Adoption Letters

I turned in most of our documents for the home study last Friday, and one of the things they asked for is for our kids age 16 and older to write a letter about how they feel about our family adopting. These are their letters:

I am absolutely thrilled that my family is pursuing adoption. I have always loved having a large family and the community and friendship that comes from having a lot of siblings. Adding to our family would bring me so much joy. I believe adoption is a beautiful way to express the love of God. It is so important to me, that when I have my own family I plan to adopt as many children as I am able to. I think that those who have been blessed with much have a responsibility to give much and that my family has so much love and provision that we have a charge from God to share it. I believe that we would welcome new siblings with all of our hearts.

Thank you,
Lindsay Phillips

I have always been a huge fan of adoption, and really looked up to any family who chose to do it. I always dreamed of adopting kids myself one day, because I love children so much, and I have such a deep heart for kids who don't have a family. I love my brothers and my sister, they are the most valuable things to me in the world, and I have always wanted more siblings. My parents decided to stop having kids a while ago, and I always hoped we would adopt some children. If it were up to me, I would have dozens of siblings. One of my greatest joys is spending time with my brothers, getting to know them, loving on them, and seeing them become the men they were made to be, and I would be honored to have more siblings to be able to do that with.

Justin P

On Adoption By Trevor Phillips

When my mom first talked to me about adoption as a serious consideration for us, I thought it was crazy. We were already grown (mostly)! I thought our family was complete. But as she talked more about it, and as I researched it and came to some conclusions, I realized that with the bounty that God has given us, it is God’s will that we should give it back to him in some way, and what better way than to give a child’s life new hope? To give that child a chance at living a blessed life?

The more I thought about how I hadn’t wanted to do that before, the more I was disgusted at how I could be so selfish as to want so much more than I need all to myself. Now I see that adopting a child, or children, into our life would be a form of giving back to God, a way of showing our thanks to him for our blessed lives. And it would also be showing such love to children who may have not felt love shown to them before.

I am eager to meet and welcome any person that God wants to be in my life, and if this person is a new sibling, then all the more better.

Alex feels the same way too, but he wasn't required to write a letter; I guess they figure older teens tend to have more problems with new siblings than younger kids? I don't know. Anyway, I am so proud of our kids, that they have such big hearts and want to open up our family in this way! I love you guys! :)

Another Ugandan Boy?

I finally got an email from Jalia at Royal Orphanage in Uganda today, about another older boy we could adopt along with Kato Fred:

I am thinking of Rogers. He traveled with the choir in 2006 to America, he is about 15 or 16 now and in high school, he is a good boy and sings well.

Jalia

Her emails are always so tantalizing – you’re left wanting more. : ) I have so many questions, but she apparently has an ancient computer that is really slow, and a dial-up connection. Thankfully, the Tuckers will probably be going there at the beginning of November to pick up their children (yay!), and they can meet him, and get more information about him, and Kato as well. They are hoping to get a laptop donated for Jalia as well to take to her when they go, so she can be more connected.

This is a video about the choir who came in 2006, and what they were raising money for (thankfully, the new school and orphanage has now been built). I guess Rogers may be one of the boys in there:

And More Precious Boys

Well, I found out that from Eileen that the two older boys she had told me about from Kolfe, Binyam and Efrim, actually have a sister, so there are three of them that need a family. Right now, we still really feel like we are supposed to adopt two boys, so they are probably not the ones for us.

It is so hard though, once you have heard about specific children needing families, and seen their pictures – it feels like you are rejecting them if you don’t choose them, even though they don’t know about it.

Solomon, Eileen’s adopted son who is in Ethiopia (he was too old to be legally adopted, but they have adopted him into their family anyway), sent her this email and picture of two more brothers at Kolfe who need a family:

Bikes and Ayanaw
Bikes is 15 years old and his younger brother is 14. They have no any siblings and relatives. They came to Kolfe before 7 years ago. Ayanaw is grade 9 student and Bikes is grade 8 student. I asked them if they need a family that helps them and they said they are very happy if they get a good family that share they problem and they also said to you thank you for what are you doing now for them.

We are also still waiting to hear back from Jalia, about another possible boy we could adopt along with Kato Fred. Thank you so much for your prayers for us!

How We Spend Our Days

I went to the Pure Life women’s conference in New York this past weekend, and was really encouraged by Lynette Lewis’ word on Saturday night. She talked about being a hero -- that we are all called and chosen by God for great things, but we also choose to be chosen. It sounds kind of strange, but I know what she means -- we have to make the choice to step into what God has for us, to just walk forward. And we can also choose not to.

In Crazy Love, Francis Chan says:

Most of us use “I’m waiting for God to reveal His calling on my life” as a means of avoiding action. Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the television yesterday? Or to go on your last vacation? Or exercise this morning? Probably not, but you still did it. The point isn’t that vacations or exercise are wrong, but that we are quick to rationalize our entertainment and priorities yet are slow to commit to serving God.

As Annie Dillard wrote, “How we spend our days, is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

Something to think about.