The Faith of a Child, Part 1

Though it’s not the initial reaction of all biological children whose parents broach the possibility of adoption, our three kids heartily took to the idea. I’ve mentioned our youngest, the only boy, had been advocating for a brother for years. The girls were immediately on board with the adoption, though they weren’t as strongly opinionated about the brother part. 

Having determined we would seek the adoption of an “older child” (in the adoption world, “older” refers to a child over the age of three), we were interested in looking at agency “Waiting Children” (WC) lists. These are kids who have not been chosen by families already in the agency programs. We narrowed our agency choices to a final three and pre-applied to determine our eligibility, find out more information about the programs, and look at their WC lists. 

Without giving it much thought, I allowed the kids to look at the WC lists with me. For many reasons, we had decided to apply to adopt from Ethiopia. It isn’t easy looking at the faces of children needing families; they are all precious. However John, 7 at the time, zeroed in on a particular boy on one of the lists. He was convinced he had found his brother. Being the practical person I am, I explained we still had to decide which agency to use, besides getting to the point when we could be matched with a child was a lengthy process. Certainly, hopefully, those children wouldn’t be waiting that long. He was undeterred. That was February 28, 2012.

And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.                       Mark 11:22-23

Most nights, our family prays aloud together. John began praying that God would let us adopt this boy (whom I’ll call A). He took it a step further, requesting no other family would get him; that A would stay in the orphanage until we could adopt him. I was mortified, and David seriously questioned my judgment in showing the kids the pictures. We hadn’t looked at the WC lists with the intent to pick a specific child, but to determine which agencies worked most in placing waiting children. I tried to convince John we couldn’t pray for a child to STAY in an orphanage. Again, he was undeterred. 

Over the next three weeks, we continued to pray about which agency to choose. During that time, a few of the agencies called and left messages to check in or answer questions. If it wasn’t the agency where A was listed, John would say, “You don’t need to call them back.” 

I want to be clear that though our kids have a heart for adoption and missions, they are not any different than most children. As we all do, they have their moments and struggle with pride and selfishness. An example came in mid-February, just days after we’d first discussed adoption with them. We had a box of cream puffs in the freezer and they were going quickly. There was one left. One of the kids asked, “Can I have the last one? I was going to save it for the orphan, but I really want it.” There you have it. 

John was most relieved when we announced our agency choice was the same one where A was listed. He’d made it through the first obstacle: his parents.