Okay…first let me say that I am a rookie on this subject.  Even as I begin writing this I really don’t know what I am going to say or how I am going to say it (No comments from the Grandi or any other peanut gallery).    Here goes.

I have said it before and have heard others say it as well: the church is way too often known for what we are against rather than what we are for. (Can I hear an AMEN to that?)  Rather than being a positive force with positive ideas in this world, we have often come off as judgmental and negative.  Let me give you just two examples: homosexuality and abortion.  ‘Nuff said?  My purpose in this post is not to debate the rights and wrongs of either issue.  It is not to debate what the Bible says about either one.  So, please…if you respond don’t even go there.  (For the sake of wondering: yes, I do have definite beliefs about each). Both are hot buttons in our world today…sure to get someone or someones hot under the collar with veins popping out.  But my point is that the church should offer a positive alternative approach to both of those issues.  Some do.  One alternative to the abortion issue is the one being talked about even more these days: adoption.

When I moved to pastor OVCF in November, 2005, I did not know the two couples who have taken positive action in this.  They both soon began attending OVCF and I learned that both, almost at the same time, had adopted a little girl from China.  Reed & Amy Elkins (Lucy) and Chad & Terri Dow (Annalei) both had sons,  Mason and Dahlen (respectively), who  welcomed their little sisters with love and acceptance.  Lucy has had some health issues with a cleft palate but she is loved so much.  It is fun watching her interact.  She made me hurt the other day when she showed me how to do a split like the gymnasts do.  Annalei is a little shyer than Lucy (least around me.  Could it be me?)  but it is so cool watching her be loved.  Chad & Terri are now in the process of adopting another one-an 8 year old girl.  I have seen pictures of her and all they are waiting for is “the word” to go get her.  I could say more but I would prefer to let Terri say it.  Please check our her blog here. They just had a reunion with 5 couples who made the same trip as they did.  Check it out!

The Elkins’ and the Dow’s are just two couples whom I know who have taken a positive step to give love to a child who is “unwanted” in a society that says “one child.”   I know there are others but these I know.  Perhaps you are one of them.  Do you mind telling your story? I would love to hear from you and so would others.

Afterword:  Jo & I have talked about adoption but our age (I will soon be 58 and won’t tell you how much older she is than me)  has halted that.  But I also know another couple who has adopted a girl from China: my brother, Garry, and his wife, Deborah, adopted Lia in 2003.  I regret that they live in Pennsylvania and we have always lived so far away and it has kept us from seeing her grow up.   My prayers and a tip of the hat go to all of the couples who have taken a positive step and given adoption an option in their lives.