This past Saturday our family had a Garage Sale. It wasn’t just any garage sale. As I told a lady who was trying to haggle with me, “we aren’t trying to make money to go on a vacation.” This garage sale had a purpose. It was the first of many fund raisers we are going to do to fund our adoption.
Aaron and I have been on two mission trips to Romania and were confronted with the hard reality of the lives of orphans and their care. Without overstating its impact, it was a life changing trip for us. God used it to put in both of us a heart for the orphan. The needy. The outcast. God broke our hearts for the things that break His. His work in both of us had begun and we both knew that orphan care would be a part of our lives but we didn’t know how.
Fast forward several years after having two kids and wondering if the “number” for our family was two. This past summer we began wrestling with what God had for our family. I started attending Community Bible Study in August and we studied in depth the books of Amos and Isaiah. Over and over (and over and over!) God has the same indictment of His chosen people-you are not taking care of the needy, and the desolate and the poor. You are a self-indulgent people who aren’t loving those who are hurting and lonely. I kept saying to Aaron as we studied His Word, “God is serious about His people loving the unloveables.” And so we got serious about it as well. We prayed and talked a lot this past Fall and knew the God was calling our family to pursue an adoption. The minute the decision was made, I felt an incredible peace knowing that adoption is at the very heart of God.
We believe there is no greater picture of the Gospel than adoption. Once we adopt our baby, they become a Slaten, with all the rights and inheritance of Levi and Bella. It’s exactly what Jesus does with us. We become sons and daughters, heirs and co-heirs with Christ because of the blood He shed for us. It excites us beyond measure to be a part of God’s adoption plan. We feel that we are understanding even more our own status as orphans before God adopted us into His family through Jesus. It deepens our appreciation and love for His grace and mercy. We are humbled.
Adoption is expensive. And that is why we had so many families in our Community Group and church donate generously to our Garage Sale last weekend. We have started our fund raising with a bang-and with a the help of our community. It is clear to us that we can’t do this alone. God has called us to do this within community. We are so thankful for the community we are in and humbled to call for help in this time of relying and depending on God to make His dream for our family come to fruition.
