Caring for orphans….

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27

Adoption was never my first option in starting a family. If I’m honest, it never crossed my mind. I really believe the Lord has allowed Kaz and I to go through the struggles we have to bring us to the place we are at today: a place where our heart is to continue adopting and helping children all across this world. Over the last few months, we have felt really strongly about adoption and it’s been a blessing to see the Lord put together little pieces of our puzzle. We were involved in a great church for many years [along with an amazing community group]. Back in May, our community group split due to people moving, etc and that has been really hard for us. This group has been our support system and we all became really good friends. Starting over is hard. We have loved our church but its 45 minutes away and really hard to get involved being that far away. So throughout the year we’ve talked about finding a church closer to our home. We’ve only been to one, kind of piddled our feet for awhile, but a few weeks ago we both really wanted to try out one church in particular about a mile from our house. After Kaz and I talked about it, he looked up the times for Sunday morning service. While looking at the website, he saw this church was just starting an adoption ministry! We were blown away! This is something we had really been praying for.

The adoption ministry was just starting up and had a meeting 2 weeks ago. We went in not really knowing what to expect, and walked away so encouraged! We met couples who are in the process currently, couples who have previously adopted, and even individuals who have been adopted. It was amazing to hear stories and testimonies of the Lord’s faithfulness in all of these individuals’ lives. It was also so encouraging for us to see that the Lord allowed us to visit this church on that particular Sunday for a reason. We are so excited to get involved and be a part of this amazing ministry.

Not everyone is called to adopt BUT I believe everyone can help orphans. One thing Kaz and I have started doing is buying 1 grocery item a week for an orphanage [children’s home] here in Summerville. They provided us a list of items that they go through in 1 week. We have bought 1 item a week with our groceries over the last 2 months and will give them a whole week’s worth of food, toiletries, etc in Dec. It’s really not sacrificing a lot. We could do so much more but this is one way we have felt called to help!

Adoption is from the heart of God. Is it easy? No, but I have yet to hear a story of a couple who felt called to adopt where the Lord hasn’t provided every single penny. Kaz and I often talk about our next adoption! The first one hasn’t happened yet, but it doesn’t matter. We feel this calling of adoption on our life. AND we feel so blessed to be a part of this journey.