We have been part of the pro life movement in an intentional way since 2005. Early on, we participated in the regular ways. We prayed, we marched, and we made our voice heard. All of those methods are valid and they make a difference in the courts of heaven, of congress and of public opinion. Even so, we felt called to do something beyond that. We wanted to offer solutions to women. One of those solutions is in promoting adoption. We had talked about it for years, but it was time.
We needed to move from theoreticians to practitioners.
We laid our yes on the table in June of 2006. We had three sons and a full life, but we thought there might be room for another at our table. Nine years later, we’ve had to buy another table. And a bigger vehicle or two. In October of 2006, we adopted Zoe. Two years later, we adopted twins, Anna and Mercy. We returned from Florida with the twins to discover we were pregnant with Piper. Three years later, the twins’ birthmom had another set of twins, and we brought home Creed and Cadence.
Well, that escalated quickly.In five years we went from three to nine kids.
This spring, all was going well pretty well. We had found our a rhythm, albeit a little stacatto. Zoe was in the second grade, the older twins and Piper were all in the same kindergarten class, and Creed and Cadence were 3 years old and both hysterical. Then we got another phone call. The twins’ birth mother had just had a baby boy. Was there room for him along with his brothers and sisters? With about ten minutes of deliberation, we agreed, and we started what has actually been the most difficult adoption process we’ve ever done.
Understand, we didn’t start out thinking we would have ten kids. It wasn’t in the furthest regions of our mind.
Most people understand why we said yes, but why did we keep saying yes? Once we set our hearts with a yes for life and committed to practice our faith in that way, opportunities opened. In ministry of all sorts, the yes comes before the opportunity. We each commit to paths not entirely sure where they lead, yet entirely led of the Lord. Have you been able to foresee every twist in your ministry experience? That doesn’t even sound fun.
The yes comes first. We apparently said ‘yes’ really loud and hard the first time.
The fact that five of our children have the same birth mother is important to us.
We felt committed to the kids and to her to keep them together. This is not the redemption of an individual – although it would be totally worth it. This is a long term redemption of a blood line. As for their birth mother, we have kept in as much relationship with her as we have been able, and are in very close contact with some of her family. These children will know where they came from and will know some of the people they came from. That was unlikely to happen with another family.
Practitioners have equity.
In my discussion with people who look at abortion differently than we do, invariably the question arises from them – who’s going to take these babies if they’re born? Having done it, I can confidently tell them that an army of pro life practitioners is rising…and that if a woman decides to give her child the gift of life, we can find a family that will help make it a good one. Nine years have passed since that initial yes. Becoming a ministry value practitioner has radically changed our lives. And the lives of six amazing kids.
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