The Call to Adopt

     As my husband and I sat in Church Sunday, we both had this really odd feeling, a heightened anticipation.   You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach that either feels like a thousand butterflies or that you’re going to throw up.   Neither Thomas nor I talked about it until after church was over, but when we did it was so odd.  This is somewhat of how it went.

“Honey, I just got the weirdest feeling”

“Ya, me too”

“It’s like something big is going to happen! Really big!”

“Ya! I don’t if its going to be good or bad, but it’s gonna be huge!”

     This is how the adoption process started for my husband and I .  Was it an actual call from God?  That can’t be doubted.  Is everyone called this way, absolutely not.

      My husband and I knew, before we ever married that we wanted to adopt.  We knew the situations of the children.  We had seen the programs and heard the stories (both good and bad). 

   The knowledge that it was our time to consider adoption came after 9 years of marriage and 3 biological children (our youngest being 2).  We felt the call, in souls, in our spirit, but so many stories don’t begin like ours.  Some stories are brought by infertility, some by health concerns (such as MS), and some are purely by choice.  There are many reasons to adopt.  Are any of them wrong?   All can be in Gods plan, it’s just takes different avenues to achieve them.

    The Bible is very clear about our responsibility to the neglected of our society.

“Religion that God our Father Accepts as pure and Faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” James 1:27 (NIV)

     There are many ways to help these children including adoption.  Though you may be called (and rightly so) to alternate avenues for helping the forgotten children.  But through these scriptural commands we ask you to, for just a minute,  to consider what you may not have ever considered before, Adoption. 

     Are those who feel God has called them to other tasks any less righteous, less led? No Way, but consider for a minute, as you read a little of our story, that God may be waiting for you to ask “Is this what you want from us?”.  Be ready, because the answer may not be what you expect. 

    Our orphanage was located in what would be consider slums in our society.  The buildings surrounding it were dilapidated.  Tens of stories high with open balconies (the front of some having come off).  I remember steam rising from a dumpster as we pulled up to Orphanage Number 2 in Moscow, Russia.  The orphanage, as the buildings surrounding it, had peeling paint and odd smells oozed from it.  Laundry, tiny worn shirts and pants hung from a line outside.  The odd thing my husband and I both remember is the silence, hardly a sound erupted from this building,…only one child crying..one.

    There was wooden playground equipment, brightly colored (though faded) and as we were to find, hardly used.  Weeds grew around the building to be cut periodically. 

      Some Young people walked by, outside the orphanage grounds, and looked at us as if we were pariahs.  Unfortunately, in many of these countries, these orphans are considered by society, just that… pariahs.

       We walked up the many sets of stairs to where our future son waited. On the walls, as we walked up the stairs, were things you would expect to see as Americans,  baby characters and even Disney’s 101 Dalmatians.  It was such an odd smell though, one we will never forget, rotten Cabbage. Cabbage is used in many Russian dishes and we were told to expect this though.  There are other smells we would come to know, but we’ll talk more about that later.

     We walked into an entryway to our son’s area, where he lived, played, and slept.  Still all we heard was silence.  As a caregiver walked us into the room she paused and then walked over to a little boy that we hardly recognized, even though we had watched a video of him many, many times.  He was so thin and his eyes looked almost dead.  There was no life, no happiness, only the residue of neglect.   

           This is how we met our son, sweet (most of the time)(smile) Max Nikolai Michael, then known as Kolia.

       Is this a typical experience?  We’ve heard many just like it.  Some children will be in better circumstances, some worse, but no matter what the circumstance, these children have no one to consistently rely on, give them kisses,  bandage their hurt knees, and most of the time, tell them about Jesus.  We know the importance of keeping these children fed, clothed, making sure that these orphans have medicine that they may need.  This may be your mission, or many other just as necessary ones, but this website isn’t about other missions, it’s about adoption and our call as Christians to come to the aid of our forgotten children.