Our Adoption Story — See Jamie blog

(the condensed version)

More than a decade ago, God used a spot on the local news to lay the idea on my heart about adopting, but for years I forgot about it. Eventually, He brought the idea back to me and I considered it for quite a while before introducing the idea to Ken, expecting him to pronounce me crazy — but he didn’t. We prayed about it, and both felt the Lord leading us to pursue adoption through the foster care system. We agreed that if either of us got “freaked out” during the process, we could stop. Through all the classes and paperwork, that never happened. Finally, everything was submitted, and we waited.

Our paperwork was misplaced, and it was months before we even knew about it. We were frustrated, but we knew God had a plan, and felt that this must be because the child He’d chosen to add to our family was not yet available or ready to be adopted. Later, we found that this truly was the case.

We prayed that we would know when the right child came along, and that God would show us this by cutting through the red tape and making the process relatively speedy and easy.

Why did we adopt a teen?

In May 2009 our caseworker sent us info about a 14-year-old girl named Lindsey. Despite that fact that she was older than our file said we intended to adopt, her caseworker felt that we’d be a good match because Lindsey wanted a Christian family involved in their church, she loved kids, and was interested in photography. Again, trusting that God would show us if this was not His will, we proceeded to the next step.

Shortly after that email, we had a whirlwind of reviewing Lindsey’s file and teleconferencing with her caseworker, then meeting Lindsey just two days after that! We never imagined a meeting like that could be anything but awkward, but both caseworkers said it was the best, most comfortable first meeting they had ever seen. Kathryn and Lindsey hit it off right away, sharing a chair and whispering like they were already sisters.

Just a few weeks later, we signed the necessary papers and moved Lindsey into our home. This was not the “usual” time-frame. God had clearly answered our prayers to speed through the process of adoption.

At Lindsey’s age, she had to give consent to be adopted. That was a scary thought for her; for a while, she was adamant about not wanting to do so, but God put her exactly where she needed to be. At the church she attended with her foster family, the pastor’s wife was adopted at age 12, and she helped Lindsey make the difficult decision to say yes to being adopted. God always has a plan, even when we can’t see it.

In December of 2009, Lindsey legally became our daughter!

Our Family: December 2009

People have asked why we would want to take on someone else’s problem.(Yes, we’ve actually been asked that exact question!) The answer: because of God’s command in James 1:27. Adoption is a picture of what God did for us in adopting us as sons and daughters, making us co-heirs with Christ. He has worked out so many details in our story, and has shown He cares about the big things and the little things! Do we have difficult days? You betcha! Parenting isn’t easy — but we know that God is in this with us, and that gives us great peace.

*When we began this journey, I had no idea we’d have so many avenues to encourage others in the ministry of adoption. God really is so much BIGGER than I can imagine!