The question we get asked more often than other is "Why did you choose to adopt?" It is such a difficult question to answer. But I will try. We have always said, "Maybe someday we will adopt..." At one point, I really thought we would have three children, then after Lauren was born, felt very at peace with the two I had. We even talked about foster care, though Mark did not think he would be able to give the children back...However, through the past ten years, adoption was never a serious topic. In fact, international adoption was the farthest thing from my mind.
Several things happened last summer though. Not necessarily significant events in and of themselves, but significant in the outcome. Our church went on a mission trip to Mexico. I should point out that I have always been interested in Spanish...the desire has strengthened as our area has exploded with the Latin American culture. I have been buying children's books in Spanish for a few years now and have quite a collection, though I don't get to use them in the classroom as much as I would like. Anyway, a mission trip to Mexico would have been ideal for our family, since we have been wanting to do a family mission trip for quite some time. Unfortunately, and ironically, I am working on a Master's in Teaching Students of Other Languages. And the ONE week I had class this summer was the mission trip week. When the mission trip participants returned from their trip, they shared in church one Sunday. I was mesmerized by the pictures of the work at the orphanages in Mexico. And suddenly a burning idea...the kind that won't let you sleep at night...entered my heart and mind. I dreamed of holding and loving one of those dark haired, dark eyed children.
As I often do when I have such an idea, I hit the Internet. After several hours of searching, it took no time at all to realize that an adoption in Mexico was very difficult. Feeling a little defeated and baffled by this desire that continued to burn, I went to bed praying, "God, change my mind, or change my heart." While I had read about Guatemalan adoptions, I had not been interested, as I had been SO focused on Mexico. The next morning, I decided to just look at some children from Guatemala. One of the first faces I saw was Maria Elizabeth (the picture at the bottom of the screen). And in my heart, I just knew.
Now, bear in mind, that I knew, but God had not revealed himself to Mark yet. But he was open to the idea. And we decided to pray. And several other things began to happen, like Mark's conversations with a customer who had recently adopted internationally. And our dinner with a family with several children, that stretched our ideas beyond "two". And speaking with a little girl who was being adopted herself...she said some powerful words about family. One week later, we accepted the referral of Maria Elizabeth, and our lives have never been the same.
We do get told a lot about what a "wonderful" thing we are doing. But we aren't doing it for charity or good works. In fact, in the end, I think we get more of the blessing. We are gaining a daughter, a sister for Hunter and Lauren, and an even clearer undestanding of who God is to us. After all, we are "adopted" into His family. And we are ever thankful for that.
