ONE - by Russ

ONE. That was the word that kept coming up over and over. In every Bible Study we did. In every sermon we heard. Everywhere we turned, the word ONE was being ingrained into our hearts. As we heard and saw the plight of orphans around the world—hunger, malnutrition, disease, neglect, and insufficient numbers to defend them--I knew then that we would have to act. There was no choice. But I was afraid—afraid of what it meant for our family and if we were ready for it. Was this God's calling for us or was I just reacting from emotion?

Ginger had been on board for a long time—she was actively involved in several orphan care and advocacy ministries. I had always supported her as she went on mission trips and spoke at churches about defending the fatherless. But I supported her from a distance, doing the typical guy thing, coming up with all the excuses—"We already have 3 children, we simply can't afford more". "We have a great family dynamic—what if they come in and disrupt that?"

Still stubborn, God brought in the heavy artillery. One of our children began to text me from her mom's phone, "Dad, can't we just save ONE?" Over, and over, and over. We went to an adoption conference and one of the keynote speakers said something to the effect of "Don't disregard that God may be speaking through your children to move you to adopt." Boom. The coup de grace.

After seeing every sign from God except the flashing neon one, I finally laid down all the worldly excuses that I had used to run away from our calling. God continued to make clear adopting was His will for our family and we are happy to say that we began the adoption process in March 2011. To my own surprise I felt God was calling us to adopt not just ONE but TWO children from Uganda. Ginger was feeling the same way. So - we stepped out in faith and became approved to adopt two children under the age of 5 from Uganda.

We've had many ups and downs on this journey (and Ginger will likely fill you in on all the details on future posts) but God's call for us has remained the same. "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for ONE of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.''' Matthew 25:40