Christian Adoption

Time and time again in the New Testament, we read truths and insights that the Apostle Paul wrote to believers in churches throughout the known world at the time.  And time and time again, we hear Paul talk about his weaknesses, his struggles, and the thorn in his flesh.  He writes about his weakness, not to bring attention to himself, but to point the readers’ attention to the True Source of his strength, Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 (KJV), Paul writes, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power… [more]

I don’t remember the exact age when I began to have a yearning for adoption and the orphans of the world. I don’t think I was much older than a mere child myself, but I began to see something wrong with the picture in front of me. Why did I have parents who loved me, a home where I felt safe, and a family I could call my own, while others did not? I told my parents at that time, “I’m going to adopt children someday!” It didn’t stop there. Even as a young person, I started to cling to places where I heard of injustices happening with children, and one of the first I centered on was China. As a female, my heart broke… [more]

Aside from Jesus Christ, the only sinless man to ever walk on the face of the earth, nothing is perfect.  Christians are not perfect.  We mess up.  Every day brings another chance to try to get it right, but inevitably, we still fail at being anywhere close to the perfect parent or perfect spouse.   We can, however, get up every day and know that God’s mercies are new and we are still loved by Him. And it works.  We can continue to walk this path because we have an eternal hope in a God who sees all and knows all.  Above all else, He is a PERFECT God with PERFECT plans. As believers, we are called to holiness, and we are adopted as… [more]

In the rush of every day life, we forget.  In the constant face of one demand or another being placed upon us, our thoughts stray from the truth of the foundation that built this family.  We began our journey in September 1997.  Nearly fourteen years have passed, and those years have definitely held more than enough circumstances to distract us from our original purpose and goal. We wanted a family.  We were serving in a ministry and believed that our life’s purpose was to work full-time with that particular ministry.  Those were our plans for our life together.  Married in December 1996, we moved quickly to wanting children and planning and trying to have a baby, but we were also made aware of… [more]

Have you ever been in a difficult conversation with someone and suddenly the right words just fly out of your mouth? You find yourself sitting in awe of the genius comment you just made but wondering where it came from. You're sure that your brain has never concocted such a miraculous bit of information before but you're also sure that the words came out of your mouth. I might be a bit slow but I've begun to realize that when the miraculous flings itself from my mouth, it is generally the Holy Spirit speaking. Now, I don't want to get too crazy here but I do believe in the Power of the Spirit of God to provide us with the words to help someone in need… [more]

Both of our sons have some level of Reactive Attachment Disorder along with some other difficult diagnoses. These issues create a great deal of difficulty when it comes to creating that special bond that parents have with their children. Biological parents, for the most part, have no difficulty when it comes to bonding with their children. The essential parent/child bond happens within minutes of birth and continues to grow naturally as the child grows. It is not a conscious effort that must be put forth by mom and dad. This is not so for the parents of children with attachment difficulties. Everything in the lives of my children prior to arriving in our home has conditioned them to believe that adults cannot be trusted and ultimately, that… [more]

I don't know if you have ever browsed the photolisting of children in your state who are waiting to be adopted. Maybe you are afraid of kids in foster care or you really want a baby and not an older child. As a Christian, a mom, and an adoptive mom, I would highly recommend that you find that site and spend some time reading about those kids. Children in foster care have the ability to describe for their worker what type of family they want to be a part of. So many of the children who are waiting are requesting that they be a part of a family who goes to church. Both of our sons listed that as a requirement of a family that they… [more]

I've learned along the way that my children are often amazing reminders of how much the Lord loves each of us. I sit in my rocking chair and ask God again and again to help me sustain during these hard times of testing. Our youngest child pushes and pushes. Tonight my dear husband and I talked about the possibility of putting him in a therapeutic facility if he continues to increase in violence as he gets older and larger. Having any of our children live anywhere other than in our home is not something I am ever interested in doing. I realize that I cannot know what to expect from our son and that could potentially be a problem. It hurts my heart that he… [more]

Tonight I am sitting here frustrated and overwhelmed by my oldest son, T. Lately he has been reverting back to behaviors he had when he first arrived in our home nearly 14 months ago. He is up at night, wandering the house, doing everything he can to wake me up. He says that he wants me to pay more attention to him. Pay more attention to me is T's mantra. He always wants me to pay more attention to him and any attention I pay to anyone else is proof that I don't pay enough attention to him. I just don't know what to do. So I pray. I know that so many of you reach your point of frustration and anger. We all arrive at… [more]

Throughout our journey to adopt our sons from the foster care system we have encountered many people who, in conversation, volunteer their lists of reasons why they cannot adopt. I am often surprised at how many of these people are Christian. They will tell us how wonderful they think we are because we "saved" our kids. They tell us that we are special, that it takes a special person to adopt. They tell us that they don't have enough money, enough space, enough time to adopt. They even tell us that they don't feel "called" to help, to adopt these kids. I cringe at the mere suggestion that one could be excluded from the call to help the orphans. James 1:27 (NIV) says "Religion that… [more]