rarely stays there. It spreads.
That is something I understand personally.
When a child joins a family through adoption, that child does not simply belong to one or two people. They become part of a larger story. They are loved by grandparents, siblings, cousins, extended relatives, friends, church communities, school communities, and all the people who will have the joy of watching them grow.
As both an adoptive mother and someone who walks alongside families adopting from India, I have seen again and again that adoption is not only about forming a family. It is about enlarging the circle of love.
Adoption Is a Legacy, Not Just a Moment
Adoption is often described as a journey, and it is. There are steps, requirements, waiting periods, emotions, and unknowns. Families considering international adoption know that it is not something entered into lightly.
But when I look at my own life, I also know this: adoption is not just about the journey to your child.
It is about the journey after your child comes home.
It is the bedtime stories, the school years, the teenage years, the hard conversations, the laughter around the table, the growing up, the letting go, and the watching them build lives of their own.
And then, sometimes, it is the miracle of standing back and realizing that the child you once welcomed into your arms now has a family of their own. That is legacy.
When I saw Priya in her Kindergarten cap and gown, I was not only seeing a sweet little girl graduating from Kindergarten. I was seeing the beautiful, living proof that adoption continues. Love continues. Family continues.
Adoption gave me children.
Then it gave me grandchildren.
Then it gave me in-laws and extended family and a future filled with names and faces I never could have imagined when I first began.
For an only child of only children, that is no small thing.
It is everything.
A Note to Families Considering India Adoption
For families considering India adoption, I can tell you from both my personal experience and my work with Children’s House International that adoption is not just about one moment in time.
It is about a lifetime of love, connection, growth, and family.
It is not always easy. No form of parenting is. Adoption asks families to be patient, open, committed, and willing to learn. But it can also bring blessings that reach far beyond what you can see at the beginning.
When I adopted my two children from India, I became a mother.
What I did not know was that I was also opening the door to generations.
I look at my family now — my children, my grandchildren, my daughter-in-law, my son-in-law, and the extended families who have become part of my life — and I am overwhelmed with gratitude.
Adoption did not just make my family bigger.
It made my life richer.
Families interested in learning more can visit the India adoption program through Children’s House International at:
https://www.childrenshouseinternational.org/india
Frequently Asked Questions About India Adoption
Does adoption only change the life of the child and parent?
No. Adoption can change an entire family for generations. In my own life, adopting two children from India eventually brought me grandchildren, in-laws, extended family, and a larger family circle than I ever imagined.
Why is India adoption meaningful to your family?
India adoption made me a mother, but it also gave me a family legacy. My children grew up, married, and had children of their own. Today, I see the gift of adoption continuing through my grandchildren.
How can families learn more about adopting from India?
Families can learn more through the India adoption program at Children’s House International:
https://www.childrenshouseinternational.org/india