What's in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - Romeo & Juliet

In that context I agree with Juliet. Your last name shouldn't keep you from marrying someone. However, I do believe that a first name can be important.

How do parents choose names for their children? With a million possibilities, you want to choose a name that your child will like (most will go through a phase when they hate their name anyway) but also has a good meaning.

But what about when you are adopting and the kids already have a name? Do you keep the name that their parents gave them or give them a new name as they become a part of a new family?

In our case, I think we are going to follow God's example. In the Bible, God seems to have a real penchant for name changing. Usually we see these name changes in people whom God chooses to employ for a significant Kingdom purpose, and their new names usually fit that purpose. They aren't just random names. God doesn't say, "Hmmm...I think 'Paul' sounds like a winner."

When God chose Abram to be the "Father of many nations," He changed his name from Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (Father of a multitude) - Genesis 17:5. I imagine that this new meaning gave Abraham a strong sense of the calling God placed on his life.

A few verses later, God also changed the name of Abraham's wife from Sarai to Sarah. God's promise to Abraham could not have been fulfilled without Sarah, so she played an integral role in that covenant promise as well. Both Sarai and Sarah mean "princess." However, "Sarai means my princess, as if her honor were confined to one family only. Sarah signifies a princess —namely, of multitudes, or signifying that from her should come the Messiah the prince, even the prince of the kings of the earth."- Matthew Henry

God changed the name of Abraham's grandson too. Jacob (heel grasper or deceiver) spent his entire life attempting to scheme his way into getting his way, which got him into trouble with a lot of people, including his brother Esau. This continued right up until the day when he encountered God at the ford of Jabbok. There, Jacob wrestled with "a man" and would not let him go without a blessing. After a long night of pile-drivers and full nelsons, "the man" permanently injured Jacob's thigh and said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel (God prevails), for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed."- Genesis 32:28. This name change not only gave Jacob assurance that he would prevail in gaining favor with Esau, but more importantly that God would keep His covenant with Israel.

In the New Testament, Jesus changes Simon's name to Peter (rock) (John 1:42). While Peter was certainly given to fits of instability and unbelief, ultimately he was a stable influence among the Apostles as they spread the Gospel throughout Israel and the Roman Empire.

Finally, there is the Apostle Paul (previously Saul). After his conversion, Saul begins going by the name Paul in order to aid his purpose in reaching the Gentiles of the Roman Empire. Paul was a far more recognizable name in Asia Minor, Greece and Rome than the Hebrew "Saul."

The point is, God gives his people new names that fit their purpose. We too will give our children names with meaning and purpose. We do not know what God has in store for them, but our prayer and our hope is that they will love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength, and we want their names to reflect that. Not only will their last name change because they are becoming part of our family but their first names will change as they become part of the covenant family of God through the sign and seal of baptism.

A Voice for the Fatherless...

My original desire to adopt (as a child) was only because I thought it was cool. Now, as an adult, it is more of a calling from God to care for those who cannot care for themselves. There are 147 million orphans worldwide. 10 million orphans live in institutions. There are half a million children in the US foster care system. Of those in foster care, 120,000 are available for adoption today. They just need a family to say, "Yes, I will call you son or daughter." Do those numbers shock you? They shocked me when I first learned of them. I knew that there were a lot of orphans but I had no idea that there are that many!

In many countries around the world, orphaned children "age out" of the system between 13-15 years of age. That means they are sent out from the orphanage to survive on their own. Once they age out they have very few options for their life. They aren't able to finish high school and therefore probably won't be able to find a job that provides enough income to live on. With little options, they mostly turn to crime and prostitution as means of survival. 10% of those who age out commit suicide by the time they are 18. My heart breaks for these children!

According to the US State Dept., somewhere between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders EACH YEAR!!! Approximately 50% of them are children. Orphans are the easiest to kidnap and traffic because there is no one to miss them when they are gone. This kind of injustice is dishonoring to God and something we Christians should be standing up against. (What does the Lord require of you? To seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God - Micah 6:8)

There are millions of professing Christian adults in America who are capable of providing care for orphans, as James 1:27 commands us to do. And yet there are still so many children without a home, vulnerable to all kinds of atrocities. Why is there such a gap between our calling and our reality? One reason may be that most people are simply not aware of the problem. Others may be aware, but aren't willing to make the kind of radical commitment it takes to provide long term or permanent care for orphans.

I cannot adopt all 147 million orphans but I hope to be a voice for those who don't have a voice. Maybe the commands in James 1:27 (visit orphans and widows in their affliction, keep oneself unstained from the world) - are new to you, or maybe you just don't know where to begin. Well, it may help to know that orphan care doesn't HAVE to mean adopting children into your home. You can mentor children in a local group home. You can show unwanted children in your community that they are loved by God. Seek the Lord with an open heart and he will give you opportunities like these!

I do not say this out of self-righteousness or boastfulness, but not adopting is simply not an option for us. By adopting I can not only provide provide orphans with a family, but also with better health care and safety from human trafficking. My dream is that God will use our adoption to challenge others to care for orphans. God has opened the doors for us to adopt  from Uganda and we are walking through the doors with arms open, ready to embrace the children God brings our way.

Jennifer's Journey

You've gotten to hear from Morgan but now it's my turn...

As Morgan said in our first post, I've wanted to adopt since I was about 7. I distinctly remember being at a pool party (in Florida most kid parties have water involved) and meeting 2 brothers who were only a month apart in age. One was black and one was white. I was a little confused about how these "twins" could look so different. My mom explained that they were adopted and I thought it was the COOLEST thing ever! How cool is it to have two people with no biological connection be brothers? I wanted to be adopted...it seemed a lot more interesting than my boring story of growing in my mother's belly. I didn't understand, at that time, that I actually was an adopted child, one adopted by God.

As I grew up and read the Bible, I began to see that adoption was part of how God worked things out according to his plan. It seemed like adoption was everywhere I looked. God was constantly grafting people into his family and calling them sons. I knew that not adopting once I was married was not an option for me.

On our very first date, we were sitting by a pool (apparently adoption conversations are best had by a body of water) and I asked Morgan his view on adoption and whether or not he had to have his own biological family. It was a deal breaker for me...if he had said no to adoption then there would be no second date. Thankfully, Morgan said he was cool with going the adoption route...so I married him :-)

Over the last 5 years we have been enjoying our time without kids but we have also been preparing for adoption. When we got married I started praying for our children knowing that they probably were already born and would be going through hardship...they wouldn't be available for adoption without hardship. I had no idea what my children would look like, what country they would be from, would they be boys or girls but I knew that they needed prayer.

In the last year, we have sold our house and built a bigger one better suited to a growing family. We have taken in 2 teenage girls, due to the circumstances their story doesn't get to be shared...at least not yet. We have gone to an adoption conference and we have prayed that God would show us which way to go in regards to adoption.

We have friends who got a phone call one day asking if they would adopt a little baby boy. They hadn't even started the adoption process and yet God gave them a son! I started praying that God would give us clear direction like he did them. I didn't necessarily need a phone call like theirs but with 147 million orphans world-wide where do you start?

God answers prayer! I, too, got a phone call about adopting and all of a sudden our plans for 2013 changed. January started off as normal and by the 4th everything was different. As Morgan said before, we are living with a wonderful family from our church while our house is being finished. We have shared with them our heart for adoption (they live on a lake and as I said before, in my world, adoption conversations are best had by a body of water). They just so happened to have a connection to an orphanage in Uganda and just so happened to remember that we want to adopt. That's too many "just so happened"s for us not to see the hand of God in it.

I am married to a man who doesn't like change...I think God just laughed at him when he married me because I like change. I like to rearrange the house just because. I like to see things not working well and come up with a way to change it to make it better. I love projects...sometimes I have too many projects and Morgan has to bring me back to reality. So when my husband, who doesn't like change, said "Yes, let's adopt from Uganda" I knew that it was God working in him too.

Since Jan 4th, life seems to be put on fast forward. We still haven't even been able to move in to our new house but we have children on the way and I'm already in nesting and planning mode. We now begin fundraising with a goal of $25,000 to go get these kids and bring them home. It seems like an impossible task but thankfully with God all things are possible! :-)

Please do pray for us as we try to navigate these uncharted waters (to us they are uncharted even though many have done this before us) and get ready to expand our family. We only halfway know what we are getting ourselves into ;-)

Theology not Biology

As we move forward with the adoption process, one of the biggest and most important questions many people may have is, "Why?" "Are you unable to have children of your own?" "If you are able to have children, why would you want to choose adoption instead?" These are all great questions, and I'd like to try and answer them as best I can.

Without going into too much detail, our desire to adopt has nothing to do with an inability to have biological children. For us, "It's not about biology, it's about theology," to quote Tony Merida, author of Orphanology. Adoption for us is not a second choice, it is a first choice because of what it represents.

In Ephesians 5, Paul talks about the mystery of marriage as a living metaphor for the union of Christ and the Church. Because of this profound mystery, marriage is a joyous opportunity for us to be living, breathing Gospel representations to a lost world. We believe that adoption is a similar, if not MORE powerful picture of the Gospel.

It was John Piper, inspired by J.I. Packer, who said that in the order of salvation, "Adoption is not more important than Justification. Both are equally important. But while justification is the head of the Gospel, adoption is the heart of the Gospel." In justification, Christ has taken our sin upon himself and has given us His righteousness in exchange, and that is amazing grace! But in adoption, we become a part of the family of God, and we get to sit at His table as heirs of the Kingdom. That is sweet, amazing grace!

Obviously the Ugandan orphans we will eventually adopt will have absolutely no familial connection to us (other than that we all descend from Adam). And that is what makes this so cool! We believe that adopting is a picture of what the Father has done for us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit. He chose us to be his children, a part of His family, while we were yet sinners and therefore utterly foreign to him.

And now every time someone asks why we wanted to adopt, we get to tell them that wonderful true story!

Our Adoption Journey Begins

These are exciting times. Over the past few weeks we have gone from not really being sure when we would begin the adoption process, to actually beginning the process of adopting from Uganda. How did this happen? Why did this happen? I'm so glad you asked.

First of all, you need to know that Jennifer is the catalyst for all of this. She has literally desired to adopt children since she was 7 years old. When all the other girls were playing Barbie, she was playing Barbie Orphanage. If you fast forward about 17 years to when Jennifer and I were talking engagement, adoption was one of the key factors as to whether or not I would prove to be a suitable husband for her. While I had never really dreamed about adopting the way she had, it sounded like a great idea to me. We were both in agreement, however, that while we wanted to adopt, we wanted to spend roughly our first 5 years of marriage without kids, if we could help it. We were married in June of 2008, and here it is 2013 and we are officially adopting. It seems that our five year plan was thankfully also God's five year plan.

While adoption has certainly been our plan from the get-go, the way it went down was totally unexpected and definitely God's hand at work. Last year we decided to sell our house and build a bigger one with the aim of having more room for our future family. By the grace of God, we sold our house in October 2012, a few months short of when our new house would be ready. So we needed a place to stay in the meantime, and a generous family from our church offered to let us live in their basement.

One day we were discussing our desire to adopt with this family. After a while our discussion turned to orphanage in Uganda, of which this family is familiar. To make a long story short, we were connected to an orphanage through our friends and that's how this all began. We are thrilled that the Lord has seen fit to bless us with this opportunity, and we are so excited about what he has in store for us.