From two to four: the Adoption Fund for Ministers
When I gave birth to our youngest biological child in 2011, the total expenses were about the cost of adoption. Of course, we had health insurance to offset those major medical expenses.
However, in the event of adoption, there is no such insurance.
When a community willingly and joyfully joins together to give towards the well-being of a child on the other side of the world, and in an effort to bring him or her into that community, it is a remarkable and deeply moving thing.
It is a God thing.
For our first adoption we were sent the referral of a little girl in China. She was found abandoned and estimated to be 4-days old. The doctors who examined her assigned her a birthdate. The orphanage officials who took her in assigned her a name. On her finding date, she was also assigned a label—orphan.
We brought her home April 4, 2014.
Even during our first adoption trip, Mike and I knew we weren’t done in China. We didn’t know if we would be back to adopt or just to advocate for orphans somehow. We just knew that, if we are able to do more, we must.
The need is great in China.
It’s almost suffocating to think of how many children wait in orphanages there. Some watch their friends leave to be joined with their forever families while they remain orphaned. Many fear the reality of being turned onto the streets at the tender age of 14.
Mike and I learned early in our daughter’s adoption process that 75 percent of children who wait in orphanages in China are older boys and boys with special needs. Our second adopted child—a smiling ray of sunshine—fell into both categories. We brought him home October 22, 2015.
The God who sent me to China twice also stirred up His people to pray, encourage and give sacrificially so we could bring our children home.
I’m so thankful that we didn’t let fear stand in our way, for we would miss out on the incredible blessing of these children joining our family. I’m still pinching myself and praising God for His faithfulness, protection and mercy.
May our children grow up to know that through Christ, there is fullness of life and immeasurable depths of joy.
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” Phillipians 4:19.
Even during our first adoption trip, Mike and I knew we weren’t done in China. We didn’t know if we would be back to adopt or just to advocate for orphans somehow. We just knew that, if we are able to do more, we must.
Mike and I learned early in our daughter’s adoption process that 75 percent of children who wait in orphanages in China are older boys and boys with special needs. Our second adopted child—a smiling ray of sunshine—fell into both categories. We brought him home October 22, 2015.
The Adoption Fund for Ministers is a Send Relief initiative meant to encourage the Church to care for God’s invisible children.
Published October 12, 2017