Widows and Orphans

I recently had dinner at my friends' house on Sunday night. Her husband has a strange lump on his neck and while waiting for the biopsy results the couple have been joking about him dying. (We do strange things when faced with the unknown, don't we?) My friend and I got into a heavy discussion about how we, as stay at home mothers, would not know what we would do if our husbands were to pass away. We said that we would be so depressed and sad, yet we would have to carry on for our children's sake. We would be hurting financially and would probably have to sell our homes and move closer to family that would help care for the children while we got a job. (This discussion made me realize also that we need to buy more life insurance for my husband!) We would have to put our children in school, who have been homeschooled their entire school years. We also discussed how the church would help us for a while while we got on our feet...and I understood why God states that we are to help the widows and the orphans...

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

This month is National Adoption Month. Around this time last year I was listening to Focus on the Family on the radio and was greatly moved by the program and the idea of adoption. I wasn't sure if it was what the Lord had for our family at the time, but I really was interested in learning more. I went to the library and checked out some books on International Adoption and was enlightened by how complicated the process was. I let it be for awhile. Jeremiah was not against the idea but agreed that it was very expensive and far from possible at that time. Around that same time is when I met some women who were adopting or have adopted internationally and locally. It was a good chance to be educated and moved. It wasn't until early spring 2007 that we really decided as a couple to adopt, and we were going to go about it through the foster care program at first. God had a different plan for us, and through time we realized that a Haitian adoption was what we should pursue. I am thrilled and excited about the idea about us adding on to our family through adoption. I know there will be many challenges along the way, but I am so happy to see what blessings God has in store for us!

I will leave this post with a Haitian proverb that I love,

Di m' ki sa ou renmen, m'a de ou ki moun ou ye.
Tell me what you love, and I'll tell you who you are.
Your priorities shape your character.