Adoption Month

Did you know November is 

National Adoption Month?

During November I plan to share a few things on my blog this month to help celebrate!

  Enjoy the sermon "Free as Sons" by David Platt

I love this talk because...

1) He educates others on what NOT to say to adoptive families:

And sometimes people will hear that story and they'll look back and say, "That is so nice. Now, do you have any children of your own, too?" Okay. Phrase number one not to say to an adoptive parent: Do you have any children of your own? That's when you put your arm around this person, you kind of bring them in and say, "I've got a secret for you – he's ours. Like, he's our own children. It's not oh, we have this child and then our own children over here; our own children." When we got back and Heather got pregnant with Joshua and people would say, "Wow, that's great – you have an adopted child and now you're going to have one of your own." 

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We have this tendency to divide children, to distinguish children between well, there's adopted children and there's biological children – as if adopted is some adjective to describe a child. It's not an adjective, it's an action that has taken place. You adopt someone, and now they're not an adopted child; they're a child, period. 

Sometimes, people will say – this is another big one – sometimes people will say, "Well, have you ever met Caleb's real mother?" "Okay, let me introduce you to her. Her name is Heather." And they say, "Well, you know what I mean." "Okay, what do you mean? That she's, like – Heather's her fake mother and there's a real mother out there?" And I start going off on defending my wife. 

So anyway, so I would encourage you not to ask a real mother. Another one I would encourage you not to go here, because, well, the thought or the question that comes up – "Oh, he's adopted. How much did he cost?" Okay – all right, now we're about – we're about to take the gloves off now. As if you can put a price tag on a child, and especially in light of all that we spend our money on. But anyway, no, you don't go there. 


2) He reminds us of the gift of adoption.

And I said, "Yeah, I love you, buddy." And he looked back at me and he said, "Why?" And I said, "Because you're my son." He said, "Why?" And I paused. "You love me, Daddy? Why?" "Because you're my son." "Why?" Why is he my son? Why, out of all the children in the world, is this little guy that I'm playing with my son? And I start tearing up, getting emotional. Caleb doesn’t know what's going on. That's the last time he'll ask me why. 

He was just playing with his daddy, now his daddy's weeping, and I just look at him and I said, "Because we came to get you, buddy, and we wanted you in our family." Can I remind you that the God of the universe looks upon your life, church – not the person beside you, in front of you, or behind you. He looks upon your life and says, "I love you." "Why, God? Why would you love me?" "Because you're my son." "Why, God? Why am I your son?" "Because I came to get you. I came for you, and I wanted you in my family."