Updates:
We are finishing up our home study and Annie has filled out what seems like hundreds of documents for the adoption. The home study was not bad but it was very thorough. These people know more about me than my family and for good reason. There are some crazy people out there who wish to harm children and they could easily use adoption to do so. Along with the paperwork we have been focusing on fund raising. We have what I believe some of the coolest adoption t-shirts anywhere and they are great quality. All the proceeds from the t-shirts go directly to the Weeks Adoption Fund set up at Regions Bank. Many people ask how they can help and the best way is to spread the word about the t-shirts. In the coming months my wife will be baking cookies and cakes to sell for holidays and special events. If you have ever had any of Annie’s treats then I do not need to tell you how great they are. We will be sharing more on that in the coming weeks. Please continue to pray for us as continue this process. Some specific things that you can pray for are:
- Encouragement through the process
- Patience while waiting for paperwork to come back
- Pray for the child that has just been born and will one day live with us
- Pray for the mother who just had to give her child up for adoption
- Pray for our two children as they are excited and filled with wonder
- God’s gracious provision as we raise funds
Theology:
With each new post I will attempt to explain some of what the Bible teaches about adoption and how it relates to every believer. Please know that I am not an expert on orphan care but I am doing some study on what the Bible teaches us about adoption. Let me start by saying that one of the greatest resources I have come across is the book Orphanology by Tony Merida and Rick Morton. Tony was the pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, MS and Rick is the discipleship pastor at Temple. Tony has since moved to Raleigh, NC where is a professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and is planting Imago Dei Church. For anyone wanting to investigate what the Bible teaches about orphan care and our adoption as children of God should read Orphanology.
Each week I will attempt to provide some insight into what the Bible teaches about the connection between our lives as believers and the adoption of a child. The word I will describe in this post is hope. The core of the Gospel is hope. The Bible describes our nature before Christ as dead. (Eph. 2:1-2) Whether we realize it or not we live in a hopeless world apart from the grace of God. We cannot work hard enough or make enough money to earn favor with God. We search for peace and we strive to find purpose to no avail. We may recognize the emptiness but we do not know what to do about it. Yet when we were dead in our sin Christ made us alive. (Eph. 2:5) Christ lived the life we cannot live and he died the death we should have died. He came to give us life and hope. Because of the sinless life, brutal death, death defeating resurrection, and ascension of Christ we can experience hope. When we come to faith in Christ we who were hopeless now are given a new family, new identity, new life, and an inheritance. (1 Peter 1:3-4)
When we adopt a child we are putting the hope of Christ on display. I am in no way saying that we are offering the same kind of hope that Christ offers us through salvation. I am saying that when we adopt a child it gives them hope in this world and it displays the hope of Christ to the world. What we desire to offer a child is a new family, a new identity, and a new life. We are adopting a child from Russia. There are 750,000 orphans in Russia most of which will not be adopted. The statistics show that 80% of orphans who are not adopted will end up in crime, prostitution, homeless, or commit suicide. The picture for these orphans is hopeless. Through our adoption process we desire to give a child hope in this world as well as hope for eternity. We desire to raise a child with the love of a family and with the love of the Father. We are imperfect people offering hope through a perfect God.
