worth it

There are so many hoops to jump through to adopt.  If you ask any person who has adopted or are in the process of adoption they will all tell you... "get ready for all the requirements!".  You have to get a physical, get fingerprinted, have people inspect your home, are asked many personal questions, attend training classes, interview, apply, apply some more, sign and notarize everything, give of your money... it sounds tedious and it is! you are held to a WAY higher standard as an adoptive parent than a biological parent.  They even make sure that you have a fire extinguisher accessible near your kitchen!  How many of you fit that requirement! yikes!  They will give just about anyone a biological child.  But an adopted child is protected and the best is set up for them.  Too bad all parents-to-be don't have to go through similar process!

Anyway..today Chuck and I attended our first training class.  We figured we better hurry up and get the training done.  So we attended our CPR class and now can resuscitate you if you ever go unconscious in our presence.  We can give you 30 chest compressions, 2 breaths and give you the heimlich maneuver if you are choking.  Don't be too impressed.  We asked our instructor if this stuff really works at saving someone's life...and she said "there is only a 2-5% chance someone will make it through CPR.  usually you don't get there soon enough to save their life."  Awesome!  Well, hopefully we don't ever have to use it because those odds don't sound very good.

(yes i know my picture is awkward.  thanks chuck.)

We continue to be cautiously excited as we move through preparations.  Any cost is worth the blessing we will receive as we obey what God tells us to do "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed."  Psalm 82:3  If you are thinking about adoption don't be fearful of all the requirements.  In some crazy way it is kinda fun...it's a crazy ride and it is just part of the process God uses to prepare you for the child he will place in your home.  A pregnancy allows parents 9 months of preparation of what is to come.  There are many pains, discomforts, education, and adjustments during this time.  In adoption you experience many of the same symptoms emotionally and mentally.  It is for our good.

So yes there are costs to adopt.  Emotional, Mental, Financial...Jesus is quoted in instructing us to count the cost of following him.  How far will we go? How much will we sacrifice? What dreams will we give up?  Are we willing to leave everything the world has to offer to take hold of God's best?  Great questions I hope we would all answer with "whatever you want me to do...wherever you want me to go..i'm in!"

"Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Luke 14:25-30

The best question I was recently taught to ask is not "what if i do this...?" but to ask "what if i don't?"  What if I don't take care of orphans?  What if i don't acknowledge a widow in distress? What if I don't live my life the way the Bible tells me to?  What if i don't listen to Jesus?  My life would be without purpose and would amount to nothing.  It would be burned up in the fire.  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." John 15:5-7

God is Lord.

PICKED!!!

My prayer this afternoon:
"God, I have failed at lifting "B" up to you lately.  I have been distracted and busy.  Lord, I want to pray the most unselfish prayer I can possibly pray for "B".  Lord...do a miracle.  Clean up the circumstances of "B's" life so that she is in a condition to parent her baby boy.  Move the heart of a believer to share the hope of Jesus so that her eternity will change.  Lord, give her direction in how to make a life plan for her baby.  Guide and direct her steps.  If you choose for us to parent this child make this clear.  Help me to not covet this child bc no child in my care is my own.  They are yours and you entrust me with them.  Guide me in how to minister to "B" as the birth mom.  You love her and have a plan for her life.  If this child comes into our home help me to know how to minister to his birth mom....amen"

a couple of hours later i received a phone call from our case worker.  "B" decided to pick our family as the life plan for her baby boy!  What!??! I'm as shocked as you are!!! Her one request is that we name him Alijah - God is LORD.  I tear up just thinking about what this means to me and the journey our family has been on this past year.  GOD IS LORD. We said "we could not pick a better name and how special that it comes from his birth mom".  God is LORD..God is LORD.  He orders our steps, He protects us, He has said "it is finished".  There is power when you hear God is LORD.  Alijah has the hand of God on him in the womb and for sure his life will display for the world to see GOD IS LORD.

now...before i get ahead of myself..."B" can still change her mind at any moment.  She has 48 hours after Alijah is born to sign away her parental rights.  Alijah's birth father has agreed to terminate rights at the same time.  If "B" changes her mind last minute i still believe GOD IS LORD and trust in his plan for Alijah.  this adoption process is not about chuck and i acquiring a child for our own.  It is about demonstrating the adoption we both experienced into God's family when we accepted Jesus into our life and our eternity was changed.  adoption to us is about positioning ourselves to share the love of Jesus by loving on the vulnerable of our society..the orphan and the widow.  It is worth the roller coaster of feelings we might go through to follow a crazy radial Jesus.  The more I grow in my walk with Jesus the more I see that this world is not meant to be comfortable and easy and a lack of taking risks.  In fact Jesus calls us to the opposite..."take up your cross and follow me".

My prayer now:
"God, You are LORD. Thank you for letting me be on this journey because I now know you in a way I have never known You before.  No matter what happens with Alijah i choose to trust your plan.  Give me multiple opportunities to minister to "B" and soften her heart to hear Your truth.  I stand in faith believing you have big plans."

Amy