We're Active: Week 9

As I am writing today, we're well into week 10 but I didn't want to forget to re-cap our 9th week on this journey. It has been a quiet week in some ways, but not without waiting and work. We are currently active to present to two birthmoms. I think this brings the total of cases we've seen to 22. We know that one birthmom has had books for a few days and the other will probably see our book next week. While it's hard to wait, I know it is so much harder for these brave women who are making an incredible sacrifice for their child. 

I've also been working on several grant applications for awhile and sending those off feels so good! The paperwork for general adoption documents is crazy but there's even more to apply for grants and interest-free loans. Thankfully, K helped by compiling all of our financial information into one document so that I can copy and paste. Part of the work with searching for grants is figuring out which ones we are eligible for! I have a few lists supplied by our consultant and the local agency we did our homestudy through, but I still have to sort through and read the requirements for each individual grant/loan. I'm hopeful I'll get the rest of the major ones we want to apply for in the mail this week! 

I recently had someone ask me about adoption and they made a remark that they thought it was inexpensive to adopt! I almost laughed out loud! I know that they were thinking primarily of foster care (whose goal is to ultimately reunite children to parents, though that doesn't always happen and sometimes adoption does), but it still surprised me that most people probably don't understand the financial burden of adoption. Still yet, financial burdens seem only a piece of the puzzle. Emotional and physical demands of travel, caring for a little one (in many cases little ones with difficult medical needs), the roller coaster ride of waiting to be matched, failed matches, developing a relationship with the birth family, explaining and helping siblings understand adoption, fundraising--adoption is a huge undertaking. I often think of this as my most difficult time "expecting" and yet it has already been a time of tucking in and drawing close to God. We know He will accomplish what He has called us to do---in His way, His time, and to His perfection. Relinquishing control has never been a strength of mine and adoption challenges me every day in this way. I send off grant applications with no way of ensuring they will be accepted and we say "yes" to presenting ourselves to a birth mom when we have no other way of communicating to her all the billions of things we'd like to say about how we'll love this child. However, I think that by taking us to a place where we have no control, God will clearly display His glory in bringing a child who needs us home to our family. We stand with arms open, willing to be a part of a child's redemption story--vessels ready to be used. 

I recently read a startling statistic that said that there are almost 2 billion people in the world who say they are "Christians" (now I realize that many use that term loosely and may not be believers) and that there are around 132 million orphans. If only 7% of people who say they are Christians adopted there would essentially be no more orphans. Wow. I know not everyone is called to adopt but even helping families with adoption expenses, fundraisers, babysitting while they travel, can enable families that are feeling called to accomplish the task. We are charged in James to care for the widows and orphans--the defenseless and weak. How we each are called to care for them might look different on an individual level as some are called to adopt, others to help those adopting, serving in a ministry that helps widows with household tasks, visiting, making cards, encouraging, praying...but we are all called to such sacrificial love. Why? Because it reflects the very essence of God and the reason Jesus came. Can we do it on our own? No. Sometimes K and I just shake our heads at the crazy road we are traveling. If you'd asked me a year ago, I would have said "No way!" I was thinking of what we were capable of affording and what we could do on our own. When God called us, He clearly said to us that there wasn't a way we could do this but that He most certainly could if we were obedient and allowed ourselves to be used. And so here we are...