Why Not Us?

I really can't remember a time when I didn't have a soft spot in my heart for adoption. For years, Mike and I have discussed adopting "someday." Sadly, I never really believed that we would. I mean, while I always believed it was a great thing to do, my list of fears was entirely too long...How would we handle a child who had been in an orphanage or foster care? How would we pay for it? Would we be able to develop a bond with the child? How would our family respond? My multitude of concerns made it very easy to put adopting in the "someday" category and leave it alone.

In 2004, we had our first child. In 2006, we had our second. In July 2008, I began to desire to add to our family again. Around the same time, I picked up a copy of a magazine with several great articles about Ethiopia and other African countries. I read every article several times and couldn't stop thinking about the needs in this area of the world. I found myself staying up till the early hours of the morning to read websites/blogs about Africa and then couldn't sleep because my heart ached for these innocent children. God had definitely got my attention. My questions began to change...Why do I live a life of plenty, while so many others are living without even their basic needs met? How can I continue to go about my life pretending that these extreme needs don't exist? What am I doing to obey the command in James 1:27 to care for orphans? Who will help the 143 million orphans in the world? Why not us?

We made a decision to follow God in adopting and on my birthday, we announced to our closest friends that we were going to adopt from Ethiopia. Since that point, I've not only had a spot in my heart for adoption, I've had a spot at my table. I've begun to love a child I've never met.

Ironically, about a month later, two lines on the little stick showed that baby #3 was on the way. While this was a surprise to us, it was all a part of God's plan. Our sweet little Oliver was born in 2009 and I can't imagine our lives without him.

Throughout this waiting period, God continued to grow our hearts and prepare our family to adopt. In June 2010, we completed our application to adopt from Ethiopia. In the past 7 months, we've been neck deep in paperwork. We've become licensed with DCFS, completed our home study, submitted our paperwork to USCIS and we are currently waiting for our approval so a bunch of our paperwork (called a dossier) can be sent to Ethiopia. We are approved to adopt a little boy up to 18 months of age and are also approved to adopt siblings or twins. We recently applied and were approved for the Waiting Child Program at our agency, as well, which means we may have the opportunity to chose a child who has special needs.

I regret having not kept a blog throughout these past several months as they have been some of the most growing of my life. I have been enlightened about my own spiritual adoption and how desperately I needed to be rescued. As my heart has grown for adoption, I have begun to understand in a way I have never grasped before what Christ has done for me. He adopted me (Romans 8:15-16) and he calls me his child. Our sweet Ethiopian babe will become a Witt. He will be part of our family. He will fill the empty chair at my table. He will pick up some our our strange habits and our sense of humor. He will be expected to follow our family rules. He will be ours. I am told in Scripture that I am God's child. He has adopted me. I am His. He has poured out His love freely to me (Romans 5:5).

There are still many fears that lay on my heart at times. International adoption is full of ups and downs. There are so many unknowns. Yet we know as God's children, we have been commanded to care for "the least of these" (Matthew 25:40). With nearly 5 million orphans in Ethiopia alone, and an estimated 143 million orphans worldwide the need is great. Many people will need to act in order to make a change. So why not us?