Why adoption?

I tried not to be too disappointed on Friday when another week had gone by with no word from the adoption agency....BUT thanks to my wonderful husband for putting in a phone call to Amazing Grace, we found out that our packet of info should be here next week!  Now it is starting to feel real!

People have been asking why we have chosen adoption.  This isn't something that we decided over night. For a few years, Thom and I have always thought that one day maybe we would think about adoption.  We didn't know when, or how, or what it would look like but the seed had been planted.   I think that is how God works.  He plants a seed, waters it and sits back and watches it grow.  In the last few years, it seems that slowly we have become surrounded by families who have a heart for orphans and adoption and suddenly the idea has become reality.

Recently our hearts have been broken for the orphans of Uganda....a country the size of Oregon with 2.3 million orphans. The northern half of the country has been  ravaged for 20 years by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army.  Because of the HIV/Aids crisis, half of the population is under 15 years old.  The numbers are overwhelming, but I can no longer sit in my nice comfortable world and simply read about it and do nothing.  I heard a quote from a recent adoption conference- "you can't change the whole world but you can step into the world of one person's and change theirs".  I have a feeling the ones whose lives will be changed the most are our own.

I am so thankful that God has put this on our hearts.  Ultimately at the end of the journey we hope to have a new child in our family, but no matter the outcome, I hope we learn a lot about ourselves and grow closer as a family... and grow closer to Christ in the process.

If you are interested in learning more about the children in Uganda...

http://www.uccf.org/facts/facts_about_the_children_of_uganda.cfm