Some of you may or may not know my wife and I are adopting a 13-year-old boy from Latvia. We met him through a hosting organization called Project 143. It’s a program where you bring a child from an overseas orphanage to live in your home for a month in the summer and winter, so they can experience life with a family. After hosting this child three different times, we fell in love with him and decided to adopt him. We are now in the long process of bringing him home.
Most people I tell this story to are filled with joy that we are adopting him, but a small few ask questions. I get questions like, “why are you adopting from overseas?” Or “why don’t you adopt in the United States?” Or ” why would you want to take on something like that at your age?” I’ve even had people say, “you’re asking for trouble adopting a child that old.”
The answer is two-fold. First of all, God called me to adoption.
The second reason takes a minute to explain. I’ve had a great life. I’ve had a perfect childhood. I have great parents that taught me many important things in life. They kept my siblings and me safe and gave us a loving home.
This child, on the other hand, has been in an orphanage since he was three years old. What people don’t realize is, he has dreams and desires just like every other child on this earth. He is not some alien from another planet, he’s just a typical 13-year-old boy that acts and looks like any typical American child.
I look forward to teaching him the ways of life, teaching him skills, taking him fishing, giving him the opportunity to pursue a good education, and most of all, instilling Christian values in him for a pathway to Heaven.
What kind of man would I be to turn my back on this child? I’ve had a great life and I want to share that with him. I hope that when he is my age, he can look his kids in the eyes and say, “I’ve had a great life.” If he can do that, then I’ve done my job as a father.
Matthew 18:5 “And whoever welcomes one child in my name welcomes me.”
Note… Read my previous blog, The question of a lifetime, and this blog will become clear.