Adoption

Part 1

Many people that Lanny and I know have adopted children from China - at least six plus families, many of them multiple adoptions.  Whether they know it or not, they have been on our hearts and in our prayers during their adoption process.  We know how difficult that process can be because we tried unsuccessfully to adopt two little gems (Sudha and Mercy) from India thirty-five years ago. 

The process itself seems about the same, but the financial part of it seems to have been greater thirty years ago.  The biggest difference we have noticed seems to be in the attitudes of the people on both sides of the globe. 

Back then, we were met with trial and difficulty and hostility at every turn.  Some of our family and best friends couldn't comprehend why we wanted to do this and were very vocal.  "There are plenty of American kids you could adopt."   All we knew was that we were young, and it seemed like we were going to be unable to have children, and we felt that God wanted us to do this.  I still feel that God wanted us to do this.

To make a really long story short, six plus years, the Indian courts won the battle because our girls who were now in their teens would probably "not be able to become easily acclimated to a new culture at their age."  We had known these lovelies so long.  We couldn't just let go. 

The orphanage suggested that we help by providing them with education.  Sudha wanted to become a nurse and did with our help, and Mercy had fallen in love with one of the young men from the boys' orphanage whom she married.  As a couple, they went to work in their respective orphanages.  

I still pray for them, still love them.  I stopped asking why a long time ago because Amy Carmichael said that faith never asks why. 

One of the biggest ironies in my life is that when we began this adoption process, I did not know who Amy Carmichael was.  I was introduced to her circa 1983 in Jim Eliott's journal.  I don't think he actually knew her as in face to face, but he was certainly enamored with her writings and life and poetry.  In fact, his wife Elisabeth has written a biography of Amy.  

The irony gets even bigger.  Her writings were pretty obscure at that time, and there was no Amazon.com., no way to find them except by old-fashioned exploration. 

Well, in 1984, Jim and Jan Bentley, Pam Simpson, and I traveled across country that summer to a Vineyard conference in Anaheim, California.  One of our stops along the way was at Lindale, Texas, the home of Keith Green and Leonard Ravenhill.  They weren't there, but we were able to access their bookstore where I found a goldmine.  They had many books we had searched for, including Amy's.  We bought everything we could find.
Talk about kids in a candy store.

The ironies aren't finished yet.  I wasn't officially prayed for at Anaheim, at least not for having a baby, but there were several corporate prayers for couples wanting to have children. 

We came home, Jim started Gadsden Vineyard that winter (1984) in his home, Lanny and I were released from our responsibilities at the Lutheran church around Christmas and sent out to join Jim in his efforts, and voila.  I am pregnant.  Esther was the first baby born in our fellowship (August 1985).  Somewhere right around there we were given the third and final notice that the Indian courts had said no to our adoptions.

All of that to say this:  God works in wonderful mysterious ways.  Amy Carmichael, often called "Mother of the Motherless" in India, has been and still is one of the biggest spiritual influences in my life.  Somehow, I don't think I would have discovered her if we had not tried to adopt the girls, and I don't know if we would have easily found her writings if we had not stopped at Keith Green's.  Who knows?

Bonhoeffer, Jim Eliott, Amy Carmichael, George MacDonald - Their writings are readily available now with the internet, but back in the late 70s and into the 80s, things just weren't that easy to find.  I don't even know if I would have known they existed back then if God had not sent someone to mention their name to me.  I didn't know about C. S. Lewis's Narnia until I was an adult.  I read the entire series right before our trip to California.

I am so thankful to God for these folks, these martyrs and missionaries and ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I cherish the truths that I am still finding upon rereading their writings today.  If you need a good read, I would highly recommend any of their works.