Wednesday, November 19, 2008

All of the Questions

November is National Adoption Awareness Month

It's also the month that we felt led to pursue a Special Needs (SN) adoption.

Since feeling called to pursue adoption almost 2 years ago, we have been asked many questions. Asked by well meaning family and friends. As I sit here and reflect on this journey that we have been on for the past 2 years, many of these questions come to mind. I've often been tempted to answer in hast and anger but with God's guidance, I've often been able to use these questions as an opportunity to educate others on God's call to care for the orphans of the world.

Here are the most common questions with my responses in parenthesis:

You already have 3 daughters, why would you want more? (Children are a blessing from the Lord!)

Are you doing this so you can have a boy? (Actually, no. I wanted another girl to begin with. Pete just wanted another child (and didn't want to go through another pregnancy with me : ) This was the child that God had planned for us - just as He had planned our 3 girls.

Will you homeschool him? (Why wouldn't I if that is what God continues to lead me to do.)

Can’t you have more of your own? (This child will be my own, just from a different womb.)

4 kids in NYC? Are you nuts? (Maybe. Maybe we won't move after-all. Maybe we'll move someone cheaper than Manhattan. I'm only worrying about today and not tomorrow)

There are so many babies in the US that need homes. Why are you adopting internationally? (This is God's show, not ours.)

I heard of a family whose adopted kid {had attachment issues, was mentally challenged, etc.}. (Biological kids also sometimes have attachment issues, are mentally challenged, etc. but we still love them anyways.)

Why are you adopting a special needs kid? There are plenty of healthy ones available. (Every child needs a family and we have the means to care for this child. Any one of our daughters could have been born with the same issue. I wouldn't have asked God to take them away from me because of that)

Aren’t you worried about a child of a different race "fitting in" with your family, church, community? (God has chosen this child for us; this country for us. I know He has the details worked out already. Besides, we live in a very diverse city already)

How much did he cost you? (God took care of the finances through grants, help from our church and family & promotions.)

It definitely would have been easier to not follow God's prompting. But then again, we'd have been in obvious disobedience, and that probably would not have been easier after all. There has a been a lot of paperwork and a lot of money spent to bring this child home to us but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything!

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