Adoption: on God's heart

We have had adoption on our hearts for a long time now - before we even had children ourselves. Yet, it can be such a difficult process. We know of plenty of people who have adopted successfully and they have such a rich experience. We also know of people who have wanted, desperately to adopt, but been unable for a variety of reasons. We are currently the latter, where adoption is firmly in our intentions, but the opportunity so far has not arisen for us to pursue this fully. Thankfully, so far, we've not been turned down for adoption, as we have never officially applied to adopt, here in South Africa. We haven't because we know that we would not be able to, without a permanent residency status. We are therefore patiently waiting and praying for God to guide us in what to do next to bring us closer to adopting a child.

In my research into adoption, I noticed this infographic, courtesy of American Adoptions News who put together a list of some famous/successful people who have been adopted. This is so interesting. I had no idea all these celebrities were adopted!

I'm not saying that our adopted child will be the gifted one to achieve everything/anything. What I am saying is: adoption is a godly thing to do. It is a wonderful, self sacrificial thing to do for another human being. With two biological children, I am excited about increasing the Clemison herd. We don't know where, when or how they will come, but God knows our heart and knows we would love to have more children. Please keep praying with us that we can do this in His timing, under His authority, and in His way. Thank you!

The presence of children in the house has changed our lives. Neither of us knew much about children or childcare when we were first pregnant and it scared us quite a lot! We stocked our shelves with books about feeding, weaning, discipline etc. We subscribed to babycentre.co.uk so that we could get daily updates on 'what to do next'. Becky formed a mum's group to discuss parenting ideas. You name it, we tried it. And it wasn't easy. But somehow we did it (so far). We've fallen head-over-heals in love with our two little ones and can't imagine life without them. For me (Pete) it took a little time for the bond to happen. Not sure why, but I had to really invest time and effort in both children, when they came along, to develop a bond. I'm so glad I did. 

So, here goes on the next season, as we learn to teach our children the right way to live and look to continue serving God as missionaries, please pray that we can get the balance right!