Dear Friends,
We just wanted to let each of
you know how much your support and encouragement has meant to our family as we
have journeyed down the difficult path of saying goodbye to our son. We truly feel that God has demonstrated His
mighty love for us through each of you. What
a blessing every note, meal, hug, and prayer have been—thank you!We also wanted to let you know that we are excited about beginning the process of pursuing adoption. We want to share our hearts in regards to this issue and to invite each of you to come alongside us and journey with us.
First, a little background…
Before Daniel and I were married, we discussed our
desire to one day adopt. Adoption is
very important to us for many reasons:- Orphans and the
concept of adoption are both near and dear to the heart of our Savior.
- So many verses speak to this truth:
- James 1:27 - Pure and undefiled religion before
God and the Father is this: to care
for the orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself
unspotted from the world.
- Isaiah 1:17 - Learn to do good; Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor; defend the
fatherless, plead for the widow.
- Psalm 146:9 - The Lord watches over the
strangers; He relieves the
fatherless and widow;
- Job 29:12 - Because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the
one who had no helper.
- Psalm 68:5-6 - A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in
His holy habitation. God sets the
solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into
prosperity;
- As John Piper so eloquently states:
God did not have to use the
concept of adoption to explain how he saved us, or even how we become part of
his family. He could have stayed with the language of new birth so that all his
children were described as children by nature only. But he chose to speak of us
as adopted as well as being children by new birth. This is
the most essential foundation of the practice of adoption.
·
Adoptive families are greatly needed.
o
Every 18 seconds
another child becomes an orphan, without a mother or father.
o
“There are 140
million children who have individual faces, laughs, and personalities. And
those are 140 million children who live without parents, may cry alone at
night, and may feel unloved.” (show hope.org)
o
“While the church
has for many years championed the cause of the unborn through pro-life
activity, it has not been nearly as supportive in finding homes for the newborn
children of these crisis pregnancies. If we are going to be pro-life, we must
also be "pro-adoption!" The
damage done to women through abortion is truly horrible. Post-abortion stress
syndrome affects tens of thousand of women, making them vulnerable to many
physical and psychological illnesses. But worse than these problems is the
weight of guilt that many women bear for years due to the taking of the life of
their unborn child. Studies show that birth fathers suffer many of the same
difficulties. By making adoption more common, more women will choose to place
their children into the permanent embrace of a loving Christian home.” (cafadopt.org)
The need is great and adoption is important to God. The more we saw the need and saw the heart of
our Savior, the more passionate we became about adoption. So, last summer, we began the process of
being approved for the “Foster to Adopt” program through DSS. During the middle of the process, we found
out that we were expecting a baby. We
decided that we should put that process on hold, but that we would resume a
year or two after the baby was born. We even
decided to start an “adoption fund” so that we would have the finances needed
when that time came.
Well, as you know, our precious son, Isaiah, was stillborn. Only those who have had to walk this path can fathom the grief and heartache that we have felt. Our hearts have truly been broken. God has been so faithful, though, and has stilled the waves, walked with us through the waters, and not allowed the fire to burn us (Psalm 89:9 & Isaiah 43:2).
No one can ever replace our son. His life was precious to us, it had purpose, and we will hold his memory near to our hearts. One day, praise God, we will see him again! But, he is not here. The crib is here, the rocking chair is here, the stroller and the car seat are both here, our open arms and hearts are here. These things are here….but they are empty.
Orphans…. 140 million orphans are there. Real children. Really there.
Our prayer is that God would bring the right birth mom and baby at the right time. So that we would be able to provide a very brave woman with the comfort of knowing that her baby is safe and loved. So that there would be one less orphan. So that Light would shine from darkness. Beauty would come from ashes. Joy would replace mourning.
Again, the words of John Piper so accurately describe our hearts: “I realize more than ever ‘that the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.’ This decision is not merely a tabulation of pros and cons…Yet I am persuaded that this decision to adopt honors God more than not adopting.”
We would never, in a million years, have planned this journey that we have been on. It has not been easy. But we know that God is sovereign, and that He is near. He has a plan for our lives—we are excited about this path that He is establishing for us. We are so thankful for how each of you, our brothers and sisters in Christ, have journeyed with us over the past months. Hopefully, we have been able to share with you our excitement about adoption, and we humbly ask that you continue to journey with us! Please join us in praying that God would be honored, that His will would be accomplished, and that He would unite us with the right birth mom at the right time!
Much Love,
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