The difference between created and acquired

I talk to people struggling to create their perfect family all the time.  It's just that you don't always know what the perfect family is in advance.  You may want all girls and get all boys.  You may want one of each and get all girls.  You may dream of twins and have an only child.  You may shiver in horror at the thought of having two babies at once and joyfully raise your triplets with ease.  You all get the point. 
I have one brother.  I am happy to have a sibling and we have had a great life together.  Without him, I wouldn't have had near as much fun (or the chicken pox scar on the side of my face...but that's a whole different story.) I have fond memories of camping, playing in the park, and swimming at the pool.  It is because of him that I knew that I wanted more than one child.  I wanted my children to enjoy life with a sibling as much as I have.  But I always thought that my parents should have had more kids.  (Easy for me to say...right?) My mom and dad both come from bigger families so I have lots of aunts, uncles and cousins.  Christmas and Thanksgiving was never a quiet affair growing up because we had lots of family around to help us celebrate.  And that is how I formed my idea of the perfect family...at least three kids, possibly five.  Probably all boys because I'm not big into frilly dresses or pig tails and because I remember my mom combing out my super long hair after a bath....ouch!! 
I have the perfect family.  I have a girl and a boy...not at all what I had planned.  And I can guarantee you that I always assumed we would have them the good old fashioned way.  I was a bossy kid when I was young (maybe I still am?) and my brother was fearless.  My kids are the same age difference as my brother and I are and in the same order.  Lily is the bossy one and Jack is fearless.  It may be a coincidence, but then again it could be birth order. 
Regardless, I can tell you that I never thought my children would be adopted or invitro kids.  While our story tends to be one of interest, I want to take a moment to share the fact that it doesn't matter if your kids are created or acquired.  I have a wonderful story to tell about meeting Lily for the first time and an extended family created by a relationship with her birth family.  I have ultrasound pictures of Jack and the memory of hiccups from within. Both experiences are memories that I will cherish forever.  Completely different, but equally important.  I would love to have had the experience to carry Lily in my belly, but I think it was easier to become her mother without the healing or exhaustion of labour and delivery.  And I would never give up the opportunity to be the mother of the most wonderful daughter just to have experienced her creation. 
I love my children equally but differently.  I believe this would be the case whether they were both adopted or both biological.  I love that Lily is gentle and caring.  I love that she is fantastic at puzzles and that she loves gymnastics.  I love that Jack already knows that he is funny and that at one year of age he can already understand what I am saying and will do what I ask...whenever he feels like it.  I love that Lily is cautious and rarely gets hurt and I love that Jack experiences the world full-speed ahead.  I believe that every kid is different and that genetics or parenting cannot control nature.  I believe that I was meant to be the mother of these two incredible kids.
I am asked all the time if we had Jack because I was missing out on being pregnant.  That was never the case.  Just like anything you have never experienced, of course you are curious.  I am lucky to have had the experience but would say that those nine months are small in comparison to the lifetime of your child.  People wonder all the time if they would be able to love a child that doesn't look like them.  I can honestly tell you that it makes absolutely no difference.  I love my kids the same. 
There is no difference in the love for created or acquired.  There is just love.  Incredible, amazing love.