7 Ways to Help Orphans without Adopting

7-ways-to-help-orphans“I think you might have helped me decide not to adopt.”

She was worried that I’d be dismayed at her words, thinking I wanted everyone to adopt. I had just delivered a fairly candid, vulnerable message to a group of women on the topic of adoption. In our conversation afterward, I reassured her of what I’ve long held to be true:

Not everyone is called to adopt. But every child deserves a family.

Everyone can do something to help orphans. And I do wish everyone would. I base my opinion on God’s adoption of us into His family (Ephesians 1:5), and the exhortation in James 1:27 that we show pure and blameless religion by looking after orphans (and widows).

In honor of National Adoption Month here are seven ways to help orphans even if you don’t plan to adopt:  Read More

The Mother Who’s Hard to Honor

file0001435534139My son is adopted.

He spent all but two weeks of his first 21 months in a Russian orphanage.

After more than 10 years at home with us, we still spend time in therapy each week. Most often, we’re trying to work through the issues of abandonment and rejection by his birth mother. My husband and I have tried to portray a woman we don’t know in the most positive light. To assume the best, if you will. We’ve even tried to ascribe some nobility to her actions: “She loved you enough to know she couldn’t take care of you.”

And that may well be true. I don’t really know, I suppose. This week my son articulated a feeling I often tuck hidden away in my own heart as well: Read More