Why Adoption?

We have had lots of people ask us this question.  Here is an article that I wrote for our church newsletter (and tweaked a bit for the blog) that gives you a glimpse into our hearts for adoption.  Happy reading!

Our journey toward adoption has been daunting and exciting all at the same time. We worry about paperwork and money and planning, but we can’t help but smile when we dream about what our family might look like.  Lining those dreams up with God’s plans for our family is what this journey is all about.

In high school, Kirby wanted to adopt because he knew his kids would never be tall enough to play basketball. Cara vividly remembers the summer camp she was at when she first heard the command to care for the widowed and orphaned, and the legalistic part of her wrote in the margins of her Bible that she would do this someday. Jaxon cried when we explained what adoption is and told him we wanted to adopt a baby because he thought we were “getting rid of OUR baby Hudson to go to another family.”

Needless to say, our attitudes and motivations have shifted as we have grown more in the realization of what it means to be adopted into God’s family. As Christians we have been bought with Jesus’ blood, adopted into His family, and invited to spend eternity with Him!  Adoption is one way that our family can spread this good news.  Just like we have been invited into the family of Christ, a little baby out there will be invited into our family.  And not because we want this, or feel like we need to do this, but because there is a tug on our hearts to do what Jesus would do.  A quote that stood out to us from our recent study at LIFE group reads:

…Jesus can be the only Hero. We must stand where He would stand on behalf of what He would stand for, not so that we are seen as heroic but so that He is seen as the ultimate Hero in the battle for what is good and right and just.

~Jason Johnson, All In Orphan Care

Will you join us in fighting the battle?  We strongly believe that there are other families reading this blog that will adopt.  Are you one of them?  There are families in this community that will help fund those adoptions.  Will you?  And above all else, there are LOTS of you out there that will pray for the journeys!  How will you help fight the battle?  Feel free to leave a comment and let us know your story.  We would love to pray for your journey!