Orphan Sunday. His Call. Our Response.

As written by Daniel...

When I first heard about Orphan Sunday several months ago, I knew that I wanted to write a blog post bringing out its awareness.  I began to pray about what I should say and what I needed to talk about.  Can I just tell you that I stink at this stuff.  I’ll be the first to tell you my grammar is not the best, and it’s hard for me to put down in words what I am truly thinking and what I am feeling.  However, that being said, I am not trying to impress anyone.  I am only trying to do what I feel like I am being called to do, which is to share my wife and my story and bring awareness to the estimated 153 MILLION ORPHANS around the globe. So anyways, here I go, hang on…

First, I would like to say this post is not a post with its theme being that everyone needs to go out and adopt.  I just wanted to share my adoption story.  When I accepted Christ when I was younger, I was then adopted as one of God’s children.  You see, adoption is an act of God whereby he makes us members of His family.  John 1:12 puts it like this, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-“.  Wow, do you ever think about that? As Christians, we are CHILDREN of God.  Children of God, not cousins or brothers or those distant relatives you occasionally talk to, but children of God.  What’s awesome about that is God could have saved us without the privileges of adoption into his family, for he could have forgiven our sins and given us lawful right before Him without making us His children.  What amazing love God has shown me.  Romans 8:14, “because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”  Come on y’all! Does that not fire you up!?!

I thought a few months ago that my adoption story started only when we began to adopt our daughter, Paisley.  Man was I wrong. I’ve since realized that I was the orphan who had no hope. I was that orphan who was thirsty and hungry and had no food or water.  I was that orphan who was spiritually dead. I was that orphan who was enslaved with sin.  Now I look at the cross.  Now the God of hope fills me with all joy and peace. Now I feast on the bread of life and drink living water that is Christ Jesus.  I was then dead but now I am promised eternal life and because of the cross, because Christ died for me therefore forgiving my sins. I am washed in the blood of the Lamb. I praise God for that! What love he shows and gives us.

So why adoption for me?  Because I was adopted first. My challenge for you is to pray about what God is calling you to do for orphans.  I don’t know what that is for you and your family, but what I do know is that it isn’t sit back and do nothing.  That Bible clearly states God’s call for orphan care. Start with James 1:19-27 and verses like Isaiah 1:17. What if we as followers of Christ began to stop using the Bible as a guide for when we need to be uplifted and only picking and choosing the things that we want to apply to our lives.  Instead, we should enter into these stories of the Bible that will shape our lives to be more like Christ.

I like how our agency puts the call of orphan care.  If you can’t adopt, foster; if you can’t foster, sponser; if you can’t sponser, volunteer; if you can’t volunteer, donate; if you can't donate, educate; and honestly above all, pray. And that is what I am asking you to do. Get into the word of God and pray about what He would like you to do to help out those 153 millions orphans around the world.

One Less.

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!