Adoption Benefits

There are many benefits that come with adoption, some are more obvious than others. (They are not necessarily in order of importance.)

The most obvious benefit is the child that becomes a part of your family forever. Recently Molly(6) came and sat by me with her Bible and asked, "Mom, do you know why I am reading my Bible?". I said, "no". She replied, "Because the song we sang in Sunday School said if we didn't read our Bible we would shrink!". What a blessing to see Molly putting into practice what she is learning about the Lord.

A second benefit was that going through the process of adoption has each time brought Ken and I closer together. As we have gone through the bumps, interruptions, delays together we share a bond that grows stronger.

Thirdly, our relationship with the Lord is strengthened. Because so much in adoption is out of our control, we have to trust the Lord more fully. We trust that He loves and cares for the particular child more perfectly than we will ever be able to. We trust that every day in that child's and our own lives were written down before we were born-nothing that comes about is a surprise to Him.

Fourth, adoption has shown us the open hearts of our children. With older children in our family I sometimes wonder what they "really" think about another child in our home. Allison (17) is busy looking at colleges and mentioned one day that she wasn't sure about going too far away for college because she wanted to be able to be a part of our younger children's lives as they grew. And if that doesn't warm my heart as a mom this did... Joel (14) was talking about our family and said, "When we all have families our family get-togethers are going to be awesome!"

Fifth, adoption has opened my eyes to the grace of God in my life. As we have met many people intimately involved in our adoptions I have come to realize that if the Lord was not directing my path the path I would have taken may have been quite different. Sometimes it is a seemingly small turn that sends us in a different direction.

I could go on but I will leave you with this sixth benefit of adoption. Adoption gives our family a daily reminder of what the Lord has done for us by adopting us into His family. He takes each of us with all of our imperfections (sin) and cleanses us from the inside, inviting us into His family forever. Wow!