the power of the Gospel

The gospel redeems and saves and ratifies and purifies and welcomes and adopts.

The gospel is one of the largest reasons we want to adopt.

Because we have experienced the redemption and salvation and ratification and purification and welcome and adoption by the work of Jesus on the cross, our hearts will never be the same and we understand that it doesn't end here or today.

I've read a lot of secular literature on adoption lately. It's not bad or unhelpful or invalid, but it's missing the Gospel. It's missing a degree of hope and joy found in and through adoption. Joy and Hope characterize hearts rooted in the gospel and will get us through the difficult seasons adoption is sure to bring. Secular literature I've found doesn't speak to that (obviously) and the reader is left, often, discouraged and numb to the beautiful act of adoption.

Because God calls us his kids and Jesus is not ashamed to call us family in the gospel, adoption is possible and right and good, even in the face of neglect, abuse, family structures, challenges, financial burdens, jealousy, and secular opinion on the matters of birth order and twinning and a host of other conundrums.

The gospel is why we're adopting

The gospel is how we'll adopt

The gospel will get us through

The gospel will be seen increasingly in our family because of adoption

it will be SO hard. there will be SO many challenges. 

But, there's the Gospel.

twinning

An expression used to describe unrelated children in a family whose birth dates are less than 9 months apart.

benefits:

• you know that stage well.
• you have and are parenting a child that age already
• sharing toys and clothes (especially if the twin is the same sex/size)
• can be easier to bond
• built-in playmate
• helps the adopted child feel even more connected to the family
• helps the adopted child transition into school since their sibling is in their class and can help them navigate life as a 3/4/5 year old

fears:

• too much at once (don't I always say "how do they do it!?" of moms with twins, though primarily I mean in infancy)
• competitiveness
• potentially confusing for the biological child

Moments with Love, a new blog I found and adore, has a whole series of blogs with the label "twins" chronicling the adventure of their adopted African son and his "twin" sister, their biological daughter. Check it out!

having some, adopting some

Our plan was always to have all of our kids biologically. I've talked about that a bit. 

But then when I became a mom, my heart for orphans grew - how could it not? My heart for all babies and children and mothers did, and that has to include orphaned children and their birth mothers. 

But after Lily, we knew we weren't ready to throw in the towel with biological reproduction either. Even though being pregnant was not my cup of tea! After this baby though, we're 99% sure we're done having kids biologically. But not done having kids. Not done growing our family. 

Though the blogosphere has introduced me to many families who "have some and adopt some", most people I know who have adopted, have only adopted. They don't also have biological children (they may plan to in the future but they don't yet).  The other night though, we met a guy who was in town for a conference and staying with our friends. He has SIX children (yelp!) and two are adopted. I loved hearing him talk about his kids - how his "bio kids" responded to all the sudden having a twin (they twinned their oldest and second oldest kids and the kids loved it). 

At this point I have no idea what the future for our family holds.

We're open to age and race (we're not going on the longest known list in local adoption for a white newborn, in fact we're partial to neither!) and even number (sibling sets have a harder time being adopted, and oddly enough that's also the most appealing to us).

But timing is completely not known or decided right now. LG is the imminent priority, and he'll be making us a family of 4 any day now, but it's also something impossible to take off the table and our hearts entirely.  

God's put it there and he's not taking it off.

As we wait to see what He has for our family, and we take our time adjusting to being a family of 4, we'll be praying about the future. Enjoy these amazing videos of families who have had some and adopted some with me.

Home At Last from dan owens on Vimeo.