| ἐλπίς (elpis) is the Greek word for HOPE. IT is one of the three great pillars on which the Christian faith is founded. (1 Cor 13:13). |
Three miscarriages and many tugs on our hearts to care for orphans later, Kevin and I have taken a plunge into a world we know little about. This is the world of adoption.
We are full of joyful expectation as we fill out page after page of tedious but thought-provoking paperwork to become officially "registered" with Bethany Children and Families, an adoption agency in Davenport.
We have always wanted to have a big family (lots of kiddos), and for some sovereign reason, the timing hasn't been right for our biological family to start yet. It has been a difficult year, of course, but also one that we have felt God's loving presence surround us and strengthen us.
Through this season of grieving, our eyes have been opened as we realize the only hope we can cling to is that of our eternal hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and his saving grace. Our prayer has turned from "give us a child right now," to "Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone." (Psalm 33:22). Thank God we have this eternal hope to cling to; it's a hope that will reach fulfillment when we get to enter Heaven and meet our Savior face-to-face.
We have felt a distinct call to adopt for a few years, starting back in October of 2008 when we attended Catalyst, a conference for emerging church leaders in Atlanta. We learned about the orphan epidemic worldwide; 165,000,000+ orphans are currently living around the world. This was a huge wake up call to us, and as the speakers challenged the church to step up and live out our Biblical mandate to care for orphans and widows, we felt God tugging on our hearts.
It wasn't until December 2010, after the second miscarriage, that we talked more seriously about this Biblical principle becoming a reality for our family. We knew we wanted to move forward with this at some point, so why wait? Each time we revisited scripture, it was clear that there was no reason for us to wait until our "biological family" was complete. "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)
After many nights of research, conversation, and prayer, we feel that God has opened a door for us to adopt domestically through an agency here in Davenport, IA. Bethany Children and Families will be our agency as we move forward with a home study and profile creation, and also as we wait for a baby to be placed in our family.
We are so incredibly excited to embark on this new journey as a response to God's distinct call on our lives, and we're equally excited to share the experience with each of you.
