Why Adopt

When we first adopted, we got a lot of questions about why we chose to add more children to our crazy crew.  It seems these days, we get asked that less often.  I'd like to think it's because orphan awareness is growing.  Perhaps it's just that our family is so loud I just can't hear anyone anymore.  :-)  

The number of orphans in the world is a statistic that is fluid and how it's measured is slightly controversial, but even taking the most conservative numbers, there are millions of children around the world that need families.

I don't know about you, but I can't sleep at night knowing I have a home, food, clean water, and medical care and precious, vulnerable children go without these basic human needs.  We believe that God didn't create us to live for ourselves or take up space in suburbia.  He blessed us to be a blessing.  He's given us everything.  How can we not share our everything with others?

Why China?  Now that's a question we get more often.  Why not adopt a child from the United States?  Or Africa?  Or Eastern Europe?  For us, the answer is that China is where our daughters were.  We do hope to open our home to kids in the US foster care system someday.  However, at this point, our hearts tug towards kids who can't get medical care.  For us, those matches have come from China.  We also have kids in our home that need long-term consistency.  Having the dynamics of our family change often, sometimes with no warning, is not something we're in a place to handle terribly well right now.  International adoption has its own unique challenges, but once the children are in your family, they're there to stay.  And we love that.

If you've considered adoption or if God is tugging on your heart to do more for kids in need, contact me!  There are so many ways to make a difference!