As I discussed in my last blog, one of the biggest questions we receive when people find out we are adopting is why.  So, I am going to continue now with the 2nd reason we are adopting.  It starts in Genesis 1:27-28. "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it..."

Then in Genesis 9:1 you will find God giving the same command to Noah and his sons.  In Genesis 35:11 God gives the same command to Israel.   I had always assumed that this command did not pertain to us now because the earth is already full of people. Not to mention I had allowed the cultural philosophy of "a girl for me and a boy for you - the perfect family - thank God we are through" shape my thought process even though in Psalms God says "blessed are those whose quiver is full of children".  Notice though in each of the verses where God gives a COMMAND, not a request, to multiply and fill the earth it is directed to His people.  True that now our earth is full of people, but our earth is far from being full of God's children and that was His command.  Therefore, the command still applies to us here and now. 

This revelation came to me this past April when I heard a preacher from Houston, TX named Voddie Bauchman preach on this.  of course I was already filling the call to adopt by that point, but I wasn't really sure why until I heard this.  God commands us to increase in number.  Voddie used statistics to point out how other nations that used to be Christian nations are no longer that way simply because Christians were having less children than families of other religions.  Due to the fact that Christians in America are averaging less than 2 children per family, and Muslim families are averaging 6 children per family means America will be a Muslim nation in our lifetime.  Christianity has never died out because of Christian parents raising Christian children. At our rate of reproduction though, we are fast becoming a minority.  

So why are we adopting a child from Russia?  Because God commanded us (Christians) to multiply. Also because God personally laid this command on our hearts.  The third reason I will discuss in the next blog.  Wait you say - Christians can multiply through evangelism.  This will hardly fill the earth with Christians when it takes 40 Christians one year to bring one person to Christ. Are you also wondering why we don't have more biological children?  Two difficult pregnancies that resulted in 2 premature babies and one with CP due to the complicated pregnancy. Not to mention doctors telling us it is a health risk for me and the baby to get pregnant again.  Good enough reason for us to rescue one of the 1.4 million orphans in the world.  

I can tell you the adoption process is not easy and can be very discouraging at times, but God's commands are rarely easy. If they were, obeying would not build our faith and trust in Him.  I can not remember a time when more of our prayers were answered than during this adoption process.  God has shown Himself so faithful that I can never doubt again.  I can do all things through Him because I am doing it right now.  

Our Pastor is preaching on how to change your life in 2009 right now.  He is stressing reading your Bible, studying your Bible, and praying.  Then listening to God speak and following His commands.  I can tell you this is exactly how you can change your life.  My #1 goal is always to know God better every day.  The thing is, the closer a relationship you build with Him - the more He demands from you.  Some people don't want to change their life because that would require obedience, sacrifice, and self-discipline.  While this is true there is no feeling in the world greater than knowing you are smack dab in the middle of God's will even if the situation itself is tough.  We have personally experienced this lately and many times I have been awed by God and how He has shown Himself to me.  The more I know Him - the more I trust Him.  As I trust Him more - our intimacy grows and more of His Glory I get to see.  I absolutely love when God reveals His Glory to me.  I can not describe the feelings and blessing you receive when you walk with God in intimacy and obedience.  You have to try it for yourself.

Stay tuned for part 3 of the path to adoption.

Staying the narrow path, have a blessed day.

It has been a long time since my last post, but that is because so much has been going on.  In November of 2007 God placed a seed in my heart to adopt a child.  By February 2008 I was convinced that He had another child already chosen for us to adopt and that we needed to begin the process.  As with most things God told me before He told Jason.  The only reason I can think of for this is because maybe Jason responds to me telling him these things better than I would if Jason was the one telling me instead of God.  Of course i have said all our married life that we would someday adopt a little boy from Russia.  

 Another thing I have noticed is that God always gives me the command but He does not give me the reason for the command until i have yielded my heart to Him and said yes even thought i don't know why.  When I felt Him leading us down the path to homeschooling i didn't understand why until we began that journey.  In fact i am still learning reasons why even after we have been doing it for almost 5 years.  The adoption was the same way.  After I was fully committed to following His will in this area did I begin to learn why He wanted us to adopt a child.  

In May God used a testimony from some friends who recently completed their adoption to convince Jason that we should adopt a child as well.  In June we started looking at agencies.  In July God led us to Bethany Christian Services and on August 25, we officially began the journey with them to adopt a child from Russia.  

The story is too long to tell here, but on December 17 we flew to Russia to meet a little boy who is 2 that is going to become our new son.  When we began this journey, we said we did not want a child with special needs.  As usual, God really is not interested in what we want.  Our new son, whom we are naming Micah, has cerebral palsy just like our own son Jase.  Micah and Jase both have partial paralysis on the right side affecting mostly their right hand.  Micah has never had therapy but he has taught himself how to walk and does it quite well.  We know this is God's will for us because we would not have chosen this path on our own.  In fact while we were in Russia i was still trying to figure out how we got there.  God has revealed Himself to us through so many answered prayers on this journey that it simply blows us away.  I am keeping a journal of this journey and maybe some of it can be shared later.  I want to share with everyone how great our God is.  

The main question we get asked is "why are adopting?"  We have 2 great children, so why would we want more.  We are not adopting because we want more children.  As I said God has shown me several reasons why He chose this for us and i will share that later.  The short of it though is we are adopting a little boy from Russia with CP simply because God told us to.  It is not an option just like an unexpected pregnancy isn't an option.  The exciting thing is the blessings we have already received from it in the form of knowing God more intimately through answered prayers, and this is just the beginning of the blessing of raising another warrior for His Kingdom.  

I will be writing another blog or 2 in the future further explaining the reason why, so keep checking back.

Staying the narrow path, have a blessed day!