We were very blessed on Friday to hear the news that our
adoption homestudy had been approved!! We are now licensed to adopt a sibling
group. Licensed by the state and Called by God.
We’re just so excited.
We are searching the numerous photo listings for children open for
adoption. When we’ve found a few sibling
groups we are interested in we can submit them to our caseworker and she’ll
look into the group more to see if we’re a good match.
We went to church Friday night for our annual theology
conference. We did not know that one of the speakers is an advocate of
adoption. He and his wife have adopted five children over the last two &
half years—four from the Ukraine and one
from Ethiopia. Hearing their adoption testimony was absolutely AMAZING. They
were so willing to set aside their own ideas and allow for God’s plan. They
went to the Ukraine thinking they would return with two children under the age
of five and came back with a sibling group of four-all of whom were older than
that!! I’d like to share some of what
he said here. I cannot wait to start
reading his book, Orphanology, but I
need to finish re-reading Dr. Moore’s Adopted
for Life first.
His book:
Did you know that there are 130,000 children in the U.S.
foster care system that are ready to be adopted? That there are MORE than
130,000 churches in the U.S. and that if only ONE family adopted ONE child from
the foster care system that we could eradicate that side of the system?
When asked why they’ve adopted they said it was simple: Jesus
It was theology, not biology. Adoption is in the scriptures. Everyone always thinks of adoption as someone’s
“Plan B”. A lot of people assumed that
about us since we adopted first. When we
got pregnant less than a year later everyone thought it was a surprise or some
freak accident. Not so much. While every
pregnancy is a blessing it was not necessarily a surprise. We just knew that we wanted to entwine our
family with adopted and biological children instead of chunking biological
first and adopted second, which is more traditional. Did you know that adoption was not a “Plan B”
in God’s plan either? He had always
planned for His children to be adopted.
Tony said so many things that really hit home Friday
night. He had eight great points on how
adopting children is like our own adoption in Christ. I’m sure those are in his
book and I’d much rather you support his ministry and read it for your
selves. I’m certain it is much better
worded than my hastily written notes.
One of the questions he has been asked that we have as well is “What’s
it like adopting transracially?” I love
his response. “You ought to know! Jesus was not a white man. Neither was
Abraham.”
He also said that we can’t expect to eradicate orphanages or
the foster care system. That’s not the point. The point is that we are called
by our own experience, the grace we’ve been given in our adoption. We don’t do
it for the children but UNTO Him. The faces of the children and youth in these
situations are the face of a Jewish Carpenter.
I’ll leave you with a message from his blog because, as I
have mentioned, he does word it so much better than I can. J
“Until perhaps recently, most believers, in my experience,
have only considered adoption and orphan care in a couple circumstances. One,
they were praying for the Smiths because “they can’t have children and are
thinking about adopting.” Or, two, they were taking up an offering to help the
state or local children’s home.
Of course, these are good things to
do. We should pray for those who are struggling to have children and are
considering adoption. And, we should help those who are providing homes to the
fatherless. But if that’s all orphan care is to us, then we have missed so
much. We need an elevated concept of adoption. We need God’s perspective on
adoption. We need to meditate on the gospel more deeply.
I turned into an adoption advocate,
an adoptive dad, and eventually a writer on the subject not because of
infertility but because of theology.
Believers understand that God is
Father. But what kind of father is He? He is an adoptive Father! Do you realize
that there are no natural-born children in the family of God? None of us were
born Christians. If you are a believer, it is because God has adopted you into the family. That’s it.
All races brought together by God’s adoption of spiritual orphans.
Paul expounds on the gospel of God’s
adopting grace to the Ephesians, Galatians, and Romans. He shows us that God
the Father administered our adoption, God the Son accomplished our adoption
through his redeeming work on the Cross, and God the Spirit applied our
adoption, giving us a new nature, a new position, and the indwelling presence
of God that enables us to cry “Abba, Father.” (See Galatians 4:7.)
Adoption was never plan B for God.
It wasn’t an alternative solution. It was plan A. Before the universe existed,
God had planned on adopting us into his family through Jesus Christ (Ephesians
1:5). God did not adopt us because of our attractive merits, but because of His
amazing mercy.
Paul tells us to “be imitators of
God, as beloved children” (Ephesians 5:1). His undeserved mercy on us compels
us to reflect His adoptive love to a world in need. God’s love is active.
Christian love is not based on the idea of just loving people the way we want
to be loved. It’s more. It’s loving people the way God has loved us. He acted.
He pursued. He showered grace on the undeserving. This is a gospel-centered
perspective on adoption and orphan care.
Obviously, not everyone is called to
adopt, but every believer is called to act. That means not merely feeling sorry
for orphans. Sentimentalism is no substitute for action. In addition to
adoption, other ways we can be actively involved include hosting orphans for a
summer, financially supporting adoptive parents, fostering children in our
community, and discipling local boys and girls from functionally fatherless
families.
When Kimberly and I were in Ukraine
adopting four children we were interviewed by a local newspaper. The reporter
asked me (through an interpreter), “Why are you adopting all of these kids? No
one in our country adopts four kids at one time.” I said, “The short answer is
. . . Jesus.” It’s really that simple.
Sure, exposure to my sister’s
adopted children stirred my affections for adoption. And sure, my awareness to
the state of the fatherless worldwide bothered me greatly. But when I began to
see how often God talks about the fatherless in general, and how the gospel is
reflected in adoption in particular, then my mindset changed.
So, I laugh, but I also grieve, when
people say to a family, “Why are you adopting? You already have natural-born
children. You can have your own kids.” They’ve missed it. They don’t see that
adoption isn’t about infertility; it’s about responding to God’s grace
properly: first with gratitude toward Him, and then with active love toward
others. How is He calling you to love the orphan today?”
Please check out his blog and his
book. We were so blessed by his words and pray that your heart is open to them
as well. I am by no means trying to guilt or force anyone into adopting
children. We do not have to use guilt but instead the Gospel to show why
someone should adopt. Those who are called will answer. J Maybe you are meant
just to pass on God’s call to others. Or to encourage or support those who
have. We’re licensed for a sibling group of up to four. If God calls us for
more or less we will take up His call knowing that He will provide for our
growing family. He’s already given us the knowledge of couponing and the
absolute willingness to take hand-me-downs (hint, hint). We know he will
provide for whatever his plan is for our family. Here goes!
