Choosing Adoption

When clients come to the Pregnancy Care Center and have a positive pregnancy test, we make follow-up calls and sent notes of encouragement to them throughout their pregnancy to check in and let them know we’re here and we care about them.

Oftentimes due to the transient nature of our client’s lives we lose touch with them. However recently, a volunteer made a follow-up call to a clients she had seen several months earlier and was able to reach her. Julia*, a high school student, had come for a pregnancy test in the fall. When the test was positive, Julia stated she did not want an abortion, but that the father of the baby was pressuring her. Her peer counselors shared the truth of Jeremiah 29:11 and assured her that God was with her and had great plans for her.

Julia scheduled an ultrasound and brought her mom with her. During this visit, we learned that both of her parents were supportive of her and against abortion. After the ultrasound Julia stated she was still undecided about what she would do about the pregnancy as far as carrying or adoption, but that she was considering adoption.

During the recent follow-up call, Julia shared that she will be due soon and has made an adoption plan. She sounded completely at peace and shared the blessed the Jeremiah scripture had been to her as she walked through the pregnancy.

Please join us in praying God’s continual peace upon Julia as she completes the adoption process.

Wonderfully Made

Taken from Melissa Ohden’s blog at www.melissaohden.com.


"I was aborted by a saline infusion abortion in 1977.

However, that attempt failed at ending my life, and instead of being born dead, I was born alive on the 5th day of the abortion procedure (yes, this is an absolutely true story…feel free to visit my website to see pieces of my medical records).

Although I was initially left for dead, the nurses and doctors quickly realized that I was alive, and they provided me with the medical care needed to sustain my life. Although I struggled with respiratory distress, seizures, jaundice, and required multiple blood transfusions and feeding through an intravenous line in my head, I was wanted.

My adoptive parents opened their hearts and their home to me, knowing full well that they were taking a chance on adopting a little girl who would probably not live for very long, and if I did survive, would more than likely be disabled. Knowing this did not deter them. They loved me, unconditionally, and it was their love, and the love of the doctors annd nurses who cared for me that helped me to not only survive after that failed abortion attempt, but thrive.

I may have been an “accident” (given name) to my biological parents, who were young college students at the time, but by the grace of God, my life took on new meaning.

It wasn’t until I was 14 years old that I found out the truth about my life, that I wasn’t simply given the beautiful gift of an adoption plan by my biological parents, but I had been aborted first. Certainly, it was God’s plan for my life that I am who I am, but I struggled with it for many years.

All of the given names of “aborted child,” “unwanted,” “unloved,” “accident,” “just a blob of tissue,” “choice,” “replaceable,” all took a toll on me from age 14 on. As much as I loved God, and knew He loved me and saved me for great purposes, I was burdened by the given names and fell silent to the world around me. I tried hard to excel in every other part of my life, in order to avoid facing the one true thing that the Lord saved me to do–share the Gospel of truth about abortion and about Him with the world.

It wasn’t until I wrestled with God over those years and finally accepted who I am and who He truly is to me that I was able to fully received my Secret Name, embrace it, and live it out fully in the world through Him.

I am now an international pro-life and Christian speaker, a Christian counselor, and most importantly, a mother. I am so grateful to the Lord for not only saving my life, but allowing me to wrestle with Him long enough to learn my name and be prepared for the fights that I fight in the world today.

I am no longer an “accident,” I am WONDERFULLY MADE!"


Want to hear more about Melissa's story? Go to www.focusonthefamily.com to hear a podcast where Melissa talks more about her incredible life.

Adopting Children

Legally, adoption is defined as the transfer of the parental rights of a child from one set of parents to another. Once an adoption is finalized, the adoptive parents are legally (and otherwise) the parents in every sense of the word. But leaving the definition at that misses the heart behind adoption, particularly for us as Christians.


Let's step back and look at the big picture. Ephesians 1:4-5 says, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will."


As John Piper so eloquently puts it, "adoption … is greater than the universe … Adoption was part of God's plan. It was his idea, his purpose. It was not an afterthought. He didn't discover one day that against his plan and foreknowledge humans had sinned and orphaned themselves in the world, and then come up with the idea of adopting them into his family. No, Paul says, he predestined adoption. He planned it."1


For some reason, adoption can have a negative stigma associated with it, partly due to the horror stories we've all heard. But what we have to remember is that adoption is designed to bring healing to a child that has been abused, neglected, abandoned or unable to be cared for by birth parents. It's because of this that adoption is even an option.


Families considering adoption first need to agree (particularly mom and dad) that it is something your family should consider further. It's also important to evaluate the reasons for considering adoption as well as any expectations. Adoption has to be focused on the needs of the kids rather than the needs and desires of the adults. Take the time to evaluate your motivation in adoption. If it is to "round out your family" because you want a girl or to fill an unmet need to be a parent, your tendency will be to put your needs before the child's needs, which doesn't help anyone.


Once you decide that adoption is the right decision for your family, the next step is to decide which type of adoption you will pursue and to select an appropriate agency. From there, the agency will walk you through the other steps such as paperwork, a home study, background check and training.


By Katie Porter
www.focusonthefamily.com



1http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/topicindex/89_Sonship_Adoption_by_God/175_Predestined_for_Adoption_to_the_Praise_of_His_Glory/, last accessed May 25, 2010.