Adoption

John 14:18... "I will not leave you as orphans-- I will come for you."

Portia is home. HOME! Home in Knoxville, TN with a beautiful new sister and two parents to call her own. Though I have known a few families throughout my childhood who adopted children, both domestically and internationally, adoption hasn't really hit home until I had to kiss this little beauty of a girl for the last time.

Portia (L) and Florence (R), our littlest CORM girls!

Part of me wants to be sad because I will miss her so, but I have no right... Hours upon hours have been spent by people all over the world for this little girl to get a shot at going home with two people who love her,  whom she will get to call mom and dad, and those prayers have finally been answered! God is so faithful!

I brought a journal from my sophomore & junior years of college with me to Ghana, and sometimes I enjoy flipping through and seeing the lines that run through my journey over the last few years... One of the things I found that surprised me in there was a note about possibly wanting to adopt or do foster care when I am older. I don't ever remember this being something I was interested in... But apparently, if only for a fleeting moment, it has been on my heart for longer than I thought.

There are children I know who I wish I could pack in my suitcase and take home with me (watch out, Florence & Malvin & Pamela & Amenyo & Moses & Gamali & Bismark!). There are children at another orphanage who were willing to call me "Mommy" the first time they met me. There are children here who need love... And right now, love is what I can give them. Parenting, maybe not right now... But there is a lot of love to go around.

I am so thankful for the Miller family and the new chapters that Portia and Mabel are writing in their books in Knoxville. I am thankful for all the beautiful, fatherless children I know and for that Father that continues to call them His.

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." Psalm 68:5