To accept, decline or ignore?

Facebook.

The social media wonder of all wonders.  The connectivity of finding a long lost high school classmate, college friend or distant relative all in an instant.

It is a powerful form of media (and fascinating to me - generational differences and determining an effective means of communication within higher education is what my dissertation is all about).

Anyway, back to Facebook.  One can find someone with a click of a few keystrokes.

It's also a colossal time waster, but that is another post!

Last week I received a friend request via Facebook from Grace's Birthmother.

It completely took me by surprise.  Well, at least kinda.

For a bit we had exchanged letters, pictures and gifts through Grace's home county social worker or (our preferred method) Papa Ron and Nana Jane.  In the past few months we felt comfortable enough to share our last name and address.  When we met Grace's Birthmom and Birth Grandma last fall we knew they were wonderful people.  They both care for and love Grace so much and were so happy to see her and thrilled with how big she is and how well she is doing.  We knew there wouldn't be any concern with providing our personal info to them.

We've all heard "be careful what you post on Facebook - you never know who is watching".  All of those thoughts ran though my head once I saw the friend request.  Had I posted any status updates that I wouldn't want shared?  Were there any pics that might not be okay?

It took a couple of days for Trav and I to think it through.  We knew any pros would outweigh any cons we could come up with.  After a few days, I accepted the friend request. 

Now I'm comforted with knowing she'll see more pics of Grace and have a better glimpse into Grace's life.  We've shared a few private messages back and forth in the past few days that have been very positive. 

I'm so glad we chose "Accept" (Trav doesn't have a Facebook account).  I'm also excited to see where this takes our relationship.

I know I likely wouldn't have felt this way two years ago when we were just starting the adoption journey.  I couldn't have imagined sharing info in such a public way with a Birthmom.  Thankfully, circumstances have a way of providing perspective and I'm thankful we are Facebook friends.

I'm curious what others think...would love to see some comments and feedback (and yes, I'm open to questions too!).