Adoption can be a beautiful part of God’s work in your family. It is a choice not to be made lightly or purely from a sympathetic heart. Bringing a child into your home is a life-altering choice that brings rewards and challenges alike. What a powerful picture of how each of us has been grafted into the family of God.
As you read the stories of those who have experienced adoption, open your heart to the leading of the Lord and what He may have for the future of your family.
The Bidwell Family
For us, the decision to adopt was a faith-building one. Both of us always thought we would desire to be parents of an adopted child, but we imagined it “further down the road.” After experiencing the birth of our first biological child, we began to sense God working in our hearts and moving us toward adoption sooner than we thought. After just five years of marriage and in our mid-twenties, we were pretty hesitant about stepping-out and considering what seemed to be such a huge undertaking financially, emotionally and spiritually. We found ourselves asking, “don’t most people who can have biological children birth babies first and adopt later?” We spent time searching the scriptures to see what they said about adoption and God’s heart for the orphan. We also attended an adoption class at our church to learn more. Our hearts began to feel heavy with a desire to adopt based on God’s great love for us. After all, it didn’t matter to God whether we were white, black, young, old, cute or rough around the edges – He grafted us into His family through Christ. We’re His adopted kids! Spiritually, we realized that we were valuing our own plans above what God was leading us to do and we needed to let go of our own plans/ideals for how our family “should” grow and follow the Lord in faith. We decided it was time to move forward and adopt a child.
Though there were lots of financial questions for us to find answers to, God has ultimately provided the means for us to complete the adoption process through many different financial resources. Where He calls, He provides. The process was long and challenging, but by God’s grace and provision, we recently brought home our infant son to be a Bidwell forever! He is such a precious gift from God and is no longer an orphan, but a son and heir. (Galatians 4:7) Praise God that in Christ, we are no longer orphans! We are so blessed that the Lord has chosen to grow our family through the miracle of adoption!
The Melber Family
When all eight Melbers walk in a room, we can’t seem to go unnoticed. Aside from the fact that we have six children (four of whom are teenagers), our sons range from the most fair-skinned, blonde-haired young men to dark skinned, curly haired boys. Our daughters are polar opposites with one brunette young woman and the other with coal black hair and almond eyes. We are a bit of a smorgasbord, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Seven years ago, God directed our family to adoption. We wanted to expand our family and this was how God was going to piece our family together in a unique way. In the next few years, three children were beautifully grafted into our family as a daughter and as sons. Our children were not tiny little babies when they entered our families. They were nearly seven, six, and four when they became Melbers. They brought with them the clothes on their backs and difficult stories from their pasts.
God gave us an immense love for children that we had never even met. He united our family of five to a family of six, then seven, and then eight, in ways that we couldn’t. Each of our six children have had their own challenges, but God in His overwhelming grace has given us what we needed every step of the way to become the family that He intends for us to be. Our prayer is that we will be living witnesses of His great love for us through our lives. Praise be to the ONE who adopted us as sons and daughters!
More Information
If you would like more information on adoption, please contact our Central Office at 502.491.7000 or e-mail tera.melber@gmail.com.
