The Heart of Adoption

"Throughout history, an authentic faith has been marked by a compassionate response toward those the world tends to forget." Gary Thomas, Authentic Faith

One of the women who works with Christian Adoption Consultants, Tracie, has such an amazing heart and has really challenged my thinking about adoption. She and her husband are in process of adopting a little boy they are calling Aiden with Down Syndrome from Eastern Europe. An excerpt from her blog...

"If all goes well and the Lord brings him into our family, we will name him "Aiden Joseph"- Aiden means "little flame" and Joseph means "he will enlarge"- we believe the prophetic destiny over Aiden's life is that he will be a little flame that will grow. We believe that his life will be a light to many and will set the hearts of others ablaze with the true spirit of adoption and a heart to live out James 1:27." Check out her full blog here.

James 1:27 says, "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." I can't begin to tell you how much this family's faith has stirred a new conviction in me. She and her family have a heart to adopt harder-to-place children and are in communities where other families are doing the same. On another blog, her brother-in-law showcases the Koth family who have adopted 10 children from all over the world!! You can see this family on the September 7th blog here.

Jeff and I are both inspired and encouraged by these families' compassion and faith in allowing God to love through them in this way. Both of our hearts have been stirred and are wondering what God could have in store for us in the future. While reading these sites, we both teared up multiple times at how God is working through these amazing families. We know we have a desire to adopt older children, but don't know the when and where just yet. My friend Susan told me about a 15 year old girl in Albania who is in an orphanage waiting for a forever family. This little girl needs a home before she is sent out to the streets on her own at 16 years old. The orphanage wants to find her a home because many of girls on the street get caught up in sex-trafficking. This thought disgusts me! I seriously could go on all day about that issue. It is one of those issues that at times I literally lose sleep over just thinking about.

To help give you a better picture, in Cambodia there is a street called the Street of Little Flowers where young girls, sometimes five and six years old, are offered to Western men for a mere $300 a night. I am in tears just typing this sentence out. I wonder all the time what we could possibly do about it. I don't know just yet, but I CAN tell you this: if I had the opportunity to adopt a handful of those girls, I wouldn't even have to pray about it. So why don't I feel the same way with other children here in the States that also need a home?  There are so many children in foster care that need a home.  I just looked online at 978 pictures of children needing homes in just Florida alone.  I know that God desires for each of us to advance His kingdom here on earth and often times in many arenas I feel like I am sitting on the sidelines. NO child should be left alone without a family to care for them. Right now I feel so alive just talking about these issues and seeing families who are doing something about them!

Please be praying for Tracie and her family as they ask for God to provide the funds to adopt their sweet Aiden Joseph. I know that Aiden has definitely set our hearts ablaze!