8 Years ago we began a journey. It was a journey of discovery, a journey with highs and lows but as with all journeys, it starts a process that seems to show that when one ends another begins.

8 Years ago we started dreaming and planning to make adoption a part of who we are and how we grow our family. Today, with two adoptions under our belt and while busy with a third, we are continually amazed at how the process of giving a family to child may seem to bless the child the most, but actually, it is the family who receives the greatest blessing and honour of being able to extend love to another in a way that profoundly changes everything about everyones lives. We are truly honoured to have the love of our children, no matter how they enter our hearts!

Today we are also blessed, as the first family assisted by the The Father Heart Fund is about to become a reality. A special woman is about to become an incredible mom and a little girl is about to be grafted into the hearts of Many.There are 2 other families waiting in the wings for their little ones, so we thought we’d start a little series on “Why adoption?”. We look forward to sharing some of their hearts with you over the next few months.

For us, it was always part of the plan of growing our family. I am not sure if there was a moment that it went from No to Yes, but there have been several experiences during the past few years where our hearts have been softened, often to the point of tears, where we could not let the fear or anxiety deter us from what we feel so desperately passionate about.

At it’s core, I feel privileged to experience a glimpse of what God must feel when he takes us under His wings. I often find myself taking a moment and looking at my kids and feeling such a sense of pride, blessing, purpose, privilege and wonder, all wrapped up in a single heart beat. Seeing the people they are becoming, experiencing them learning things they potentially wouldn’t have had the chance to learn, teaching me things I never would have been taught. Experiencing the personality of these mighty little people growing daily shatters the anxiety we tend to offer as our reasons for not adopting.

For me, this anxiety has always been at war with the idea that my comfort cannot outweigh the needs and value of a child that may experience none. I am so aware of the challenges that parents face, and not naive to the costs involved and the fact that dreams and aspirations of mine may need to be laid down, maybe only for a season, but perhaps entirely.

But honestly, the love I feel when I look at them, the joy, the moments where my heart skips a beat just to make space for the pride that wells up inside when they overcome something they have been struggling with, all of this and more leaves me staggering as I get a better understanding of how powerful parenting can be and what a privilege it is.

However the title comes about, birth, adoption, fostering, the opportunity to take a child’s heart and leave your fingerprints, so that they have a sense of belonging and a map to find their way back home, this is the wonder of parenting and it is such a privilege to be allowed to offer this to a child from a hard place.

I notice the comments on adoption groups and often see the well meaning phrase “they are so blessed to have you”. The truth is, as well meaning as these comments are, the true winners are those who open their hearts, their homes and their families to a child. Those who get to watch the roots of a child’s heart to grow deep. Those who are privileged enough to be part of their journey, no longer as lost children but as found and loved sons and daughters!