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A Heart for Adoption

I'm so thankful that Kevin and I are on the same page about so many things; it's really no wonder we got married! It also helps that we've known each other since we were 10 years-old (holy moly, that was 17 years ago!) For instance: we believe in the same doctrinal beliefs regarding Jesus Christ and Christianity. We have the same humor and are often giggling and laughing like hyenas when no one else is. We like the same food (except of course, for his dislike of seafood---sigh, there has to be some kind of discrepancy!) and we enjoy the same hobbies (reading, writing stories, watching movies, hanging out and exploring new places, etc.)

One of the biggest reasons I love Kevin is because he is a great father to our child Evangeline.

Because of my love of motherhood and his love of being Evangeline's daddy, it isn't too surprising that we are both passionate about adoption as well. We are currently unable to adopt because of financial constraints, but we know that one day we want to (I really, really pray God will open doors for this opportunity in the future!) Adoption is beautiful because God adopted us into His family...while we were sinful, and did nothing to deserve His grace and love, He still chose to take us in and now we are known as His children. And who doesn't like to give good gifts to their children? We are so blessed. ARGH. Just thinking about all the children in the world who have no parents to call their own just breaks my heart. A friend of mine just recently recommended a blog called “Eicherumba” which has been popular for years now. It's about a family who adopts a special needs child (and later adopts another) and how it affects their family dynamic. This blog has also led to the Archibald Project, which was inspired by the little adopted boy Archie who has Down Syndrome. Basically, it's a project where filmmakers and photographers document adoptions all over the world, specifically for kids with speical needs. I watched all the videos on the website and was bawling each time. When Kevin got home from work, I was so persistent that we needed to adopt RIGHT NOW. Then he told me to calm down and that we weren't able to just yet. I was also complaining of a headache that wouldn't go away and begging for a massage. He said, “I come home from work and here you are crying and saying a million things about adoptions while making me massage you! You keep talking about all the places we can adopt from and how there are so many children who need us. But we just can't yet because we can't afford it. And to be honest, all I can think about right now is how hungry I am and how much I want dinner but I can't eat because I'm massaging you!” We were both laughing hysterically after he finally got those words in. Hehe I can be a bit overbearing at times ;) I don't know why he deals with me! I exclaimed, “Kev! I haven't been this obsessed over anything ever since I wanted to get pregnant with Evangeline!” I am so convinced that this is a conviction from God. It's just too overwhelming for me to ignore. It's really very similar to when I wanted to get pregnant super badly. I was obsessed for 2 entire years before God answered that prayer. I wonder how long before He answers this one?

Unfortunately, Kevin is right. We can't afford to adopt just yet. We still have debt to pay (daRn you school loans and credit card balances!) and Kevin still plans on going to grad school. He plans on applying to be a high school teacher later this year and then in a few years God willing, he can become a professor! Of course grad school is expensive as well! Additionally, it was originally in our plan for us to have two or three biological children of our own before we adopt other children. There are certain avenues of which we are interested in adopting from. First, we want to adopt from a pregnancy crisis clinic. Women who are tempted to have abortions but don't choose to, often turn to these pregnancy crisis clinics as a way for their babies to get adopted into good families. I highly appreciate these women for choosing to let their babies live, especially since we live in a culture that is so approving and even ENCOURAGING of aborting babies (whether it be because of convenience or because a baby has special needs!) How beautiful would it be to say that this baby was saved by their birth mom, and adopted into a family who was so excited to bring them in as their own? That baby was ALMOST aborted! Secondly, we are open to adopting a baby from a NICU. Since we are parents to a preemie who was in the NICU for 88 days, we have a special love and appreciation for babies who have special needs because of being born too early. It's a sad reality that a lot of the children in the NICU are often abandoned and never visited by their birth parents. I saw it. Evangeline entered the NICU after some of those kids were born and left earlier than them because they didn't grow. If a parent isn't holding and talking to their child, they stay longer in the NICU because of slower development and growth. It's SO heartbreaking! And lastly, we are open to adopting internationally a child with special needs. Some people are opposed to this and say, “Why not adopt locally?” We are open to that too (obviously, since our first two avenues before this one were all local) but third world countries often do not have the technology or resources to help these specific orphans. It's scary to think that if I had given birth to Evangeline in a third world country with less resources, she might not be here today! And even if she did survive, there were still so many medications and needs and therapies she needed that she still gets to this day as an almost 2 year-old!

Kevin and I are open to adopting 3 children after we hopefully have 3 of our own biological ones. I'm so excited and Kevin often has to remind me “Don't try to do all these things in one year when it takes at least a decade to get it all done!” Ah, when I'm passionate, I'm passionate. To the point of obsession. Thankfully he's so levelheaded hehe I love our little family of three. But I'm also excited for it to grow!






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