Revelation 5:9-10 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."
I have heard lots of theories and ideas about how to effectively parent an adopted child of another race, and think some of them are very wise. However, what really stirs my heart is to hear from an adopted child whose parents are of a different race. I want to know what these kids think, feel, and say. I want to hear from them what it was like to be black and raised by white parents. We want to do everything we can possibly do to make Andrew rejoice in the fact that we adopted him, and I feel it is very beneficial for us to listen to older adopted kids in order to know how to do that.
We don't know any families that have adopted transracially and have older children, so I haven't had any older kids to talk to about this. That's why I was super excited to see the following two posts on the ABBA Fund and Together for Adoption blogs. Both posts had interviews with older kids that were adopted transracially. These kids both seem so mature and have great relationships with their parents, and their comments gave me a lot of really good insight into how we can raise Andrew. If you have adopted, or are considering adopting, I highly recommend watching/reading them.
The first one is a video that was posted on the ABBA Fund blog. It is an interview with a bi-racial young man and his white adoptive mother. I hope someday that Andrew and I can have the same relationship that this mother and her son have!
I loved what she said about not realizing how "white" her world was until she adopted bi-racial children. I have noticed the same thing, and it was nice to hear her wisdom on how to handle that.
The second post I found is an interview with Talitha Piper. (Talitha Piper is the daughter of John Piper.) You can see a picture of Talitha with her parents here. You can read her interview here. Her words are so wise for a fourteen-year old!
These two young people gave us many good things to think about and meditate on as we seek to raise our precious little guy. Adopting transracially has some added challenges, but after 11 months of having Andrew we can attest that is soooo worth it!
This past semester with our co-op I have had the privilege of teaching the younger boy's U.S. Geography class. It's been lots of fun. Here's a group picture I took today:
We have been blessed with amazing autumn weather (the boys are wearing shorts today...on November 7th!!!)and we have been enjoyed lots of outside play time as a result. For a mom taking a photography class, this means lots of opportunities practicing with my camera! Here are some fun shots I took of the boys outside earlier this week.
Yesterday we took a field trip to the city zoo. We toured almost the entire zoo, which took us over five hours. It was such a beautiful day, and we really enjoyed the outside time with all our friends.
Andrew was quite a trooper for the long day, but eventually he gave in and took a nice long nap in the stroller.
We're trying to enjoy this awesome weather as much as we can, because we know that it won't last forever!
I was flipping through the channels tonight and was saddened to see the false teachers like Benny Hinn on TBN asking for more money. John Piper explains why he is sickened by their false teaching as well.
Jude on false teachers
Jude 1:12-13 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
I mentioned in the last post that we are looking towards our next adoption. We have actually been thinking and praying about our next adoption ever since we brought Andrew home, but had never planned on starting anything until after he was a year old. Well, his birthday is now in about six weeks(!!!) so we are getting very excited about possibly starting another adoption soon!
Our big decision is how to adopt this time around. The Minority Infant Adoption Program (that we adopted Andrew through) has six families on its waiting list right now; when we signed up we were one of two families. We don't feel like the need there is as great as it was (Praise God that more families are becoming open to transracial adoption!) so we have decided to look into other options.
One of the programs we are seriously considering is Bethany Christian Services Waiting Child Program. We have already filled out a preliminary application for this program, which doesn't commit us to anything but allows us to view the Waiting Children they have overseas. Children in the Waiting Child program are in because they are harder to place, usually because of a special needs issue. Some of the special needs are mild (cleft lip, crossed eyes, etc.) and some are severe (Down's Syndrome, cerebral palsy, etc.). We have thought that maybe since there is an almost four-year gap between Andrew and Caleb that we could adopt a 2- or 3-year old from this program. This adoption process usually goes very quickly; if we started the process in January we would most likely be able to bring our child home sometime next year!
I found this video yesterday of a family who adopted a Waiting Child from Korea. Their story is amazing and their little girl is precious.
God has also burdened our hearts for the orphans in Uganda, and we are also seriously considering adopting from there. We have been reading about the orphan situation in Uganda here, here and here, and have been deeply moved by what we have read. We know of two agencies that do Ugandan adoptions, and Luke has been e-mailing with a family that recently adopted from Uganda. We have had this country on our hearts, and then yesterday I found this video and was ready to jump on the next plane to Uganda!
Please be praying for us as we make this huge decision over the next few months. It is so hard to decide when the need is so great in so many places. We know God has already chosen the perfect child for our family, and we just need to trust Him (once again) as we wait upon His perfect timing. Andrew has been such a blessing, we can't wait to see what God has in store for us this time!
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