Why Adoption? (the Daniel edition)

As written by Daniel...

First and foremost I would like to thank everyone who has given their support to Leslie and me these past few days.  Your promise for prayers, your support financially, and your kind words mean more to the two of us than you will ever know. 

I told Leslie that I felt like I needed to write a blog post to clear up some of the more common questions we’ve gotten either directly or indirectly since going public with our decision to adopt. (For those who know me, know me writing a “blog” is out of my comfort zone. I would first like to apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes. We all know Leslie will be in charge of helping with homework in the future.) I wanted to reassure everyone that adoption was something that God has truly put on BOTH of our hearts.  Look, I get it.  You research “adoption” on the internet and all you see is these lil’ blogs with pretty colors and fancy pictures of their children in fields of flowers for miles to see.  The Adoption World is not marketed towards the male world. You might be one to think adoption and then get a picture in your head of mother flying half way around the world to follow her dream of adopting a child.  To that I say for every mother you think of there is a father who is just as fired up about adopting as his wife. 

Isaiah 1:17 says “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” I love this verse. “Take up the cause of the fatherless.” What a powerful declaration for everyone to try and follow. Some might argue that it has taken Leslie and me five years to figure out that God isn’t referring to dogs in this passage.

I know Leslie and I both feel strongly about adoption, but for this post, I am only speaking for myself. I have never felt so fired up to do something than to adopt this child from China.  I understand from the outside looking in what it might look like for a couple who has no children to travel halfway across the world to adopt a child.  Why in the world would they do that? Why don’t they have their own children first?  Can they not have kids? Why not do a domestic adoption? I know you can’t hear my tone in this post but I want everyone to know I am not complaining about these questions.  Questions like these are what help me share my faith with people, my testimony.  Adoption is something Leslie and I have talked about even before we were married; we just didn’t know when it would happen. 

Leslie and I would love to one day have biological children of our own. Leslie has been asked the question “Can you not have kids?” I don’t want anyone to think that this is what our adoption is about. So to go ahead and put it out there, to be honest, we don’t know. We don’t have kids, but we weren’t trying to either. Would it make some feel better if we got “tested” to see if we can or not just to help ease your mind? Let's not be silly. 

When I say God has put on our hearts to adopt a child from China, I mean just that.  This is something that we put in God’s hands through prayer making sure this was the path He wanted for us, and He has continued to show us sign after sign along with opening up doors that we thought were closed.  God has presented an opportunity to not only adopt a child from China, but a special needs child. WHAT. A. BLESSING.

God is truly working in the lives of Leslie and me. I feel like I should ask this question to anyone reading this blog. What is God asking of you? Is there something that you feel God is putting on your heart but you are afraid because the task seems too large?  Too often I make my problems seem so large and my God so small.  There is NOTHING He cannot help you do or get you through. (Phil 4:19) I would love for anyone reading this to be glad that God is asking you to do something.  Is there any better job then to do work for His glory? 

When I was in boot camp in the Navy, we had a final inspection to do.  A higher-ranking sailor would inspect each recruit at attention on their uniform, making sure that recruits were “squared away”. When the senior chief got to me, she took her index finger and raised my chin up a little higher in the air and then asked me “Todd, are you proud?”. It wasn’t until then that I truly realized about what it meant to be a sailor in the world’s greatest Navy.  I think God does that with me sometimes.  Am I proud of Him? Do people see Christ when they look at me? (Matthew 5:16)

I say all that to say I am beyond thrilled on what God is doing our lives.  Please take heart and know that this is HIS plan, not ours. I hope everyone continues to pray and support us on this journey. Love y’all!