An Adoption Story

Today's guest post is by Tim. Tim and his awesome family live in Arkansas. He was my BCM director about a hundred years ago. 

I'm not sure where to start but many questions that have been asked to me about adoption is "why?" We have two boys biologically and I made the decision to not have anymore children after our 2nd son was born (snip, snip). I'm not a good husband or dad during the first 8 months of their lives. That's another blog post. 

We officially adopted identical twin girls in November 2011 (age 4). They were placed in our home on July 1. It is a wonderful blessing but getting to the blessing was not quick. Three years ago, when Gretchen brought up the topic of adoption, I was not anywhere close to wanting to think or discuss the thoughts of adoption. Gretchen began to pray. She sensed that the idea to adopt was from God and it became very important to her. She wanted to have more children especially children who needed forever families. 

Over time, I was exposed to the idea of adoption via multiple sources. One fact that helped me the most, was that I love my wife. If adoption is important to her, then it needed to become important to me because I love her. I want what is best for her. God answers prayers and we both made the decision to adopt. 

We decided to go the route of our state's department of social services. It was free - they paid all the legal bills and they give a monthly stipend to help with monthly expenses. Once we finished the orientation process and application, we waited. We waited almost a year from the time we were finally approved to adopt. Honestly, we had made the decision that we were going to look at other options in the summer of 2011 since it was taking so long. May 9 (beginning of the summer for college ministry), we got the call of having a match for twins. We hadn't desired to have twins. We wanted ONE baby - not 4 year old twins. But God prompted us to continue on the journey. After a few visits, over night stays, and screenings - they were placed in our home on July 1 for permanent. 

So I'm now the dad of 4 kids - 2 boys and 2 girls. I would never have dreamed this for my life but God has truly blessed our family. I love being a dad. It is fun to be a dad to both boys (rough stuff & sports) and girls (pretty dress up & pretend play). We adopted because we could; we made a difference; we loved, and we obeyed. God continues to bless us through the process of being parents.


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