Question #2 Why did you adopt?

My grandmother taught me the art of carrying on a conversation. She said when you try to engage someone in communication it is important to ask questions. She said to ask who-what-when-where-and how questions, avoiding using the word WHY, which she says tends to put people on the defensive. WHY questions are very hard to answer, my grandma says.


Now isn't that the truth?


However, most people did not have my grandma and therefore 'why' still tends to be one of the most common questions adoptive parents get asked about their reasons for growing their family unconventially.


So this is my attempt to answer the question about WHY we chose adoption, and particularly special needs adoption. There are so many reasons that I guess I will just list them, in no particular order of importance.


Question #2 Why did you adopt?


1. We love kids. We talked about adoption while we were dating, during pre-marriage counseling, and again with a church counselor when we were closer to making our decision. 
2. There are a LOT of kids who will never know the love of a family without the possibility of adoption.

3. There are more people unable or unwilling to raise their own children than there are people able or willing to adopt. Which means millions of children are being raised in orphanages, foster homes and on the streets.

4. Older, minority, and disabled children (and boys in general) have a much harder time finding families.

5. We saw a gift in our children, a heart for people with disabilities.

6. When we tried to imagine ourselves at the end of our lives, asking ourselves if we had any regrets, not going through with our call of adoption was the one regret we would have. I think laying on a hypothetical death bed looking back on one's life is a wonderful way to decide your life's calling. 

7. We have a lot of love to give to a child who has nobody to call their own.

8. Jesus' love  and the Word of God compel us to reach out to the widow, the orphan and the stranger. There are many many references to this in scripture. Adoption is one way to do this but there are many other ways..baking cookies for a lonely neighbor, visiting the elderly at a nursing home, inviting a foreign exchange student for dinner, mowing the grass for a single mom, showing hospitality, sending a kid to camp, etc. etc.

9. Many people wrongly assume adoption is a last resort for infertile couples. Our decision to adopt had nothing to do with fertility. We have 4 biological children and have decided to shut the factory down and open our home to kids without families.

10. We have a great home and property perfect for a lot of kids running around. And our floors are ruined anyway.