“Adoption is wonderful and beautiful and the greatest blessing I have
ever experienced.
Adoption is also difficult and painful.
Adoption is a
beautiful picture of redemption.”
-Katie Davis, Kisses from Katie: a Story of Relentless Love and Redemption
I am thankful for the gift of adoption.
Recently, I came across an old journal I had kept during our daughter Hannah's adoption. The following was an entry I made during the long fifteen month wait:
Hannah Faith. “Gracious
Faith”. Because we wanted the boys to be
involved in naming the new baby, we kept a running list on the refrigerator of
names we all liked. The day she was
born, we sat down as a family and voted on what to name her. The consensus was 3 to 1, Hannah Faith. When we gave her her name, we had no idea of
the significance it would bring to our lives.
Faith. We find with
each passing day our faith challenged as we find ourselves praying Psalm 46:10,
“Quit striving! Be still and know that I
am God.” We understand that to see God
work is to give this and every situation completely over to Him. We recognize that if we ask Him to “MOVE!” we
must also be willing to ask Him to “move me”, despite the prospect of pain in
this process may bring. We find comfort
in Philippians 4:5-6, “God is near. Be
anxious for nothing.” As we realize that God is more powerful than any person,
government or even time. We know that
ultimately Hannah’s future is in His perfect hands. It is here that we can find peace. We are
reaffirming our faith day by day through the knowledge that “All things work
together for good to those who love God” –Romans 8:28 and through the promise
of “Our faith made perfect in weakness” -1 Corinthians 12:9.
Grace. We see faith and grace in action as we watch
my sister and her Mexican family work so diligently with the Mexican government
on our behalf while taking care of Hannah with selfless love and enduring
commitment. We learn to give grace when
we are most frustrated with the process.
We learn to receive grace when we are weak, frustrated and handle things
poorly. We learn ultimate grace by the continued work we see God doing in our
lives. James 1:1-4 says it perfectly:
“Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be
happy, for when the way is rough, your patience will have a chance to grow. So
let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your
patience is in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in
character, full and complete.”
Hannah Faith. Who
would have known that a little girl that we have not yet had the chance to hold
would have such an impact on our lives?
Who could have guessed that this precious one would have taught us so
much about Faith… Hope… Love…Joy… Peace and Patience before we have had the opportunity
to shower her face with kisses?
March 3rd, 2003, we finally began the trip home with this precious little girl.
Even now, there are hardly words...
Here was Chuck's perspective written in the aftermath...
We chose her even before we knew her. We wanted to share our love, our home, our boys and life with this precious little girl. We didn’t care from what background she came from our whether she was “perfect” or not. All we knew was that even before our eyes saw her, we loved her. Before she took her first breath, we desired to have her in our family.
The desire for her was so great that we worked long and hard to make sure she would be ours. Long sleepless nights wondering if this would ever come to pass. Hours of phone calls to governmental authorities asking for delays to be quickened. Thousands of dollars on plane tickets to begin as well as complete the process. The emotional cost was just as much, if not greater at times, than the monetary cost. But we had chosen her!
On March 4th, 2003, Lisa and I stepped off of the plane in Detroit holding our baby girl, Hannah Faith. After 18 months of waiting, legal red-tape, mountains and mountains of paperwork, she was finally ours and we were finally on our way home.
Ever stop to think that God calls us His adopted sons and daughters? Ever wonder what that really means? God chose us. He loved us before we took our first breath. He doesn’t care from what background we come from. He doesn’t care whether or not we are “perfect”. He chose us and is still choosing people today. He fought long and hard to make your adoption possible. He fought with governmental agencies of His day. The emotional pain He experienced far exceeds anything Lisa and I could have experienced, yet He continued on in the process. Eventually He had to give His very life to complete the process. He had chosen you and He was going to do whatever it took to make you His. After all He has done for you, I guess the question is…will you choose Him?
The desire for her was so great that we worked long and hard to make sure she would be ours. Long sleepless nights wondering if this would ever come to pass. Hours of phone calls to governmental authorities asking for delays to be quickened. Thousands of dollars on plane tickets to begin as well as complete the process. The emotional cost was just as much, if not greater at times, than the monetary cost. But we had chosen her!
On March 4th, 2003, Lisa and I stepped off of the plane in Detroit holding our baby girl, Hannah Faith. After 18 months of waiting, legal red-tape, mountains and mountains of paperwork, she was finally ours and we were finally on our way home.
Ever stop to think that God calls us His adopted sons and daughters? Ever wonder what that really means? God chose us. He loved us before we took our first breath. He doesn’t care from what background we come from. He doesn’t care whether or not we are “perfect”. He chose us and is still choosing people today. He fought long and hard to make your adoption possible. He fought with governmental agencies of His day. The emotional pain He experienced far exceeds anything Lisa and I could have experienced, yet He continued on in the process. Eventually He had to give His very life to complete the process. He had chosen you and He was going to do whatever it took to make you His. After all He has done for you, I guess the question is…will you choose Him?
Adoption. God designed it. Because He loves us. Desperately.
'How
blessed is God!
And what a blessing he is!
He’s the Father of our
Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in
him.
Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind,
had settled on us as the focus of his love,
to be made whole and holy by his love.
to be made whole and holy by his love.
Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through
Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!)
He wanted us to
enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his
beloved Son.'
-Ephesians 1:3-6
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