We’re thrilled to begin our adoption journey. When we told our daughter Everly that we were adopting she immediately said, “I want a sister” (she already has two brothers…we feel her pain). Our son Weston wanted to “trade in” his little brother for a Korean. We told him it didn’t work like that.
Many people ask, “What makes you want to adopt?” Here’s why:
1. We are motivated by Theology, not Biology.
Most people assume infertility as the reason for adoption. We didn’t know if we could have biological children because Sarah had leukemia when she was a child. The doctors had warned her that the treatment may affect whether she could have children. We always knew this and kept adoption “on the back burner.” Fast forward 7.5 years and we have three amazing biological children.
Biology is not our motivation–theology is. We are adopting because we were adopted. Spiritually, God adopted us and brought us into his family…not because we were good, but because He is gracious. We had nothing to offer…nothing to bring to the table–and He still said, “I’ll make you my child (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5).” God’s an adoptive Father.
2. We are motivated by the Global Orphan Crisis.
There are 153 million orphans in the world. If orphans were a country, they would be the ninth largest. Many of these kids end up “aging out” of the system. 60% of the girls who age out become prostitutes. 70% of the boys become hardened criminals.
We can turn our head, plug our ears, and walk away, but that doesn’t change reality. Life can quickly become very indulgent and very narrow. The global orphan crisis bothers us because it bothers our heavenly Father.
3. We are motivated by Exposure.
We met orphans…and it changed us! We have close friends who have adopted internationally from the Congo, others from South Korea, others who are providing transitional foster care, and others who adopted domestically. We have family members and friends who have helped to start orphanages in the Philippines and in Cambodia.
My wife has been exposed to orphans from a young age. I did not have that exposure until the last couple of years. I thought I was a pretty spiritual person. I could name famous pastors and theologians and had the privilege of meeting a few them. I could name all types of theology books, but I could not name an orphan. That bothered me!
God has a plan to care for orphans–it’s called His people. When we deserved to be left lying in our sin–God came and adopted us.