Hello, all.
We want to tell you how we got here. But, before we do, I want to say that we are really interested in how YOU got here. What has been stirring in your hearts about these issues? Has it been a journey? Are you just getting used to the idea of “doing more”? Who has inspired you and how? If you would like to share, please post to the comments (maybe share a link to your blog if that is easier), submit a blog post for posting or post under Share Your Story in the Known to Me forum.
There was money left on my parent’s dresser where they would find it. Someone at bible study had left just the amount we needed to purchase school pictures that week which would have been impossible without the gift. There were grocery deliveries to others by my parents. Sometimes we could not go along as the area wasn’t safe. How about the little fund my grandpa set up for each of his grandkids even though he was not rich? You know I used all few hundred dollars of it to buy my first junky car. When my husband was 19 years old and in college he had an engineer’s load of school and had to work a lot to pay for school plus the debt he accrued during an emergency surgery. Some would say ” Get used to real life, young man.” Instead, a friend living a life of giving, gave him $100.00 a month during the toughest time. So, with these and too many other ‘examples of giving before us and our knowledge of what our Jesus said about giving, we committed to figuring out this life of giving ourselves.
Sometimes we’ve muddled through; sometimes we’ve heard the call. Still always receiving more than we could ever give. It was 6 years ago when we received our first Compassion child. As I tore open the package, I was surprised how her picture took my breath away. There she was in all of her 6yo glory. Her shoes were only half tied. Her collar was folded inside her shirt the wrong way. She reminded me of my own 6yo. I read in her bio that she had been unable until now to attend school as she had to work with her father to collect sticks which they sold for food. I guess she was a little different from my child after all. There before me was her real name, her real eyes and her real situation. It struck me how my world had been too small without her.
“Meeting” this little girl in Ethiopia started us on a “Pray, Research, Discuss, Repeat” cycle that eventually propelled us into the far-away land of China Special Needs adoption. Now our eyes were open to the sea of faces that are the Fatherless. These Fatherless, our Father says, are known to Him. For us, through the adoption of our daugthers, we have come to understand more about our own adoption as God’s sons and daughters. Through our journeys with these children, we have also come to know much more about sacrifice, about loss, about grief, about neglect, about rejection, about compassion, about love. We have found that hard things can be good. And being in over our heads can be a good place to be. And we have really only begun.
You have made known to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. Psalm 16:11.
Thanks for reading through a bit of our story. But we really do want to hear and know more from you. Would you share your story in the forum?
