Most of you know me already. I am Jim’s wife and Sisay, Zeke, Getinet, Charlie, Annaliese, Masresha, Feven, and Nati’s mom. I could describe myself many other ways, but right now these two aspects of who I am engage most of my waking hours and available brain cells.
I used to be a regular mom with the regular hopes, fears, and headaches of motherhood. Jim and I had all of the regular goals. It wasn’t so much that we were after a lofty lifestyle, but personal security and comfort were definitely what we pursued. It just seemed prudent after all.
So, what brings a regular wife and mommy to (with her husband) shake things up to the point of wrecking all of those well planned for securities and throw caution to the wind and among other things, adopt 5 older children in 2 years?
People ask us a lot of questions, and I truly welcome them. We hear/have heard everything from, “Aren’t you afraid of what this will mean for your kids?” (a personal favorite) to “How do you know what you are going to end up with when you adopt?”. The truth is that even in the natural these questions can be answered pretty simply. We don’t usually ask a young expectant couple if they think the pregnancy is wise given the effect that this new child could have on “other” children (unfortunately, unless there is a special need involved. Then suddenly folks have trouble containing their advice and fear.) We also don’t tend to greet the happy news of a new biological addition with, “But how do you know what you are going to get?”. Although, biological babies frequently turn the other siblings world upside down at least for a time, and we certainly have no control over exactly “what we get”, we don’t generally question it because we have the deep conviction that the child is worth the risk. The same is true in adoption, the child is well worth the risk.
That is not however, what drove us to put the skids on our self-focused, pursuit of comfort and security. As we got more entrenched in God’s word, and got a clearer picture of what our Jesus asked of us we gained the conviction that the biggest risk we faced was in NOT surrendering our lives fully to the Lordship of our Lord Jesus Christ. It wasn’t that we were afraid of losing our salvation. We understood the amazing grace of the cross a little better than that, but we were very afraid of losing out on the abundant life offered to us if we truly followed Jesus in His plans for us rather than just asking Him to “be with us” as we pursued our own plans for our lives. So, we found ourselves saying “yes” and (stretch)“yes” to the first children the Lord had for us, and then (really!?gulp) “yes”, “yes”, and “yes” to the next three.
What we didn’t know at the point of surrender was that the result of it would be a freedom that is beyond what we knew was available. Finally, we fully understood why “The kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” (Matthew 13:44) There is nothing like the joy and confidence that comes with accepting that God is completely sovereign. I can fight to maintain control of my own life and plans or I can accept that He is God, He is good, and nothing happens to me outside of His loving watchfulness. It seems like we can do both, follow our own plans and accept his goodness and care, but that is just not true. If we truly accept that He is GOD (the all knowing maker of the universe), He is good, and He loves us deeply, why on Earth would we try to assert our own flawed control over how our lives roll?
