Why Adoption?

Our Adoption Story I grew up in church and was saved as a child. I had the privilege of having a strong Christian mother and the Holy Spirit to help guide me throughout my teen and adult years. I didn’t always listen and I made many mistakes, but I always knew that I was the one that had distanced myself from God. He was always present to guide me and I knew that He wanted the best for me if I would just let Him take control of my life. One thing stands out very clearly through my memories of childhood is my fascination with orphans and orphanages. The church I attended would invite different children’s homes to visit and sing or speak and then take up an offering for them. I didn’t want to give money – I wanted to take them home! I would drive my mother crazy for days asking questions about the children or other orphanages in the area. As I grew up, I wanted to become a missionary and go work with kids in orphanages, but then life happened. I got busy with school, marriage, children……. I forgot about the orphans but God didn’t. Nor did he forget the seed he had planted in my heart so long ago. He was about to re-awaken me to the plight of orphans in a very personal way. Frank and I met in 2000, and married in 2002. My three children were teenagers and we both felt that our family was complete. The teens would need all of our attention and they agreed that they didn’t want any younger siblings. We were attending a church here in Greenville and had gotten very involved in doing what we thought God wanted us to do. Frank was a new Christian and was “on fire” (he still is, by the way)! I had re-dedicated my life and we really wanted to be in the center of God’s will for our lives. We started praying because God had started teasing us with the idea of adoption. It was coming up everywhere! Someone should have warned us that when you say “we are willing” you had better be ready! One night during dinner, we casually said, “hey, maybe we should adopt a baby”, and the teenagers said, “We think that’s a great idea. Let’s adopt internationally”!! Whoa God! We were just kidding! Apparently, He had been working on everyone’s heart. Our oldest daughter came in the next day and told us of an adoption seminar that a local adoption agency had scheduled for the following week. We decided to attend thinking if we were “just willing” then it would be enough. We went. Every door that we tried to close, God flung back open. We both, unknown to the other, chose the most difficult country for us to adopt from and, yes you guessed it, that’s where our son is from. While we were in Kazakhstan adopting Matthew, I felt this tug on my heart. I knew we had another child. We had never thought about a child with orthopedic issues but were introduced to Dennis. Dennis had double club feet and we thought he was the child we were to pursue. For reasons we couldn’t understand at the time, the paperwork wouldn’t go through on the Kazakhstan side for us to complete his adoption while we were there. We later found out that, during this time, Abbie had just become available for adoption and was born with orthopedic issues. She now wears a prosthetic leg and is the sunshine of our lives. However, our journey doesn’t stop there. Jump ahead a few months. God is whispering, yet again, “Do you have room in your heart for one more?” A friend sent me a link to a baby boy with the same limb difference that Abbie has. She suggested that I take a look. He was precious, but he wasn’t our son. Maybe we were off the hook. We’re getting too old for this, right? While I was looking at the adoption agency website, I saw a little boy that had been waiting a long time. He had a cleft lip that had been repaired and a cleft palate that still needed surgery. He was two years old and cleft lip/palate was the one special need that Frank and I had stated that we did not feel comfortable with. I knew he was our son. We called the agency and asked about him. He was available. We even told them that we had no money. He was still ours. We had to bring him home. We could tell you time after time from day one that God showed His hand in this adoption. Every single time we needed money to complete a phase or send to the agency, it came or would show up in a card from a friend who had no idea we needed it that day. One example is the day our home study agency called and told us she had our report ready and would be by to pick up a check about 4:30. The cost was $1,000. We didn’t have $10, much less $1,000. The mailman always comes around 3:30pm. That day, he arrived about 1:30 and in the stack was a card from a friend with a check for $1,000! She told us that she felt that this was what God wanted us to do and that she had felt an urgency to put a check in the mail, the day before, for that amount. This happened many times throughout this adoption. Andrew came home in April of this year. He has adjusted beautifully. God shows us over and over He is faithful and yet I still get scared and frustrated. I still want to do it my way and continually ask for assurance that this will be ok. I am so very thankful that He knows my heart and knows that even with all of that, I truly do want His will for my life. God isn’t finished with out family yet. We’ve all felt for a long time that there was a little girl waiting to come home. I don’t know how God will do it yet and I am still a “little” nervous, but I am learning and I am more at peace over this coming adoption than I have been with any of the others even though I should probably be more afraid as we are in less of a financial position now than ever before. Please pray for our family. Pray for peace, for funds to complete the adoption, and for Hannah, as she waits for us in China. Blessing, Jennie October 15, 2007

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