I never had the desire to adopt. I remember going to Russia with Clif and Amy in early 2002 when they adopted Johanna. It killed me to see the kids in such a difficult situation, but I didn't feel the pull to bring a child home for me. What I left Russia with was the strong sense that my friends had rescued this little girl from a hopeless future.
Over the past couple of years, I have been hearing more about God's heart for orphans. This has become a strong movement in the Church and has been getting a lot of airtime at conferences and in books. And in reading Scripture, I couldn't deny how clear God makes it in how He feels about the fatherless.
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress" James 1:27
"He defends the cause of the fatherless" Deuteronomy 10:18
"I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him." Job 29:12
"But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless." Psalm 10:14
"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17
The more I heard about the statistics, the more my heart was affected. 147 million orphans in the world! It's hard to even wrap my brain around that staggering number.
Soon after Meredith was born, I knew without a doubt that my heart wasn't going to change, and I couldn't sit on the sidelines any more. Now was the time for us to obey God.
So I broached the subject of adoption with Harry, thinking I was going to have to talk him into it. Not the case at all. My incredible husband knows we're called to adopt. And he's excited about it too. That was the first of many prayers that God answered.
As I started researching our options - domestic, foster care, and international, I became convinced that our destination was Africa, where the need is so great. And as I looked at the options within Africa, my heart was drawn repeatedly to Rwanda. I knew their history, the horrors of the genocide in the 1990s. The thought that we could be a part of bringing good out of such a tragedy was intriguing and inspiring. The final straw for me was seeing pictures of Rwandan children. Beautiful kids from a beautiful country.
Last October, Harry and I had settled on Rwanda. We also knew that we needed to wait until Meredith was six months old to begin the adoption process so we had at least another three months to pray, research, and decide.
As I did more research last fall and winter, it appeared that Rwanda wasn't a realistic possibility for us due to country requirements we didn't meet. In particular, the requirement for the prospective parents to be married at least five years. We have been married for four years. And because the adoption process can take a long time, I didn't want to wait another year to begin. So by December, we had shifted our focus to Ethiopia, but our hearts were still on Rwanda.
It has become very clear that as we've been making OUR plans, God had His plans. I'm in awe of how the Lord brings people and circumstances together in ways I never, ever could have predicted. All for His glory.
To be continued...
