Adoption Update

I ran 8 miles yesterday. With each and every step, the reality of the half-marathon is drawing near grew stronger.  It's been quite a journey.  In January when I first started, I could barely run 2 miles at a time.  All the snow and ice we experienced has made training cold and challenging.  But Saturday, I ran eight miles.  I've come a long ways, but still have a long ways to go if I want to finish it on April 27th. Two and a half months of training have flown by, but the journey continues.

In many ways, my journey with the half marathon has paralleled our adoption journey.  It seemed to have started off slowly, but now we are taking huge steps!  January started by getting all of our paperwork and background checks to Gladney.  After clearing that hurdle, in February we traveled down to Fort Worth to the Gladney Center for our big interview with our social worker.  The interview lasted from nine in the morning until nearly 3 in the afternoon (they were very thorough).  I think Sarah and I have a slight advantage in these interviews because we always interview together doing churchwork.  After this interview, Sarah went to work putting together our profile for the birthmother to look at.  The way it works at Gladney is that the birthmother picks us, which is humbling and terrifying at the same time.  In order to do this, we have to create a "profile" for the birthmom to look at.  This profile is actually a photobook of our lives (like one you would make on Snapfish).  All the while, Sarah has also been raising money through her business at Premier Designs selling jewelry.  The response to this has been incredible.  At one of her parties, she sold the 4th most jewelry for one party in the whole company during the first quarter sales (her name was in the quarterly magazine).  People have been generous and encouraging every step of the way.  I do not go one day without someone asking how the adoption process is going.  At the beginning of March, a social worker who works in the Gladney Oklahoma office came to our house to complete our home study.  Again, it was a relaxed atmosphere, although we deep cleaned the house and even painted a couple hallways to get ready for her.  Then finally, we got the big news Friday:  WE ARE OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED AND WAITING!  Our profile is being sent out and we could have a match anytime.  It's been a process, but one where we have seen the goodness of God played out each step of the way.

We have more fundraisers coming up.  I, of course, am running the half marathon on April 27th.  If you would like to sponsor me on my run, you can click the paypal box to the right.  I will also set up a benefit website in the near future.  We are also working on a "Coffee and Karaoke" night at a local coffee shop here.  If you can't donate, we ask that you would pray for us, pray for our potential birthmother, and pray for our future baby!

Why Gladney?

By day, I'm a mommy. A nose-wipping, booboo-kissing, hand-face-and-body-washing, 

"I've cleaned this room 15 times today," mommy (and I LOVE it).

By night (at least it seems like it's always at night), I'm a labor doula. 

I walk with mommies and daddies through their pregnancy. Make sure they are educated and have all the resources and support they need; help them create a "birth plan," etc. Then, on the big day, I have the honor of being an extra set of hands to squeeze momma's hips during contractions, an added voice of encouragement to the hardest working woman on the planet, the one who assures daddy it's okay to go get water because I'll be there. 

Long or short labors, natural or medicated, home or hospital; each and every birth is a holy and indescribably sacred experience. 

I've studied enough about the moments and days after birth to know about the power of the connection between momma and baby.

As Ray and I began to walk toward the process of adoption, I noticed myself hesitating. Strange, for a woman who has felt drawn to the plight of the orphaned her entire life to hesitate. Upon greater inspection of this hesitation I discovered the fear: "How I can play a roll in separating a baby from his/her mother?" He'll know her voice and her smell. He'll need her colostrum and her breast milk (a living organism!) could change it's antibodies in order to care for his exact needs. 

Honestly, I found myself a bit nauseated and terrified this situation would cause so much pain. 

In my confusion, The Spirit gently asked, "what's the alternative?" 

Abortion? No. 

What these mother's do is out of deep love and courage. 

The chance to give their baby a life they are unable to give;

Many times to people who are unable to create families biologically.

This gift - the gift of a child - it's holy and indescribably scared. 

So what about the mothers? 

The strong, courageous, deeply loving mothers, 

who pass their children into the hands of other mothers and fathers. 

Who cares for them? 

Gladney does.

Gladney cares for their birth mothers in powerfully important ways. 

Medical care, nutritional guidance, a safe place to stay, a helping hand educationally and on the job-front. Most importantly, they begin grief counseling prior to birth and continue after. The mothers are offered free counseling for life as they grapple with the hardest and most loving decision they will ever make. Gladney is honest with these women about the road they are traveling and pledges to stand by them as the community of Christ, forever. 

Maybe not so surprisingly, it seems that many mothers can get lost in the shuffle of adoption.

At Gladney, they don't. 

So, why Gladney? 

For me, it was the mothers. 

-Sarah 

Food for thought.

"It is estimated there are between 143 million and 210 million orphans worldwide (recent UNICEF report.) The UNICEF orphan numbers DON’T include abandonment (millions of children) as well as sold and/or trafficked children. The current population of the United States is just a little over 300 million… to give you an idea of the enormity of the numbers…"

http://www.orphanhopeintl.org/facts-statistics/

There are an estimated 123,000 orphans in America.

Every year, nearly 30,000 of these children "age out" of the system.

"According to national statistics provided by Arrow, 40 to 50 percent of those children will never complete high school. Sixty-six percent of them will be homeless, go to jail or die within one year of leaving the foster care system at 18."

More than 80% will be incarcerated before the age of 23. 
http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2012-06-24/what-comes-next

One of the most given commands in scripture is to care for the orphans. 

"If only 7% of the world’s professing Christians responded to God's call to care for the fatherless,"

there would be no.more.orphans. 

http://www.everychildhasaname.org/projects/scholarships.html

We have been adopted as THE children of GOD. 

May we be moved as God's children to care for, love and adopt 

the millions of children longing for love and looking for home. 

And then I heard the voice of the Master:
    “Whom shall I send?
    Who will go for us?”
I spoke up,
    “I’ll go.
    Send me!”

-Isaiah 6:8-

Being led to answer the call? Consider The Gladney Center for Adoption

-Sarah 

Our Adoption Journey

"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

Why adopt?  That's the question that is often on the lips of people when we first tell them of our adoption journey.  It is true that we already have a beautiful, joyful daughter in Abigail Hope.  She is a treasure and a gift from God.  However, we feel that God is also calling us to adopt a child.  

There are a myriad of reasons why Sarah and I have chosen to adopt.  Our love story began in an orphanage in Kenya.  We first noticed each other loving on babies and toddlers in a Buckner orphanage outside of Nairobi.  From that point on, we both knew that adoption would be a part of our journey together as a married couple.  When we first got married, I leaned more towards international adoption.  However, the more we prayed and considered our calling to adoption, the more God drew our hearts to a domestic adoption.  In doing research, and in pastoring in a community where the majority of children are in poverty, God softened our hearts to the children in our own country who are being overlooked.  That is why we chose Gladney's ABC program (African-American/bi-racial children) to adopt through.  We wish to adopt a child that the rest of the culture would overlook.  (We will do a later post explaining in full detail Gladney and the ABC program).

In doing so, we are trying to live out James 1:27 which I believe to be a snapshot of the Gospel.  One of the illustrations that both Jesus and Paul use in the New Testament to describe the work of Christ is adoption.  God has adopted us into His family through Jesus Christ.  What a promise!  You and I are apart of God's family.  The main marker of God's family I believe is seen on the cross through Jesus' sacrificial love.  It is that sacrificial love that is to govern our lives, our marriages, and the way we approach those overlooked in our society.  It is the working out of that love, with fear and trembling, that Sarah and I are beginning the journey of adoption.  

Sarah and I are fundraising together and individually in our own way.  I am going to run a half-marathon on April 27th in OKC.  I will be asking for sponsors to give a certain amount per mile or a one-time donation to help with the funding of our adoption.  If you wish to donate, there is a link labeled "donate" on the sidebar of our blog.  If you cannot donate financially, please join us in prayer as we are trusting in God to provide in every way for our family.  

- Ray

Growing Our Family

Ray and I have decided to revive the old blog and keep track of our adoption journey! 

We would be blessed to have you follow along and join us in prayer for our future little one.