The Call to Adopt

With three biological children, could I really be feeling a tug to adopt? Maybe it was just to support others who were adopting or to financially support adoption organizations. Surely God wasn't calling us to actually adopt a fourth child. I wondered if I even did that great a job with the 3 I already had. Even if adoption was something He wanted us to do, it would probably be after our 3 were much older, and I had figured this parenting thing out.

Well in March of 2006, God choose to make it very clear what He was saying . It was a typical Sunday morning. We were at church and there was a missions emphasis that day. There was a couple speaking that morning who were going to become missionaries to Peru and were sharing their story and the story of the Peruvian orphans. (There are hundreds of thousands of abandoned children in Peru and orphanages are just overflowing.) I am not sure what all they said that morning, because as soon as the pictures of those children went up on the screen, I heard God tell me "Go get your baby!" All I could do was weep. I knew God had spoken to me and I was almost paralyzed by the weight of it all. This was one of very few Sundays (if not the only Sunday) Layne and I were not sitting together in church. I wondered, "Did he hear that too? How was I going to bring this up? Was I crazy?"

After church came the first confirmation. Our pastor's wife asked me "Did you see your baby up there?" "What?" I said, with utter shock on my face I am sure. "Are you kidding?" She was was just kidding around because she had seen me crying, but I was stunned. It was like God was saying...."Yes, that is what I said!" Still, I decided that I would wait for Layne to bring it up. If he did then I knew that God had spoken to him as well.

That night as we were playing a game with the kids, typical sibling rivalry set in, and an argument between the kids erupted that seemed to get out of hand. Layne looked at me and said..."And to think I thought this morning we were to adopt another one."

Wow, he had heard it too. We talked and knew God had told us to to move ahead with this. But Peru? I had never even really heard of Peru, much less anyone adopting from there. Where exactly was that in South America? (Geography was never my strong suit.) Well for the next weeks, everywhere I turned I saw references to Peru; articles in magazines, ads for travel, a character on a TV show, everywhere! We went to an adoption informational meeting and listened to all the options for international adoption. We truly were open to whatever God had for us. All I can say is that every time we heard Peru our heart skipped a beat. We knew that was where our daughter was.

How did we know it was a girl? I am not sure, but we both just knew we were to adopt a girl and began to refer to her as "Anna" as we talked about the adoption and as we prayed for her. Little did we know that it would be a 3 year process.

Alexandra has grown up at the Children's Home (www.perumissions.com) we saw pictures of that morning in church. There are hundreds of thousands of orphans in Peru and we were matched with one of the 27 at New Life Children's Home. There is a very real possibility we saw her in those pictures that morning as God spoke to us. God has taught us that He is not just in the big things and the big decisions. He is in every detail of our lives and desires for us to look for Him in all those details. There is no such thing as coincidence...it is God's sovereignty working every time!

He had placed Alex in our hearts 3 years ago before she even turned 1...if you look at the name AlexaNdrA...you see ANA in it. He knew all along exactly who Anna was and He was covering every detail of her life. He was answering our prayers as He had her in a Christian Home run by American missionaries. She has been loved on, prayed for and prayed over her entire life. Not only here in the US, but in her birth country as well. Wow God loves all His little children!

No, even 3 years later, I know I don't have this parenting thing all figured out. There is still sibling rivalry on days, still days I question my parenting, but I have learned that God does not require perfection to use us. In fact, it is in our brokenness that He can use us the most. He wants for us to have hearts that recognize our sinful nature and our weaknesses and turn to Him for forgiveness and strength through His Son Jesus Christ. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." It is just like the saying I have heard many time..."God does not call the equipped, He equips the called." I praise Him that He didn't require perfection in us to add a beautiful daughter to our family. He will give us all we need as we seek Him to parent Alex as well as Becca, Drake and Luke. God is so good!