1 Jan 2014

Our adoption story started in 1984. We went to see a movie that gave us a desire to want to give a child a home that does not have a home. The movie was not about adoption but for some reason it gave us a desire to adopt. I am not sure why it affected us like it did, but it left us with the desire to help children through adoption.

We had been married a year when we decided to go to an information meeting with social services about adoption. We came away with the realization that adoption was very difficult, and that the children who needed homes the most we could not adopt because we were not the same race. The laws were different then and the system did not allow cross racial adoption to take place. So we did not pursue it at that time but kept it in our minds as a desire for a later time.

When we had four children we started thinking about it again. We thought this was something God wanted us to do. However, we thought we had too many children, not enough money, were too old, didn’t have a nice enough house, etc. When our youngest child was ten, we decided to give foster care a try. We went to the MAP class. We did everything they required. They came to the house, and they said we passed. Then they called back and said we didn’t pass after all because some work on our house was needed. I had told the social worker ahead of time that we were renovating our house. After conversations back and forth, we decided to withdraw our file. We were discouraged and did not know what to do. About a year later we went to a church meeting on adoption. We met a private social worker there. She said that what happened to us was not right, but that the foster care system is very strict. So we decided to step out on faith, have her do a home study, and try to adopt a child from foster care. We passed our home study and began submitting it for children. Our social worker found out about two little girls with an agency. The agency did not have a family for them, and they needed to be placed within a month. So we submitted our home study. The mother chose us. The only problem was the cost. We thought about not moving forward because of the money, but we finally decided that we should not let that stop us. We trusted God to supply the money if this was what He wanted. And He did in a very special and miraculous way! We brought home two beautiful little girls ages two and five at the time. They became a part of our family very quickly and naturally. I know that does not always happen, but it did for us. The oldest had gone to kindergarden for a couple of months, but we began to homeshool her. At first she missed school and being around a lot of kids, but she quickly came to like being homeschooled. I would say to anyone who feels like God is leading them to adopt, to step out on faith and let God lead you. And he will bless you beyond what you can imagine.

 

 

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