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Our Adoption Story

    About a year and a half ago I read David Platt’s book Radical. The Lord had been stirring in me so many of the things that David wrote about… getting away from our selfish Christian “spin on the American dream” and really seeking to be who God has called us to be… we are follows of Christ. The Lord continued to burden us to reach the nations and began breaking our heart to reach more people with God’s glory, love and mercy.

    

    God was also working on Josh and I separately and planted seeds of adoption in each of us. Josh attended a minister’s conference called Catalyst, where he heard Mac Powell’s testimony about his family’s adoption. About a two years ago we had an early miscarriage. The Lord really opened my heart to add another child to our family. I immediately wanted to get pregnant again, but Josh did not. I prayed for God to change Josh’s heart because I just knew we were supposed to have another child. He didn’t. Finally I began praying that God would change MY heart… He immediately did!! God placed adoption on my heart. Through this time Josh was preaching through Ephesians 1 on our adoption in Christ. That really hit home with us as we were praying about adoption for our family. We are overwhelmed by God’s love for us and His adoption of us in Christ. Our motivation to adopt is to demonstrate Christ to a child and the world. We started talking about adoption, prayed about it and stepped out in obedience.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

Is this path going to be easy?? NO

• Do we have to sacrifice material possessions of this world? Yes
• Do we have to raise $30,000---YES! The Lord has already provided more than half of that!!
• If we are polluted and corrupted by the desires and pleasures of this world, not only would we be unable to answer this call to demonstrate Christ to the world… but we would not have even heard the call. Matt. 6 Jesus says do NO worry about what you wear, what you eat, where you will live (for that is what the pagans run after). God tells us to “keep oneself from being polluted from the things of this world”, so we can hear and obey HIM!
• One of our family’s big concerns was that we will experience racism because we will be a transracial family. Do we avoid following God’s call just to avoid discomfort?
•  Would I reject the idea of being a missionary, or even a mission trip because it is uncomfortable?? NOOOO!!!

Christ experienced much discomfort for me on the cross and calls us to take up our cross daily and follow HIM---does that sounds comfortable to you? But it is a very blessed life to follow Christ!!!

We were ALL once lost, orphans in need of a Father who would redeem and adopt us. God has bought, redeemed and adopted us in Christ. We are now true sons because of Christ’s death and resurrection.

“Adoption is about the reconciliation of the rebellious. Our confusion comes when we look at human adoption and end up focusing on the fact that a child needs parents. God focuses on the fact that a lost person needs saving” (Dan Cruver, Reclaiming Adoption)

Don’t get me wrong, there are so many kids in need who are hurting and we can do something about that. Less than ¼ of all people in the country we are adopting from have clean water to drink. Things that we take for granted--taking a bath… those kids have never experienced! Some orphans have never even been outside, felt the wind or water. Many babies in orphanages no longer cry, they know that NO one will come if they cry, so they just stop trying to get attention or comfort.

However, “The ultimate purpose of human adoption by Christians, therefore is not to give orphans parents, as important as that is. It is to place them in a Christian home that they might be positioned to receive the gospel, so that within that family, the world might witness a representation of God taking in and genuinely loving the helpless, the hopeless, and the despised.” 

(Dan Cruver, Reclaiming Adoption)

Can you imagine if more Christians took this step, how would that look to the world… would people see what redemption & unconditional love really looks like?!

Please continue to pray for our adoption journey... our dossier is in Ethiopia, translated and in their system. We are now officially waiting. This wait could be over a year. We are also exploring another possibility... of adopting a precious baby girl from Korea. Please pray that our Sovereign Lord will work out ALL of the details and continue to provide and meet every need. We are so thankful for your prayers, encouragement and support!