Show Notes
Episode 3: Why adoption is so important
In this Episode Heather discusses:
Links Mentioned:
Home - For The Love of Adoption
https://fortheloveofadoption.com/
Resource Library Landing Page (ck.page)
https://for-the-love-of-adoption.ck.page/resource-library
Heather Marshall (@fortheloveofadoption) • Instagram photos and videos
https://www.instagram.com/fortheloveofadoption/
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Adoption. It's surrounded with so much confusion and misinformation. And how many people never move forward with adoption because of this. Hi, I'm Heather. I'm not an adoption coach or consultant, and I'm not within adoption agency. I'm a mom to two amazing kids I've been blessed with through adoption. And on this journey, I've learned and continue to learn a lot. Most of all, I believe that if God has put adoption on your heart, it's there for a reason. And you shouldn't let all the stuff keep you from jumping in. I'm here to offer you hope and encouragement, and to talk about everything from types of adoption, things to know before you adopt, funding your adoption including grants, the home study process, making the most of your adoption wait, talking to your kids about adoption, and so much more. Adoption can be hard, but many of the best things in life often are. You know what, though? It can also be amazing! I'm here to share what I've learned. I hope hearing from someone that's gone this road before you encourages and motivates you to take a step of faith and see where it leads. I'm doing this all for the love of adoption. Let's dive in.
Hello, welcome to episode 3 of the For the Love of Adoption show. Today is going to be an emotional episode, where I just really want to share my heart with you. This is not something I have really talked about before in any detail. But it's something I feel I have to share. And this is going to tell you where I'm coming from on a deeper level than even sharing our adoption story.
I hope you enjoy this. Why is adoption so important to me? And why do I think it should be to others? Why is it such a big deal? That's what I want to dive into. First of all, adoption is incredibly important to create families, and to fill the need for families to accept children that need a loving home, and consistency and a stable home life. And adoption gives women that don't feel they can parent a child for whatever reason, another option, and that's a big deal. There are kids that need stable families and there are true orphans as well that have lost their parents and need families. So that's just the basis of why I'm so passionate about adoption.
But adoption is important to God guys! Adoption is a process that makes one a legal son or daughter in a family they were not born into. And the metaphor of adoption is used throughout the Bible to give a picture of how we become sons and daughters of God. Adoption is a big deal!
But with all this said, you might think oh, but what about the hard side of adoption? For example, let's say you are in the adoption process and a birth mom says she wants to move forward with you. And, then when she's still in that period of time where she can change her mind, she changes her mind and this child that you thought would be yours, you find out that is not going to happen. What about that side of adoption? Or what about the illegal orphanages and trafficking of children? If you haven't heard stories, there's awful stories around kids being trafficked for profit under the rouge of an adoption orphanage or agency that's not really legitimate. And it's heartbreaking. It's…absolutely… there's just no words for it. This is hard and it's wrong. It's corrupt, it is not okay, and we must fight against it! We have to fight against it! And if you are a family moving forward with adoption, you have to research and educate yourself on proper adoption procedures, and protocols and all the things so that you can better spot red flags, because that stuff is a big deal. And it obviously is not okay. It's heartbreaking!
At the same time. None of this negates the importance of adoption when it is done right. And for those called to adoption, there are children that need homes and adoption can be done right. We don't turn on them because of this awful stuff. We don't turn our back on adoption and say, never mind, forget it, it's too hard. There are too many unknowns. We don't do that. Because when adoption is done right, it can be amazing. Because a birth mom saw our profile book, she chose us to adopt her children because she felt that we would be good parents to them. And, we fall short all the time. Oh my goodness. But, we strive to honor that trust she put in us, we love her, we love her, we are so thankful that we have her in our lives, maybe something we do or say could encourage her in a way no one else in the world can, because of the place we have in her life now, having adopted these children she gave birth to. Maybe our call to adopt goes beyond raising our kids, and extends to what we can be in her life. In fact, I know it does. I know it does.
And why adoption, because it gave our children's birth mom an option that she felt was best. And without this option, we don't know what she would have chosen, we don't know what she would have done. It gave her an option, an option that she felt was the best, so much so that she chose us twice. It gave her an option, adoption, because God has a heart for adoption.
And when he puts adoption on your heart, please hear me please hear this. If you don't hear anything else, in this episode, please hear this! When God puts adoption on your heart, you cannot ignore it! If you feel led to adoption, then that is your calling. And you follow it and you don't let anyone take that from you. Regardless of the difficulty, regardless of it falling through at first, regardless of anything, you hear people saying negative regardless of your family, not understanding why you're pursuing this, regardless of it all. If God puts adoption on your heart, you do not ignore that! You will feel a lack of alignment in your life if you try to ignore a calling that God has put on your heart, especially something like adoption, please hear me on that.
That is the difference why we have the two kids we have. God put it on my heart. I could have said this is too hard. I can't do this. I'm not cut out for this. I'm not the kind of person that figures this out. No! But I didn't. I took a step of faith not having a freaking clue what I was doing. And let it lead to the next and the next. If adoption is on your heart don't ignore it, don't! Adoption, because it's how some of us are called to build our family. And I love my kids like I gave birth to them myself. In some way I will never, ever be able to fully understand, they were meant for us. And we were meant for them. They are our children and adoption is what made that so. And I'm so, so thankful for that. I'm so thankful for that. Yes, adoption can be hard. I'm never going to lie and say it's not. It can be tragic. Really every adoption begins with a tragedy. It does. The natural way to have a child and build your family is not adoption.
Adoption begins with a tragedy. It can be hard. But when it's done right, it is always worth it. When it is done right, it is always worth it. This is why I am so passionate about adoption. This is why I will shout this message out forever, regardless of what anyone says negative toward adoption, because adoption is an option. Adoption is an option that birth moms have. And that is a big deal. So don't let the naysayers and those that are negative bring you down. If I did that I wouldn't be talking on this podcast right now. There are already so many things that come out about people saying negative things about me being so passionate about adoption. I do not care! I know the message God has put on my heart. I'm here to say it. I'm here to encourage those that I'm there for. If I'm not for you, that is fine. But if I'm saying something that is encouraging you and speaking to you in some way, hear it and take it in because you're the one I'm talking to. You're the one I'm here for. Adoption can be hard, but when it's done right, it is always worth it. Again, this is why I'm passionate about adoption. It's just one way to build a family. But it's a pretty amazing one. It's pretty amazing.
Thanks so much for listening in today. And did you know that I offer a full library of free resources to help you along on your adoption journey, and I'm always adding more. This includes downloads of grant recommendations, adoption fundraising ideas, an agency questionnaire, a hospital checklist and much more. You can find that by going to ForTheLoveOfAdoption.com and scrolling to the bottom of the homepage. And if you have an idea for something you'd love to see added to this library, please send me a message and let me know. I'm always looking for ways to help you on your adoption journey. If you enjoy Instagram, be sure to find me there @fortheloveofadoption, where I love to hang out and share live videos and plenty of adoption tips. I'm always excited to support you in your adoption journey. See you next time.
