Are You Crazy?

That is a question we have been asked ALOT the past month. As we have begun the adoption process again, most people think we are crazy. They really think we are crazy when they ask what our request will be and we answer, “We have gotten approved for 2-4 kids ages 0-15 with special needs”. With our last adoption we requested a healthy infant. We felt that was the right choice as we started our family and Jacob is perfect for our family. He brings joy to our lives daily!! But this time we are just saying YES to God as he is stretching us out of our comfort zone and we have COMPLETE peace about it. We are leaving our request wide open and trusting God and His perfect plan for our family.

We have also gotten the “How in the world are you going to afford another adoption? Are you crazy?” The simple answer is “we don’t know”. God provided for every penny we needed for Jacob’s adoption expenses. It was amazing that we didn’t need to take out a loan-AMAZING!!!! God used many people coming together to pray, donate, and to help fundraise to get every expense paid for. We are so thankful for all these amazing people that helped in every way to bring Jacob home! We are trusting God that He will help us raise the needed funds for this adoption too. We are also prepared to take out a loan at some point too.
Most people think it’s crazy to potentially go from 0-5 kids in less than 2 years. We think it’s exciting. People told us that we can’t afford a big family on two teacher’s salaries. We know there will be sacrifices to make, but we are willing to do it. This may mean that I can’t buy as much Stampin’ Up! stuff or the new Thirty-one bags (GASP! :) ) But we will be investing into our family instead-much more important. We live in a very materialistic world and we get sucked in ALL.THE.TIME. I am so guilty of that. There are people starving with the famine and drought in Africa right now, and we have enough food in our house to last all 3 of us at least a few months. Makes me sick, but it’s true. We will make sure that they are involved in activities and sports. But I'm sure there will be some sacrifices at times. We also believe that the important things in life are teaching our kids about God and His love for us and others. By having a large family we will be teaching our kids about compassion, sharing, loving, helping, caring, teaching them about priorities and most importantly to love Jesus and love LIKE Jesus.

As we were talking about how it might affect our children if they aren’t involved in everything, I came across another adoptive mama’s blog with this verse, James 2:5 “Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?” It’s just another reminder to invest in our children’s lives, not the material things. We are trying to live our lives like Christ and say YES to Him! This is not to say that we are going to be so poor our kids go without, I’m sure our kids will be plenty spoiled! But we know there will be sacrifices from time to time.

We have received many comments about how adopting older children is too hard and they will have too many problems. We know that there will be additional hurdles with adopting older children, but it’s not the kids fault. It's true they have experienced more trauma in their little lives that I ever will. We have been reading books and talking to other families and we know that God is the Ultimate Healer and we will help our children through anything they need. We know the road is difficult, but with God on our side we are willing.
We have also heard that its crazy to be open to children with special needs. Someone actually told us “that will ruin your life”. What???? Special needs children are just that-special! Beautifully and wonderfully created by our Heavenly Father. Special needs children need loving families too! We are again trusting God with this part of the journey. He knows better than we do! So thankful for that!!

"We care for orphans not because we are rescuers...we care for orphans because we are rescued." - David Platt

God doesn't pick out His children based on who is going to have an easy road in their faith. He picks all of us, because He loves all of us. We are ALL His children. So we aren't scared away from whatever issues our kids might have, but we are in daily prayer- praying that we will be equipped to help them heal.

We are so thankful God chose adoption to build our family. We are blessed by it every day! We are the lucky that we are living this journey every day! God is so faithful and we are trying to be faithful and obedient too.