When we got married Mariah was already here, she is my daughter from my first marriage when I was a teenager. She was part of the ceremony, just as big of a part of it as we both were. So in a way, Mariah was Jeremy's first "adopted" daughter. The years passed by so quickly and we loved every single time we learned that we would be adding yet another amazing blessing into our home. After 3 girls we finally got our first boy....and then 2 bouncing baby boys after that!!! Each new beautiful face filled us with incredible happiness and we would not trade anything for our sweet babies.
But we knew that we wanted to add children who did not have a family to our family, even before we had children of our own. I knew I wanted to adopt as soon as Mariah was put into my arms. We have so much love and fun to give. We fight, we argue, things can be crazy, our home is probably not the cleanest place you will ever see, it is definitely the loudest, we have several cats because of our cattery so they are always underfoot. Everyone is expected to do their chores, help with everyone younger than themselves, and obey.....But we love each other: we play, we wrestle, we read our favorite stories, we pray and learn everything we can about Jesus and following Him. We watch our favorite shows like Star Wars, Anne of Green Gables, the Avengers, the Sound of Music, and the Labyrinth. We play video games and we do our school work on the computer and together in one room instead of going to school. We learn different crafts and sign language and we LOVE LOVE LOVE to be outside every day during the spring, summer and fall. We pop popcorn and scoop up ice cream and Jeremy makes the very best milk shakes you will ever have. We have more than we could ever have dreamed of. And we want to share all that with a baby, a child, or a group of children.
Because every night at 7:00 we get our kids ready for bed. We read one or two chapters of the Laura Ingalls books or another amazing family book together, we snuggle on the big bed in our room, we pray, sometimes we wrestle like loons, and then one by one we tuck our kids in. We kiss them and hold them and look at each other and think about all the kids out there that don't have a mom or dad to tuck them in. We want them to know what it is like to have a parent adore them, cherish them, laugh when they laugh and cry when they cry, pray for their future, help them completely rid their hearts of the past, and introduce them to an amazing Savior who died just for them.
So we have made the decision to adopt. Now, not later. Yes, even with 6 children, yes, even if that means that we will adopt several siblings, yes, we will love them although it may be a challenge at first or even forever, we will love them as Jesus loved us. We don't ask that the time with them is easy, we just ask that we do what Jesus has asked us to do. And that is put others before ourselves, love other children as much as we love our own children. We read a beautiful passage in the bible today. Its a beautiful passage but its also a scary passage. And I think every Christian should read it while sitting on their comfortable couches, holding their own children. It is from Matthew 25:
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
Refusing. Refusing. Refusing to help the One who gave everything for us. We know, not just from this passage but from our Saviors life, that we are called to help the least of these. And I cant think of anyone else who is considered more "the least of these" than precious babies and children who have never known true love. How are they to love if they don't know what love is? How can they love without knowing the One who loved them first??? How can we blame them for being part of the downfall of society when these children are graduating out of foster care never knowing the love of a mom or dad? Shouldn't we be pointing the finger back at us, sitting on our comfortable couches? I'm reminded of a song:
I woke up this morning
saw a world full of trouble
I thought how'd we get so far down?
How'd we get turned around
I looked up at heaven and said God why don't you do something?
Couldn't bear the thought of people living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So I shook my fist at heaven, said, "God why don't you DO something???"
He said, "I did!!!! I created YOU!!!"
We know that God has put in front of us the desire to help. Even if adoption does not even happen for us we know that we will perhaps help others to adopt or perhaps do more through Compassion, there are so many ways to help. All we know is that we will help, we hope its by adding to our family. If not we know that it will be Gods will.
We appreciate your prayers as God works this out to His will. We have many things to do and many funds to raise.
If you too, would like to follow Gods calling and help there are TONS of ministries to help with through your churches or through http://www.compassion.com/. I hope you truly feel a calling on your heart to help in whatever way you can.
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