In 2011, my heart was broken as I spent time in the orphanages in China. Most of my time was spent at the Social Welfare Institute in the city of Chenzhou, Hunan Province. As a parent and a person who lives in the USA it is hard to put into words the experience of working in the orphanage. There is such a need for the orphans to be loved on and to be adopted. I wish I could send everyone on a trip to spend time with these children. The organization my friend Shannon went through and led was through visiting orphans.org . Visiting Orphans goes to many countries to love on orphans. I cannot recommend it enough!
China, like many other countries, are filled with orphanages. I was told on this trip that the Guangdong Province where Julia is from has the largest number of orphanages.
After the orphanage mission trip in 2011, Jake started talking about adopting a baby sister. Jake wrote a letter to us a year later in 2012, asking us again to adopt. During those times it really touched our hearts that he felt this way, but we dismissed the idea.
After Grant, our youngest son attended a week long church camp in 2013, he had a serious conversation with me about going to China and adopting a little girl.
During these times of persuasion from our kids, deep down I felt we could offer another child love in our family. However, I was fearful, not thinking about God getting us through the long adoption process. During these times, Nick never said no to the idea of adopting; it was more my fear of the unknown stopping any process from happening.
After the orphanage mission trip in 2011, Jake started talking about adopting a baby sister. Jake wrote a letter to us a year later in 2012, asking us again to adopt. During those times it really touched our hearts that he felt this way, but we dismissed the idea.
After Grant, our youngest son attended a week long church camp in 2013, he had a serious conversation with me about going to China and adopting a little girl.
During these times of persuasion from our kids, deep down I felt we could offer another child love in our family. However, I was fearful, not thinking about God getting us through the long adoption process. During these times, Nick never said no to the idea of adopting; it was more my fear of the unknown stopping any process from happening.
The church we attend has many families who have chosen the adoption path. Whether it was domestic or international, large or small families, their stories, their children, have touched our hearts.
As a growing Christian, I know I should have a desire for the scriptures to confirm what I do in life. When considering Julia, we prayed, and looked to the Bible by studying adoption. Here are a few from both Old Testament .. Moses-adopted by an Egyptian princess (Exodus 2:1-10); Samuel-fostered by Eli-(1 Samuel 1-2); Esther-adopted by Mordecai (Esther 2:7) and the New Testament-Son of God incarnate, Jesus Christ was adopted by Joseph and Mary (Matthew 1:18-25). God establishes parents raising another ones child as well as parents who are not blood relatives being acceptable to adopt a child. The ultimate of course is God adopting us as his children through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ paying for our sins on the cross, we are spiritual orphans no more. (Galatians 4:4-8) (Romans 8:14-17), After studying, we knew that this was our opportunity to place all our trust in God and to obey. During this time of consideration I was scared knowing that Julia had a special need. I noticed during this time of consideration, when I was at work or home Bible verses would pop in my head. Here are a few...Trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding, (Proverbs 3:5); I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13); Jesus looked at them and said "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."(Mark 10:27).
And so, our adoption process was started in August 2013.
And so, our adoption process was started in August 2013.
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