We Love Because from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.
Pastor Andy preached on adoption last Sunday evening, and we saw two videos at church last night. This was one of them. (The other I couldn't find.)
Three couples we're friends with have also recently become licensed to be foster parents. Three.
It got me thinking.
What keeps us from considering adoption?
To be honest, I braced myself for the sermon on Sunday night. I didn't want numbing statistics and the hollow eyes of starving African children to leave me with a pit of guilt I could do nothing about.
Adoption is for the infertile couples. The wealthy. The independent. The super-spiritual. Right?
But the excuses started becoming rather thin. We have energy and time. We have been financially blessed. We have been utterly loved.
I wish I could have found that second video to share, because the faces that gripped me the most personally were the faces like these. I didn't even know there were organizations that specialized in adoption for children with Down's Syndrome.
So, we're thinking, talking, praying. We don't feel ready to take on teenagers when our only parenting experience is with an 11 month old, but we have time. Only let not the "time" lessen our heart's love for the orphan, Father, when You have so abundantly loved us . . .
I'm not trying to discourage you away from adopting, I have no reason to, but your post just made me think of things I have to remind myself all the time. I know people who are missionaries in other countries, I know people who go to other countries to work with orphans, I know people who mentor teen moms, I know people who visit nursing homes regularly, and on and on. Sometimes, when I think about those people I get feeling guilty and think I should go and do the same thing. Sometimes maybe I should feel guilty and go and do something about it, but there are many things out there that make me feel that way and I definitely know I shouldn't go out and do them all. So, just because some people you know foster parent, doesn't mean you should (and it doesn't mean you shouldn't). But you don't have to necessarily feel like it is just "excuses" keeping you from adopting, they may very well be good reasons and not just excuses. I'm interested in hearing where you end up with this :)
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a very good point, Amy, and I appreciate it. I think college-aged kids, are especially bombarded with the various guilt trips. I'm thankful now to be able to see that I'm not called to the mission field because my husband's not (that was something I wrestled with for a while and was willing to do!). I'm not called to teach in the inner city since my first calling is to be a mom, etc. There are lots of other things we could do legitimately, and I suppose this one is just at the forefront of my mind because I've been hearing about it. But I do think the "excuses" I came up with aren't really valid in our case. Lots of other families have reasons not to adopt, but I don't think we have any good ones yet. I also have a big burden for the pro-life movement in general, so I wonder if this is the way I can best help with this issue. Since nothing should be happening right away, we'll see where it goes, but I really hope we don't just ignore this issue in favor of pursuing the American dream.
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