THANKSGIVING EVE

Wow! This has evidently been an extra busy week because I have not had a chance to blog about it! I actually have lots to share, but, well... neither the time or energy to share it! Let me start with the Thanksgiving Eve service. This is always a wonderful and meaningful service. Allen and I were asked to talk a bit about our adoption journey. You may already know all of this, but I thought I would post it for anyone who might be interested. Here is Allen's part...

For those of you who don’t know us – our family has been a part of 1st Baptist for almost 18 years. We are so thankful for our church family and how you have embraced and supported us as we have started a new chapter in our lives with the adoption of 3 more kids who arrived home just a few weeks ago! We’re excited to fill you in on some of our journey this past year.

Roselyn, Romeo and Rodrigo are siblings who for the past 3 years have lived at Children’s Shelter of Cebu (CSC) in the Philippines. CSC is an amazing ministry that we and many others in this church have supported for a number of years. Our involvement with CSC began over 20 years ago as we looked for a way to honor a friend and medical school classmate who had just died.

After many years of supporting CSC, the opportunity arose for me to help chaperone our youth group’s short terms missions trip there 2 ½ years ago. Our daughter Kristin also came on this trip. At the time – I saw this as a “once-in-a-lifetime” kind of trip. Little did I know what was in store!! Seeds were planted for me then – I just didn’t know it!

About 9 months after our team returned, the quarterly CSC newsletter came and profiled a sibling group of 5 kids that no family had yet expressed any interest in. As I read Paul Healy’s article – I was moved in a way that…to be honest – really scared me! But I had met these kids and knew they needed a family! I started looking at our house and wondered how we could fit 5 more kids in. It took a few days for me to get up the courage to share this with Mary!! Despite the fact that she is much more of a risk taker than I am, the thought of bringing 5 children into our household was not readily embraced!! We had occasionally talked about adoption before – but had never both been “ready” at the same time. In spite of her response, it was at this point that we started having more discussions about the possibility of adoption. We brought our kids into the discussion on Father’s Day of 2007. From the start, they were all supportive. (By the way – this sibling group of 5 was adopted last year)

We made plans as a family to visit and experience CSC to see how God was calling us to be more involved in this ministry and made our trip there last December. At that time, we were still undecided about adoption and personally, I was thinking that adoption was NOT what God would ask us to do. A number of things happened both while we were there and after we came back to change all of that. I would like to say that we saw God’s calling quite clearly from the beginning and that we readily accepted it – but that is simply not the case. Now as we look back, it so clear to see how God has been gently pointing us in this direction for many years. We just didn’t always recognize it. Our goal is to be obedient to what God has laid on our hearts. Fortunately He is patient and honors my hesitant and seemingly feeble efforts to respond to Him.

As we have undertaken this journey – we have appreciated so much the love and support of our amazing church family and staff. All of you mean more to us than we can put into words. Thank you!!

Here is my part...

A few years ago, Allen and I started thinking about what our lives would be like after our three girls were grown. We felt like God had something special for us to do, but we weren't REALLY sure of what it would look like. Now that we are here, with our complete family, we can see God's fingerprints everywhere as look back on our journey this far.

As we were considering adoption, I was struggling with what it means to truly walk by faith. We all sing about loving God with our whole heart, about going anywhere and doing anything for Him but what did that REALLY mean for me??? At this point in my life, I really felt that the one thing that God was asking me (and my family) to do was to open my heart and my home to three more children. There was no good reason for me to say "no". I have always felt incredibly blessed and supported. Other than my own weaknesses, I had been given all the tools to choose adoption, but my heart was not ready. To make this step of faith meant that I needed to be willing to let go of some things that I held closest to my heart...i.e...my family and my life as I knew it.

After much prayer and what we believed was a calling from God, our family took a GIANT LEAP OF FAITH into the unknown world of adoption. It has been frightening, challenging and humbling. It has also been exhilarating, exciting, and fun! It has required a lot of adjustment and change for ALL eight of us! Change is a hard thing for most people because we love safety, security and comfort. But change is also what helps us to grow...and yes, I believe that we are growing.

I guess that the biggest lesson that Allen and I are learning is that there is incredible freedom in being obedient to what God is calling you to do. It is ok of us to be afraid and to stumble along the way because we know that God is holding us in the palm of his hand. He has been walking with us every step of the way.