More of my thoughts.....Is this getting old!? :)

I am an over thinker and I was laying in bed last night thinking about all my adoptive friends that I have met that now read my blog that have WAITED much longer than ours is looking. I wanted to clarify that I am still very thankful that things have been moving, even if they are slow! I want to be able to stop and thank God for the positive and not dwell on the negative. I know something good will come from waiting!!

So, to all of you out there that have had to wait and endure trimesters that aren't really "tri", but more like "oct-mesters"we are all in this together and I would never want my blog to be a source of negativity!!!

It gives me comfort to know I am not alone. I love all my new "friends" even if you are only my internet friends! As I was laying in bed feeling like a baby for complaining, I also thought how I would love to get together one day with all my new adoptive mommy friends, near and far, with our little babies one day. We can sit around and thank God that after the equivalent of about three pregnancies we finally got our babies home!! :)

On that note, and I promise my whole life doesn't really revolve around adoption, but I am reading an awesome book called Orphanology. It is all about the Gospel and the way it teaches us to respond to orphans and adoption. As I was reading last night one part really stuck out to me. It said something along the lines of....."People often act like churches or individuals who are embracing orphan care, adopting, or preaching about adoption from the pulpit are radical and are responding to the bible in a very radical way. However, in reality this is not radical at all. It is simply what the bible has said all along and a very basic, simple, command given to us in the bible."

I love this. Honestly, the deeper we get into adoption, the more scripture really comes to life. I will need to post all the specific verses this book outlines. It is amazing. Adoption is not new. Adoption is not radical. Adoption is not odd. Adoption is simply a very practical way to live out the gospel. Lance and I aren't doing anything more radical in adopting than we are by tithing each week, or donating food or clothing through our church. I think it is so nicewhen people tell me that we are brave or they seem impressed with the idea. But I want people to know that this is really just a way to care for the fatherless like God asked us to. Just like he asked us to do lots of other things that we do daily and talk about each week in church. Adoption is just the same. Its just a way to be obedient to God. The "radical" only enters when God starts doing his work in all of this. I am not radical at all. So if you aren't in a position to adopt, I would encourage you to find your place in addressing the orphan crisis in our world. You can do it!! You can be a tool in allowing God to start doing radical things!

There is a need everywhere and God calls us to address it. If people would start looking at orphan care the same way they look at lots of other commands in the bible the world we live in would look extremely different. I know we are not all "called" to adopt. But I also know that we are all "commanded" to care for the fatherless. Just something to think about. :) I know I will be. The need can be huge and overwhelming and when I try to think about where to start or how I can help I am often kind of paralyzed and don't know where to start. But what I have been reading and studying lately has encouraged me to just pray about our role in this crisis! There are so many children that are starving, hungry and alone and a huge majority of them cannot be adopted. This reinforces to me that adoption is not the only way to help. For some reason God has allowed some children to remain in thier situation and we need to figure out how to help them too. This is something I will be thinking about. Any ideas would be welcomed happily!! 

Ok tangent once again! That's all for now! :)