What Moved Us to Adopt

Many people have asked us why we decided to adopt again, so in this post, I’d like to explain how we came to that decision. There has never been a time in our 16 years of marriage that we weren’t open to adopting, but there were a few steps that led us take action now.

This year in September, I was listening to the book Counter Culture by David Platt. In this book, David Platt shares Biblical wisdom about current challenges to our Christian culture. One of the topics he discusses (along with many others) is orphans. While listening to David Platt’s words I was challenged in my life of self satisfaction to again remember the call of James 1:27, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” We are called to actively meet the needs of the orphans of the world. I had become complacent in that call.

The day that I finished the book, I couldn’t get adoption off of my mind again. I knew at that moment that I wanted to adopt again, but also realized that it might make more sense to support or help others adopt. Less than a year ago our fifth child was born, and I wasn’t sure that Cindy was ready to have another child running around the house.

That evening I told Cindy that I had been thinking about adopting again and asked her what her thoughts were. I have to admit that I was surprised, but I shouldn’t have been. I expected her to say, “Let’s give it a year or so.” Instead she was all for it. I told her that I was more interested in adopting internationally if possible, and she started researching agencies.

A week later on Monday September 26th on my way home from work, I get an email from Cindy with the message, “Is it too early to say I want her? :)”

In the next post, Cindy will share why this child was the one that stood out among the rest.