Is adoption a bad word???

My friend, Becca, asked this question on her blog and so I thought I would ask here too. Is adoption a bad word? Is it a word talked about in your home openly? Is it a word that your children know? Is the word adopted only okay to use during the right time and in the right place? Or can it only be used by those of us who have gone through the experience? Or do you just love it or hate it in general? Maybe it is not just the word, but the manner and situation in which it is used?

This is one thing that Becca says...
Lately I've noticed the different opinions/reactions that adoptive parents have to the word adopted. I have one friend who has one birth child and one adopted child. She does not like or use the word adopted in her house.

OK, Here is my opinion...

I love the word adoption or any form of it first because God set adoption into motion a long time ago before the world began to adopt us as His sons and daughters, through Christ, his son. And showed us that many times in the Bible, with different people. Can you think of a few? What about Moses, Esther, and Jesus himself, just to name a few....

The 2nd reason I love the word adopted is because it has to do with a choice and an effort.
Now... not to make less of pregnancy, but sometimes that isn't a choice, it just happens. (a couple of mine did!) But with adoption it doesn't just happen, we make a conscious effort to do all the things we have to do to "adopt" our child and /or children.

I could go on and on about ways I love the word adopt or any form of it, we do talk about it in our home a lot and Heidy knows what it is and she prays for her sister, who is still in Ethiopia, because "she will not know us when she gets here" and "to not be crying for her papa" and "to have Jesus shining in her heart". She gets "it" more than a lot of adults do.

And the main reason I love the word adopted is because, Heidy is.... and our next daughter will be.