Consider a boy!

In the world of adoptions, generally speaking BOYS TEND TO WAIT THE LONGEST!! I'm not sure all of the reasons but this is a fact pretty much consistent across domestic adoptions and international adoptions! Most people when they enter the adoption process make a request for a girl!

In China RIGHT NOW there are HUNDRED of paper ready BOYS WAITING! Yes, hundreds! I've heard may different numbers on how many, I'm not sure the exact number of hundreds!

Our Jase waited for FOUR MONTHS on a list (totally PAPER READY) before we made the decision to adopt him! Jase was only nine months old when he first went on a WAITING LIST ... and he waited for FOUR MONTHS!! That doesn't make much sense to me ... except that for me I believe Jase waited because he was meant to be OUR SON!

Now for the other precious baby boys that are RIGHT NOW waiting in China, PAPER READY ... I don't know WHO they are waiting for!! And the fact that they are still waiting does not make much sense with my heart!!

No, I do NOT believe everyone is called to adopt! Nor do I believe everyone is called to adopt special needs! Adoptions in themselves are inherently DIFFICULT, and special needs does bring other elements that do need to be entered with their eyes open! For some of us once our child is home the attachment and adjustment journey that follows will be the MOST DIFFICULT time in our life EVER! That is how it was for me with our first international adoption! Anyone entering any adoption without this reality WILL be disappointed as your expectations will not be met! I often think about how difficult it would be for me if I had to switch spouses with someone, and I am a grown adult ... never mind how difficult it is for our new children leaving the only home they have ever known (regardless of the quality of the home) ... and then if you add any additional trauma, on top of the trauma of loosing everything familiar ... it will be a tough journey! This is more the norm than the exception!!

ALL to say that I believe MANY OF US ARE CALLED TO ADOPT, regardless of how easy or difficult our life that follows will be! If we are to TRULY follow Jesus' example ... well I have no words as He by NO MEANS lived an easy life ... as He every moment of His life POURED OUT on others ... ultimately giving HIS LIFE! James 1:27 "pure religion is this to take care of orphans and widows in their distress!" Some of us are CALLED to adopt, others are CALLED to serve in other ways ...

I believe I got off topic a bit for what I wanted to say in this post =)
If your heart is being stirred for adoption, consider putting EITHER gender in your homestudy ... a precious boy or a precious girl!

Baby boys are AMAZING!!!! So for my baby boy I do have to say that he has been an exception to the norm, his attachment and adjustment truly have been DREAM ADOPTION on every level! Kody is an amazing sweet little boy, full of passion, determination, love, spunk and such JOY! This was a gift that his amazing foster family gave him ... through their around the clock loving on our son, God used them to heal and protect not only his physical life, but also his heart! Kody had a HEALTHY attachment to transfer, and he transferred it easily when I went to Ghana the second time to take care of him! This has been a GIFT to not only him but also to this mamma!

And for our sweet Jase, I don't know specifically what our attachment and adjustment journey will entail! So for this mamma I am EXPECTING our journey to be DIFFICULT! I have done lots of reading and educating myself! I have to expect this because otherwise I would not be entering my adoption with my eyes and heart wide open! I am expecting the attachment process to take some TIME, for not only me but also our sweet Jase! I am expecting myself to think, "what did we just do?" at some point once Jase his home, perhaps it will be a fleeting thought or perhaps it will last a while like it has before!

I am also expecting joys and blessings ... because I have learned that even through the difficult, and even in the midst of difficult, there are joys and blessings! I have also learned that my blessings often come the way I do not expect, as they are often blessings with an eternal focus versus an earthly. I am getting armored up, mentally, emotionally, AND SPIRITUALLY! I am trusting that no matter how hard ... God will provide me with the wisdom and strength that I will need to be the forever mom to our adorable little Jase! I am expecting for attachment to perhaps be a life long process!

Consider adopting a boy! Consider adopting a boy! Consider adopting a boy!
Do your own research and see how MANY boys are waiting in so many countries RIGHT NOW!

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AND consider the lyrics of Todd Agnew's song, "My Jesus!" I personally don't believe God has called ANY of us who call Him Lord to an "easy life!" I share this song HUMBLY as for ME every time I hear this song it speaks to me!

"Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Then why do you look so much like the world?
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be?
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand
Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?
Who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
So which one do you want to be?
Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet would stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despised the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
Not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus
Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me
Can I be like You Jesus?
I want to be like my Jesus!"