A lot of people have asked me why we're doing this. The simple answer is because we both feel called to do it. My answer is because I did a lot of praying about it and God made it painfully obvious that He wanted me to do it. Last year, in February, we had just been to another doctor's appointment and been told that our chances of having kids biologically were about 5%. At that point, I started thinking there was something else God had in mind for us. I just wasn't thinking about having kids anymore. I was thinking about our current ministry at church and possibly being more involved.
Denielle has always had this feeling about adoption. She asked me if I wanted to and I told her I had no interest in that at all. After a few days, I told her that if it was that important to her, I'd at least consider it and pray about it. It didn't take long for God to answer. For a month straight, we either met someone who had been in foster care/adoption or heard about it at church. It just kept coming up. One day we were sitting in church and our pastor talked about a christian agency coming to answer questions and present some information about foster care and adoption. I remember looking up and throwing my hands up as if to say "Fine, I give up." Denielle just started laughing.
One other day we were manning a booth for a class we were teaching with our Newly Marrieds ministry at church and there happened to be a booth set up right next to ours. As we got closer, the banner over that booth became more clear and finally was legible: Christian Family Care Agency. Again, my hands went up and Denielle laughed. The couple who happened to be at that booth were foster parents who had just adopted their foster daughter. We got to talking and, as if God was feeding her information, she answered every question I had without me asking a single one. Then their daughter came out. She was about 2 1/2 with curly, bright, blonde hair and had this summer dress on. She was cute as could be and was just playing with her dad. At one point, her mom asked her to come over and meet Denielle. I was standing about 4 feet away from Denielle when the little girl turned towards her, walked up and came within inches of touching nose to nose. It was like this tractor beam had drawn her right up to Denielle. I asked her later about it and she said it was like the eyes of God were staring right through her.
On the car ride home, she asked me what I was thinking about foster/adopt. I told her that the only reason I wouldn't do it was because I didn't trust God, and I can't say that. So we decided to attend a meeting with CFCA and it all snowballed from there.
One thing this process has definitely made me think about is why I want to have kids. I think most people do it because it's just this natural part of life. You graduate high school, go to college, get a job, get married, and have kids. But having to pursue it made it all much more deliberate. I realized that I wanted to do this because God has blessed us with certain resources that kids need and there are over 10 thousand kids in AZ alone who need a safe, loving place to call home. Foster care happens to let us go for a test drive before we buy. I don't want to screw a kid up for life because of a mistake I make so I wanted to see if I could do it and if the kids seemed to thrive in our home.
So that's pretty much it. If you have any questions, I'm all ears.
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