Stop me if you have heard this one before.

You tell somebody that you are adopting from Russia, or you are the parent of a child adopted from Russia, and they smile at you and say, "You are a saint."

No, no, no. I am not, I am not, I am not. Can you see me shaking my head? Can you hear me stomping my feet. I am not a saint. I am not remotely qualified for beatification on any score.

Why am I so opposed to sainthood? Because it takes adopting from Russia out of what it should be--one of the many possible, normal choices in life. Something that any regular person could do. Saints do very impossible things, and while adopting from Russia is sometimes trying and difficult, it is not impossible. Especially not for regular people. Adoption from Russia doesn't come with one of those "don't try this at home" warnings that you see on the home improvement shows.

When you adopt from Russia, you are welcoming a child into your family, a child who just happened to have been born on the other side of the planet. It is the same thing that thousands of biological parents do with biological children every day, and nobody calls them saints. They are regular people, raising regular children. Children just like ours. If saints are the only people who can become parents of children from Russia, then many children will wait far too long to find their forever families.

I know the lives of the saints are supposed to be inspirational, but I have always found them frightening. Saints get burned at the stake. Saints get beheaded. Saints have things happen to them that are not remotely in my comfort zone. Saints often aren't described as parents.

It doesn't mean that sometimes the parents of children adopted from Russia don't do things that are heroic. I was reminded of that again this morning, reading the post on "Six Blessings" about the home-grown adoption symposium she organized. I've been trying to work out the logistics of something like this at my church for the last year, but just haven’t gotten it off the ground.

So please, tell the world: You don't have to be a saint to adopt from Russia. You just have to want to give a kid another chance.