This is the video I referred to in my first blog entry that God sent me to when I was having doubts about whether or not we should really do this. I love it, and since I have gotten smart enough to post videos this week, I posted it. It just speaks to my heart. I hope it speaks to you too.
My heart is troubled today, aching for 143 million orphans. Aching for lack of awareness and lack of understanding. I have been guilty of this too. I have read the Bible my whole life and somehow all those scriptures about taking care of orphans were just skipped over. Adoption was a good option for infertile couples, but too risky, too expensive, and too much work if you had other options. I realize now how blind I have been, and I struggle because not everyone else has caught on.
The process to adopt truly has risks. We signed the form that promised to love our son even if he has physical or emotional problems that are not detected at the time of referral.
It is very expensive. Most families that adopt have to do a lot of fund raising. Their faithfulness and dedication inspire me. No one likes to ask for help. We want to take care of our own families and our own problems. It would be so much easier to just forget it all, and I am sure some do. But many press on! Financially speaking we have it so much easier than most. It will be a stretch, but I can see the possibility. I am grateful. I hope I would have faith and strength to continue if I had to struggle to fund raise almost every dollar. (Why would/should they adopt if they can not "afford" it? Remember there is a difference between being able to pay for groceries, clothes, and housing expenses for a child and having the cash on hand needed to finance an adoption.)
It is a lot of work! I met to 2 banks, 1 CPA, 4 doctors, 1 vet, 1 police officer, and 3 friends to begin gathering all the required paperwork. I have also spent a lot of time gathering and copying tax, insurance, asset, and liability paperwork. Add to that home study meetings and training and it is a lot of head ache.
However the part that gets forgotten is that adoption is most importantly a mission field. We are not moving to Ethiopia to work in an orphanage or build wells, more traditional mission work. We are bringing our mission field into our home, to be a part of our life forever. To share with all we have, all we know, all we hope, and all we are to become. I love the words of the song. "All of us were orphans too till in our darkness love broke through. Give us Lord a heart to break for all the little one's who ache."
I do not type this as a lecture, or as praise for the "amazing" or "crazy" thing (depending on how you look at it) our family is doing. I write partially because getting my thoughts on "paper" is therapeutic, and partially to inspire a new way of thinking. I am convinced that the scriptures calling us to care for orphans are not just directed at a few families, right? How will you help?
On a more celebratory note, I have almost all the documents I need to gather for the dossier! I have everything dispersed. I am waiting for a few things to be returned, but I am feeling so encouraged! We meet with Lindsey for our second home study meeting next Friday. We will have to meet with her one more time and finish our training before the home study is done. Then we can send everything to our agency and when it all checks out we will be on the wait list! Very exciting stuff!
