In the beginning........

Some people have asked why we chose adoption, so I thought I shared an explanation as to what brought us on the journey of adoption. Over twenty years ago, when Jay and I were engaged to be married, we watched a BBC documentary film called, "The Dying Rooms." The film was about orphaned children in China who who had been left in "dying rooms" to suffer the cruelest of deaths: starvation, disease, dehydration, abuse and severe neglect. I can still remember the knot I had in my stomach as we viewed the hard truth of orphan children being left to die in rooms where no one had to watch their suffering. It was really hard to even believe that these things happened and that human beings were even capable of such atrocities. Before the movie was over, Jay and I both looked at each other through tear filled and eyes and said, "We are going to adopt one of those babies one day." Little did we know of what a plan the Lord had in store for us!

Over the following twenty years, He blessed our family with two biological sons and eighteen adopted children from all over the world. Apparently He thought we needed "icing on the cake" because last year, we were blessed with a biological daughter, born February 23, 2010.
Adoption was not new to my family. My father was adopted through a private adoption when he was a newborn. I remember my grandmother telling the story of how she couldn't have children and her doctor had another patient who was not married and expecting a baby. She was a young college student who knew she was not prepared to raise a child. It was agreed upon that adoption was the best plan for everyone involved. It was a closed adoption, but my grandmother would tell me of how she would sit in the waiting room on the days that my father's birthmother had an appointment, just to get a glimpse of the new life that she would one day call her son. My father was an only child and his one piece of advice he reminded me of over and over again was, "Don't have just one child." He described his childhood as being really lonely. I don't think it is that way for all "only children," but it was for him. My father passed away in 1988, at the age of 37. He took his own life, which has always been difficult for me to accept. I was only 16 years old, my brother was 13 and my little sister was 6.

My sister, Niccole, was adopted too. Nikki came to our family when she was only two years old. As a teenager, it seemed like my life revolved around the precious little girl that had been placed in our family. I loved her so much and I'm sure that God made her a part of our family as a way of deeply planting the seed of adoption in my heart. Having Nikki as my little sister was like having a living doll all to myself. I loved doing everything for Nikki. I was so proud of her. When Nikki was six, my father took his life and our world turned upside down. The family I had known was no more, and everything seemed to spiral downward. When Nikki was 16, the courts gave Jay and I custody of her. We spent the next two years, fighting to give her the protection she needed from the abuse she had experienced and helping her to recover emotionally.

About a year ago, I went online to see if I could find the documentary film that the Lord used to pierce our hearts for adoption. To my amazement, it is available online.