Heart Gallery and My Own Heart

8.07.2011

Adoption has been on my mind non-stop the last month. I started reading a book called Adopted for Life by Russell D. Moore.

This book has been amazing for me for opening up how intertwined the theme of adoption is throughout the entire Bible, especially the gospel! If you are not around adoption very much, this book will help you to see how important this theme of adoption is to God's own heart. Whether or not adoption is a priority in your heart, I believe this is a GREAT book for you to read in any season or place in life. It will encourage your own walk and give you a glimpse of what it means, as Christians, to be adopted into the Kingdom of God and have a new eternal inheritance.

For my husband and I, adoption seems as if it is everywhere we turn and we have begun to pray over whether this is our next family step.

It has been so neat to see how God is shaping our hearts for adoption. I can tell you that when I started this blog 1 year ago, I honestly did not care THAT much about adoption. For me, it was a "good thing to support" and I knew several families involved in this undertaking. I didn't want this to be another craft blog that showcased my own given talents, but one that would showcase God himself in those around me. We were given our own child naturally from the Lord without having to really "try." Our surprise baby came and we have enjoyed him more than we could think or ask!

Even with all of that, my pregnancy was one of caution. I had this weird blood antigen that could have attacked our son (that didn't due to God's mercy and grace) AND I developed Preeclampsia the last 6 weeks and had to be on bed rest. I had our son via c-section and had a complication that made recovery harder than some. While in pain in the hosptial, Hart and I looked at each other over top our blessing from God and mouthed the words... "Do you want to adopt the next one?" It was a given right then that this would be our next step.

However, we didn't know the timing of this and we still are praying through that. We believe though that adoption will be part of our family story in the next couple years.

Adoption has been everywhere for us this last month and I believe it is God opening up our hearts and preparing us for our journey to adopt whenever that may be. Last night, even we were on a date together at a restaurant waiting for our table. There was a magazine Hart picked up laying on the table in the lobby. As soon as he opened it there, right on the page, was an article about the Foster to Adopt program here in SC.

The article highlighted a family that did adoption this way and they sited the link to the SC Heart Gallery, an exhibit that showcases amazing photography that inspires many to adopt through the foster care system. You can visit this website to see the many children that are currently in the foster care system in our own state that have been there for quite some time. Most are older children, but they are indeed beautiful, and they are awaiting forever families. I think you should check it out. And if you are not from SC, then the Heart Gallery is most likely in your state, too. It is in 48 states and you can Google it!

While my heart wants us to take in all of them as my own, we know that God placed Micaiah in our lives first and we are parents to him first. For us, that means that he will always be our oldest child. Considering he is only 10 months almost 11, we realize that we would have to wait until he is around 2 to start our process. That would give us more leeway to adopt a child 2 and under.

I just wanted to share all of this with you, so that you can know where we are, and how what was was just a "good thing to support" has now taken hold in our hearts to journey upon!

{Don't forget the Gerlach's if you are looking for a family to help support RIGHT NOW!}

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