Sunday, September 30, 2012

Our little kindergardener...

I'll post later about our decision to adopt again and follow up on the questions I asked myself. 

However, I have been meaning to post this since Droiy started kindergarden at the beginning of September.  He has grown up so much! 

Below, on the left you see him on his first day of pre-school; on the right, his first day of kindergarden. 

What a big man!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Why adopt a little girl from Ghana?

We have to answer that question for the Ghanaian government. 
However, to us, it seems like three questions in one:
     1. Why adopt?
     2. Why adopt a little girl?
     3. Why should she be from Ghana?

So, we'll start by answering this first one.  As James writes in the New Testament, "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." (James 1:27)  While this does not mean that everyone should adopt; we do believe that God has specifically called us to adopt our children.  Droiy was born in August of 2007, before we (Ben and Sarah) had even met each other.  Yet, it is as though he was meant for us and we were meant for him. 

So why adopt again?  Why not support an orphan?  We do support orphans; we sponsor several orphans in Haiti.  Yet, we knew we wanted to have more children.  Droiy wanted a sibling and we want more children.  Our first adoption made us realize that we could not love a child more than we love Droiy.  Whether the child is biological or adopted, they are our "own." Some people just do not feel that they are capable of loving an adopted child as much as they love their biological children; I know this because I have had that conversation with many friends.  So adoption is not for them.  You are not a bad person or less giving of a person if you are not called to adopt.  God has other plans for you.

God has called us to expand our family through adoption.  If you know our son, you know why.  He is a loving, caring boy.  He does have his attachment issues, like every adopted child has.  He went through a difficult adjustment period.  He is happy, but will always have some attachment concerns.  God gave us the grace to be able to handle the adjustments and the attachment issues.  Therefore we know that God will give us the strength to support another adopted child's needs.

Does that answer question number 1?  Probably not completely!  What we know is that we are trying to be sensitive to the Lord's leading and He seems to be pointing in this direction.

This adoption is projected to cost about $30,000 and we are trying to raise some of the money.  If you are interested in helping, click on this link: Contribute to our adoption fund.