In a nutshell, Forget the Frock is a movement based on one woman's conviction about spending mega-bucks on matchy Easter clothes for her family when others in the world were starving. When I saw a link to it on Facebook, and read her story, and watched this video, I was immediately taken. Her question, "Is this really what celebrating Jesus looks like?" cut me like a knife, and within minutes of watching, the Terrys had ordered tshirts. What seems like such a small thing helped to raise almost $184,000 in support of orphans, widows, the needy and oppressed. Pretty cool, huh?
I want to document and share our story--why my heart was so quickly and easily stirred when I heard about this, and what God is doing in the heart of this little family where orphans are concerned. Be warned: I'm wordy. So...rewind. Way, way, way rewind.
High school was the first time I remember seeing adoption. A boyfriend's aunt adopted two little girls from China, and I was smitten. I have always loved little ones, and these two precious girls were no exception. I watched people in our church adopt, got excited for them, and moved on. I was a teenager. Enough said.
Fast forward a few years, and I've met my match in this Terry boy. We are ready to start a family, only that isn't happening as quickly as we would like (read: on our schedule. Boy, does God have a sense of humor...but that's another post for another day!). I am shopping for shoes, alone, in Huntsville one beautiful Saturday morning (what?! I didn't know what a privilege that was!) (ok, I'll stop commenting on my own story. These parentheses are getting on my nerves. Hang with me.). Anyway, I am shopping and this little almond-eyed girl pops up behind a stack of shoe boxes in the aisle and whispers, "Hi. How old are you?" and giggles. I'm a giggler, and I connected with this little girl immediately. We had a lovely conversation, although I can't really remember much other than her stellar opener. Within minutes, her mom came around the corner with an exasperated smile and apologized and collected her daughter, and I left. As I walked out, I heard their sweet, giggly conversation about how you don't ask women their age. Ha. I called Zeke on my Zach Morris cell phone (before the iPhone days!) and told him that I'd take one of those. He was either totally open to my nuttiness or distracted on the phone, and he said ok. We discussed the option and agreed that it was something we both were open to, but we didn't act on our openness at that point.
We watched some friends prepare to adopt and then cancel their plans as we all found out within months of each other that we were expecting. Finally! The baby that we had dreamed of was on her way, and our days as a little family began.
Life happened, I changed careers, and although we wanted and tried to have another baby, again things did not happen on our schedule. In October 2010, we were a little family of three with a 5 year old daughter, fielding questions about when we were going to have another baby. One Sunday morning we watched the Operation Christmas Child video in church, and God moved me--I didn't want to make a shoebox for these babies, I wanted to go GET one of these sweet babies. I began praying and printing adoption paperwork. We were both praying and felt led to adoption, but didn't fill out the paperwork immediately. Then, in February, we found out that we were expecting again! We were beyond excited and shocked--we had so prepared Kinley for the possibility of adoption that she asked me one morning on the way to school, "Mama, will this baby have our same color skin and talk like us?" She prayed for a sister, and we waited and prepared for a new addition. When we found out that Case was a boy, Kinley was more than a little disappointed. Her way to fix it? After Case is born, we can just adopt a sister!
After Case's birth, we felt like our little family was pretty complete. We wondered what God was doing with all of that adoption love that we had always felt, because looking at us, we had the perfect little American family--one boy, one girl, a dog, and the house that we loved. We shelved the adoption thoughts and immersed ourselves in our little people.
When Case was about eleven months old and school started back, I realized that my coffee tasted weird. Huh. I couldn't drink it. I'll spare you the other details and just say that suddenly, amazingly, we realized that we were expecting again. This one is all God, y'all. And proof that He has a sense of timing (and humor!) that is beyond us. Enter Camp--the little boy that we didn't even dare to dream about but that has kept us on our toes and laughing since he got here...and who has taught us the more, the merrier!
I think this was about the time that we really questioned what God was doing in our hearts with adoption. We both love adoption. We have even felt called to adopt. So how does that fit into our current crazy? We have discussed this--at length!--and have decided that God has opened our eyes and our hearts for a reason. I love Proverbs 24:12, which basically says that once you know, you are compelled to act. God knows that I know about the orphan crisis now. He knows that I went to the 147 Million Orphans event when I was only days pregnant with Case. He knows that I read the article about the orphans in Russia rocking themselves in their cribs because no one comes when they cry, and that the thought of it kept me up late at night and made me run in a sleepy stupor down the hallway to my own. He knows that my mommy heart hurts for the woman trying to decide which baby to feed because she doesn't have enough for all of her children to eat. He knows that when it is rainy and cold here, I see a brown face with bare feet standing in a hut somewhere, and I can see those big eyes looking into me. He knows that I have compassion for that mother who is sick and wonders who will care for her child. He knows. And I know. So...for now...we continue to pray. We pray that He would show His purpose to us. We are praying for those who adopt. We are buying adoption shirts and bracelets and necklaces in hopes of being a tiny bit of help to those who are called to act. We are working hard to get out of debt so that we can give more and help others adopt. We feel right about what we have decided for now, knowing that God has placed a passion in our lives, even in this season, for His reason. And someday? Is this family photo complete? Do I need to change the title of this blog again? Stay tuned...pray for us...and we will all see together!
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