The Long's

The Long's
Wind River Ranch - where our journey to Chazz began!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Why Adoption

    We are often asked that question or told what a wonderful thing we are doing.  Ultimately it isn't about us at all.  Hanna has blessed our life so much - we're the lucky ones.
Why adopt? Our journey started formally about 8 years ago - but earlier for me.  I never thought I'd have biological children, so I always thought I'd adopt.  Jerry was not quite there with me - especially after we were blessed with 2 wonderful boys through the use of fertility drugs.  After Reese, I wanted more children, but our pregnancies were not easy.  I was on bed rest with both of the boys - but longer with Reese. 
     Then God gave Brooks a friend named Solomon.  They were best buddies in kindergarten.  Solomon's mom and I started scrapbooking together - and they were in the middle of the paperchase to adopt a little girl from China.  Kathy and Clay had 3 boys, but felt led to adopt.  I lived through her during those days learning as much as I could about the journey and nagging Jerry about doing the same thing.  For about 2 years, he always said no.
Then God introduced us to Paul and Stacey.  They had 1 son and were beginning their paperchase to adopt from Korea.  We went to a dinner theater one night and discussed adoption all the way there and back.  When we got home, Jerry and I had a conversation about it and he said he didn't want to adopt and I needed to stop.
     Well, we know how God works sometimes and He worked in a big way this time!  It was the week of Thanksgiving and Jerry got the worst back pain he's ever had.  It lasted for days and he tried everything to relieve the pain.  Ultimately he was trying to tell God no and God was telling him yes!  On the night of Thanksgiving after everyone had left and we were cleaning up, he came to me and said he knew what was wrong with his back.  He'd been complaining all week, so I was very interested.  Jerry said that he wanted to adopt, but was nervous - and almost that instanteously his back ache went away.  We immediately got on the internet and looked up the agency that our friends were using and signed up.  That was November, 2005.  It was supposed to be 11 months to get Hanna, but ended up being 3 years - but Hanna was born in December, 2005!
      Over the years, we've been amazed at the number of sermons we've heard that actually have called us to adopt. It might not have had anything to do with adoption, but that was the meaning given to us.
     So back to the original question, why adopt?  Our question is why not.  There are about a million kids -or more- out there in the world who don't have a mom and a dad to tuck them in at night and read them a bedtime story.  There are a million kids out there who may not know the love of a family.  There are about a million kids out there who haven't been introduced to God's love and grace.  There are a million kids out there who need us.