Adopting an Older Child: Something on My Heart

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We are in a blizzard warning today...a blizzard!  In Missouri!  AND, it was in the 70s just three days ago!  This snow is said to affect 100 Million people!!  When I heard that, I thought, "Wow!  That is a CRAZY amount of people to be affected by one thing".  

And then my mind wandered to orphans (as it perpetually does) and I remembered that there are

147 Million children

who are affected by this one thing.  No mother, no father.  That amount is unfathomable to me!!   I'm thankful that we have met so many who are willing and able to adopt and are expanding their family and standing with Christ in "defend(ing) the cause of the fatherless" (Deuteronomy 10:18).  However, I truly believe there are more people (maybe YOU!! :)) who God is calling or is going to call SOON to bring an orphan (or two, or three, or four) into your family.

If you are thinking, "That's nice, but I've already raised my children" or "I've never had children, I just don't think it's for me," this post is specifically for you! ;)

Before you read on, please watch this video...

Ethiopian Orphans from Simon Scionka on Vimeo.

Did you notice that A LOT of the orphans depicted in this video are "older"?  (By the way, older in the adoption world is a child that is over 2!!)  Many of these "older" children sit on a waiting list until they "age out" (sometimes as early as age 14) and are often left to fend for themselves. 

However, you could change that in the life of an orphan.  You could be the mother or father that they have longed for, prayed for, dreamed about.  Maybe you have never really considered adopting because you are "too old", "done raising children", or "not called to adopt."  I'm simply asking you to consider it and pray about it.  Adopting older children comes with some challenges, but, as I like to say, God does not call you where He won't equip you! 

There are many older children who will never have a home because those of us in our "child rearing years" are unable to adopt them due to birth order rules (many agencies will not adopt children out of birth order, a rule that we agree with for our family).  However, there are so many families who could provide a loving home to an older child/children.  Are you one of them?!

Will you consider it?  Will you pray about it?  Will you open yourself to the possibility that God might say "yes"?!  I hope so.  Because, when you open your heart and your home to an orphan, the population becomes

147 Million - ONE!!