The Church

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

In the growth of Evangelicalism, ironically, the perceived importance of the church has diminished among professing Christians. However, we would not be pursuing this adoption apart from the tremendous support we have been given by our church (see link). Not only were we given that initial financial gift (by someone in our church) that allowed us to begin this process, but we also received another significant gift from the church itself. On top of that, our church generously covered our photocopying and faxing expenses.

In fact, through this process the deacons of our church have established a special fund to help members of the church pursue adoption. They want to make sure we are a church that preaches the good news of Jesus Christ, and ministers in deed to those who are most in need of mercy. As we face all the uncertainities of adoption, we are thankful for our church. We know that we have a responsibility to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. But we also know that we can do that effectively only in the church.

Please pray with us that others in our church will pursue adoption, whether domestically or overseas.

Lost Daughters

Jennifer and I both recently read The Lost Daughters of China by Karen Evans. In 1997 Evans and her husband adopted a little girl from China. This book details not only her experience through the adoption process, but also provides helpful information about the social factors that have led to so many "lost daughters" in China. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to better understand all that is involved in adoption from China.

Evans' most valuable insight for me was her portrayl of the anguish and courage of parents (especially mothers) in China who give up their daughters for adoption. Because of China's so-called "one child policy," male children are preferred over female children. China is working to change this traditional preference for males. However, it is deeply engrained culturally because boys take care of their parents in old age, whereas girls take care of their husbands' parents. A family's security in old age thus depends upon having a male child.

The book portrays the heartache faced by mothers who are often under tremendous pressure to give up their daughters. In part this pressure comes from extended family who may insist upon giving up (or even aborting) a daughter in the hope of a future male child. Alternatively, the mother may already have existing children, and be required to flee the authorities even to give birth to the child. This book gave me a deep appreciation for the anguish faced by these women. They often face tremendous adversity to provide their daughters an opportunity for life.

Compelled by Theology

Although Jennifer and I were both raised by our biological parents, our lives have been directly touched by adoption. We have been adopted into the family of God through Jesus Christ:

Romans 8:15 (ESV)
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

In Christ, according to the above passage, we have received the Spirit of adoption. That means we were once outside God's family, but through the work of Christ we have become His children. We have been grafted into a family that we were not "naturally" born into, and it has radically changed our lives. Our own adoption into God's family compels us to pursue adopting a daughter from China.

The Bible indicates that an adopted child has the same status within the family as one who is "natural born." This principle is evident in Jesus' life. Both Matthew and Luke trace Jesus' genealogy not through Mary, but through Joseph (Matthew 1:16 and Luke 3:23ff). In other words, they establish Jesus' relationship to people like David, Abraham, and Adam through his adoptive father Joseph. Jesus' link to these figures is no small matter theologically. His pedigree, in part, identifes Him as the long-awaited Savior prophesied throughout the Older Testament. From the perspective of the inspired authors of the gospels, Jesus' geneaology was exactly the same as if he had been Joseph's biological son.

As we observe that adopted children are no different in status than biological children within the family, we are also motivated to adopt by the Lord's covenant promises. For example, Genesis 17:7-8 (ESV) says:

And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.

Some Christians believe that these promises applied only to the nation of Israel, and therefore cannot apply to believers now. We find no evidence in the New Testament, however, that believers in Christ have been excluded from the covenant or the promises. On the contrary under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul speaks of the divison between Jew and Gentile being broken down (Ephesians 2:11-22). Then he makes this striking statement:

Ephesians 3:6 (ESV)
This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Both Jews and Gentiles are fellow heirs and partakers of the promise through the gospel. The covenant is of major importance throughout the Old Testament. Had God decided to set aside His covenant, we would expect explicit teaching indicating the change. We are convinced no such statement exists. On the contrary, as Peter is proclaiming the gospel at Pentecost, he affirms the pattern that has been firmly in place throughout redemptive history:

Acts 2:37-39 (ESV)
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself."

God's promise stands to this very day for those who are in Christ. His covenant is not only for us, but also for our children after us. It is in this hope that we are excited to adopt a daughter from China. We believe God's promise, and look forward to His work in her life, as we do for our other children.

Paper Pregnancy

Make no mistake, adoption involves a lot of paperwork. America World, our adoption agency, likes to call this phase the "paper pregnancy." That is a pretty descriptive way of putting it! It requires a good deal of energy and perseverance to get through this first leg of the process. By the end let's just say we were glad to have this stage behind us.

We began by gathering all of the basic documents such as birth and marriage certificates. As we were waiting for these documents we set up our home study. The home study involved a licensed social worker interviewing us on four different occasions. She interviewed the two of us together on the first visit. This first interview was pretty thorough, covering everything from our motivation to adopt to our parenting philosophy. We met at our home so that she could walk through our house to make sure it is a safe environment for an adopted child. She was also able to observe our two boys.

The second and third visits were separate interviews of Jennifer and I. These visits covered our family backgrounds and the history of our relationship with each other. We talked a lot about how we as a couple relate to each other, and about our current family dynamics. The final visit was another interview with us together. This interview was basically about tying up whatever loose ends had not been covered previously.

The paper chase continued as we made visits to our local police station and State Bureau of Investigation for background checks and fingerprinting. We had to produce a financial statment, employment verification letters, and an application to the China Adption Affairs office. We had to have medical exams, and make a visit to the Immigration Services office. Nearly every document we gathered had to be notarized. Thankfully, a good friend from our church is a notary, and was very generous to notarize things for us.

Once the documents were gathered, they had to be sent to their state of origin to be authenticated. Then some had to be sent to the U.S. Secretary of State's office for certification. Finally, everything had to be sent to the Chinese embassy (actually in our case three separate offices) for certification. As we waded through the paperwork we faxed documents to our family coordinator at America World. She made sure everything was order. Our final step was to put together a short family picture album. When the process was over we finally sent everything off to them.

The final product that is sent to China is called the "dossier." Within just a couple of days of receiving it from us, America World sent our dossier off to China. It was logged in on August 8, 2005 in China. There are no guarantees as to how long our wait will be from this point. However, as things have been going, it will probably take six months before we would receive our "referral." The referral is notification of having been matched with a child. It includes a picture of the child and whatever information is available about the child's background.

How the Journey Began

We began discussing adoption during our engagement. From that time we have prayed that the Lord might allow us to some day adopt. Over the years our desire has only grown. We have had several friends whose lives somehow have been touched by adoption. Being around these friends has strengthened our desire. For the last several years we have just been waiting for God's timing.

In the Spring of 2004 we began to do some research about adoption. Because we already had two young boys, the possibilities for a domestic adoption didn't appear very promising. At the time our boys were two and a half and almost one. The research indicated we might have difficulty adopting a baby since we already had two young boys. We didn't think it would be wise for us to adopt an older child at this stage, and that seemed to foreclose most of the options domestically. We began to investigate the international options.

As we continued to research international adoption, we began to turn our attention to China. China's process is well defined, and there is a significant need. For those reasons and many others, we eventually found ourselves attracted to China. However, at the end of our research, we realized that finances would be a barrier for us. We began to pray more fervently that the Lord would provide the finances.

Later that fall some friends in our church who knew we were praying about the possibility of adopting invited us to their home. As the evening was winding down they told us they had some exciting news: they would be giving us a financial gift so that we could begin the process. We were elated! Finances had been the only barrier. What an exciting indication that the Lord's timing had arrived.

There are so many good agencies out there to facilitate adoptions from China. Initially we narrowed our choices down to three. One soon began to stand out to us: America World Adoption Association. America World's "vision" resonated with us. It also didn't hurt that they offered pastors a 50% discount on their agency fees. We couldn't be happier with them. They have been extremely helpful to us in the process up to this point. Everyone we have interacted with at America World has been thoroughly professional, but also refreshingly encouraging.