"Rescue the perishing;
don’t hesitate to step in and help. If you say, 'Hey, that’s none of my
business,' will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you
know—Someone not impressed with weak excuses. – Proverbs 24:11-12 (The Message)
So, here's a little background information about why we feel so strongly about adoption.
I (Alyssa here) spent the summer of 2005 working at an orphanage in rural Nicaragua. My friend and I knew we wanted to do something meaningful following our graduation from high school, and through a series of events we found a need that we could fill. We lived in an unfinished room in the orphanage and worked 24-hour shifts in the baby room. In our free time we would play with the older kids.
The children in the orphanage ranged in age from 12 months to about 9 years. The three oldest children were boys, and they were absolutely some of the sweetest and most loving boys I have ever met. Watching them help out and protect the younger kids was such a blessing. What really broke my heart though, was witnessing how deeply they longed for a family. Every time visitors would come to the orphanage, you could see the spark of hope in the boys' eyes that they might find their forever family. I knew then, at the ripe old age of 17/almost 18, that God would make adoption part of my story one day.
When Drew and I started dating, we discussed being open to adoption. At that time, however, our conversation didn't really go into specifics. We continued dating, got engaged and were married before we knew it. Oh, and we got a dog somewhere in there too! When asked about our timeline for starting a family, neither one of us felt very rushed. Despite several people in our friend circles having their first or second children, I really did not feel a rush to get pregnant and have a baby. I volunteer in the nursery at our church, and I always joke that the best part is that I can always hand the baby back at the end of the day.
Despite not feeling a rush to start our biological family, I was starting to experience some other inner turmoil. I have dreamed of the kids from the Nicaragua orphanage on many occasions throughout the year, but these dreams started to turn into thoughts and heartache during some of my waking hours. I finally expressed to Drew that I didn't feel a rush to meet our biological children, but that I struggled knowing that any children that might come to us through adoption might already be waiting for us in an orphanage somewhere.
I don't know that Drew really knew what to expect when I first started bringing up adoption in a more serious and immediate sense. My sweet husband listened and commiserated, but could not really understand my emotions at that time. It was clear pretty quickly though that God was moving in his heart. As we both discovered the lists of waiting children our conversations began to take a more focused turn, and so did our prayer. I knew God was moving when Drew told me one day that he understood what I had meant about finding it hard to put off the call to adoption. Before we knew it, we were making a real commitment for Little Man!
Update: As most of you know, we were not able to bring our Little Man home before his country banned adoptions to the US. You can read a little about that here, here and here. As I mentioned in the third link, our hearts were irrevocably changed through meeting our littlest guy. We both knew after that point that our call to adoption was real and that it was not going away due to the adoption ban. We continued (and still do to this day) to pray for things to change in Little Man's country, but we also prayed for direction about our continued desire to grow our family through adoption. Well, we have now committed to adopt through a new country and to provide a loving home to two older boys. That story starts here.
So, here's a little background information about why we feel so strongly about adoption.
I (Alyssa here) spent the summer of 2005 working at an orphanage in rural Nicaragua. My friend and I knew we wanted to do something meaningful following our graduation from high school, and through a series of events we found a need that we could fill. We lived in an unfinished room in the orphanage and worked 24-hour shifts in the baby room. In our free time we would play with the older kids.
The children in the orphanage ranged in age from 12 months to about 9 years. The three oldest children were boys, and they were absolutely some of the sweetest and most loving boys I have ever met. Watching them help out and protect the younger kids was such a blessing. What really broke my heart though, was witnessing how deeply they longed for a family. Every time visitors would come to the orphanage, you could see the spark of hope in the boys' eyes that they might find their forever family. I knew then, at the ripe old age of 17/almost 18, that God would make adoption part of my story one day.
When Drew and I started dating, we discussed being open to adoption. At that time, however, our conversation didn't really go into specifics. We continued dating, got engaged and were married before we knew it. Oh, and we got a dog somewhere in there too! When asked about our timeline for starting a family, neither one of us felt very rushed. Despite several people in our friend circles having their first or second children, I really did not feel a rush to get pregnant and have a baby. I volunteer in the nursery at our church, and I always joke that the best part is that I can always hand the baby back at the end of the day.
Despite not feeling a rush to start our biological family, I was starting to experience some other inner turmoil. I have dreamed of the kids from the Nicaragua orphanage on many occasions throughout the year, but these dreams started to turn into thoughts and heartache during some of my waking hours. I finally expressed to Drew that I didn't feel a rush to meet our biological children, but that I struggled knowing that any children that might come to us through adoption might already be waiting for us in an orphanage somewhere.
I don't know that Drew really knew what to expect when I first started bringing up adoption in a more serious and immediate sense. My sweet husband listened and commiserated, but could not really understand my emotions at that time. It was clear pretty quickly though that God was moving in his heart. As we both discovered the lists of waiting children our conversations began to take a more focused turn, and so did our prayer. I knew God was moving when Drew told me one day that he understood what I had meant about finding it hard to put off the call to adoption. Before we knew it, we were making a real commitment for Little Man!
Update: As most of you know, we were not able to bring our Little Man home before his country banned adoptions to the US. You can read a little about that here, here and here. As I mentioned in the third link, our hearts were irrevocably changed through meeting our littlest guy. We both knew after that point that our call to adoption was real and that it was not going away due to the adoption ban. We continued (and still do to this day) to pray for things to change in Little Man's country, but we also prayed for direction about our continued desire to grow our family through adoption. Well, we have now committed to adopt through a new country and to provide a loving home to two older boys. That story starts here.
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