You asked...Part One

Over the last three years, I have been asked many questions about our choice to adopt, the adoption process, and why I am so passionate about caring for orphans. So, as we get closer and closer to bringing our son home, I want to answer some of them in the hope that this will lead anyone who reads this blog to begin praying about what God wants you to do for those who are most helpless in our world today. I will try to answer one or two questions in each blog post for the next couple of weeks.

Question: You are able to have more kids, right? So why do you want to adopt?

Answer: We have not struggled with infertility, as many precious friends of ours have, and we are blessed with two healthy biological children. As far as we know, there are no health issues to prevent our conceiving another child. God has shown us, though, that our journey to add to our family was going to be different this time around.

Our heart for adoption began long ago, as God prepared us and opened our eyes to His heart for the orphan and to the great need in both the United States and around the world of children who need families. Here is what we have learned: The child who lies down at night in the orphanage bed hoping and praying for a family to love him, the little one who cries herself to sleep with no Mommy or Daddy to comfort her, the siblings who have been separated from one another and moved from foster home to foster home, the young girl who is afraid of being "aged out" of the orphanage with no place to go but the street to beg or be trafficked by sex trade predators, the little one whose heart has a hole in it and cannot get access to the medical care he needs -- these children are just as precious to God as your sons and daughters, my son and daughter, our children and grandchildren, who lay down in their beds at night safe and well-fed after being kissed and hugged and saying their bedtime prayers. God hears the cries of these children as he hears the prayers of our own, and he calls us to answer those cries.

Throughout scripture, God declares His love and care for the orphan.
*He is their defender: "For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing." (Deuteronomy 10:17-18)
*He is their helper: “But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.” (Psalm 10:14)
*He is their Father and sets them in families: "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families." (Psalm 68:5-6a)
*He sustains them: "The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked." (Psalm 146:9)

Scripture also mandates that God's people care for the fatherless, (among many others) and clearly states the consequences of ignoring them.

"Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge." (Deuteronomy 27:19)
"Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." (Deuteronomy 24:19a)
"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed." (Psalm 82:2)
"Learn to do right! Seek justice. Encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless. Plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27)

Adoption for us is a clear picture of the Gospel, because we realize that we were orphans in our own sin before Jesus Christ made us the sons and daughters of God. He adopted us as his children, and loved us before we knew Him. Who are we to do any less for the most vulnerable and forgotten of the world? So, when we decided to add to our family, we knew that God had already chosen a child to be our own. We have seen God work and been assured every step of the way that He is working every detail of this adoption to grow our family, and to bring home our son. It is our prayer that after being welcomed as a son in our family, our little one will understand and accept the ransom that was paid by Jesus Christ to make him a son of the King of Kings.

There are 147 million children who are orphans in this world who need food, shelter, medical care, and a loving forever family. They also need to know that Jesus Christ died for them, that God is their "Abba, Father" who loves them. So, in light of God's word, I ask you: What has God called you to do to care for orphans? It may not be that your family is called to adopt, but all of us who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ are called to proclaim the gospel and care for the most vulnerable in our world. None of us alone can meet the needs of 147 million orphans, but each of us can act to meet the needs of one.*

We have been more blessed by the privilege of seeing God's hand in this adoption process and being led by and provided for by Him, than we could have ever imagined. And we praise God for all of you who have shared and continue to share our journey as you have prayed, encouraged, and given to bring one orphan home.

*I will follow up with a subsequent post on ways that you and your family can get involved in caring for orphans or find out more about adoption and supporting adoptive families.