Why "A Royal Lineage"

I have received a fair number of inquiries regarding the name of our blog. So here is my response.

There is an adoption theme throughout the whole Bible, Old Testament and New Testament. In the OT, Abraham is promised to be a great nation and it is his offspring that will become that great nation, Israel. They are referred to as the Children of God. Everyone who was not born into the Jewish faith was a called a gentile. To convert to Judaism, one had to be circumcised and was at that point no longer called a gentile.

Throughout the OT we also see prophecies and promises from God that HE will send a perfect King to rule over Israel and restore her to a place of perfect relationship with God. This King will be the Messiah.

Along comes Jesus, in the NT. He is perfectly sinless and is sacrificed as atonement for the sins of the world, thus making a way for gentiles to receive repentance and forgiveness for their sins. I grew up hearing this concept referred to as "being grafted in" as in vineyards or orchards, becoming part of the body of a different plant. The reality is that this is more of an OT concept that is continued in the NT through Jesus' ministry and sacrifice. But it was not until recently that I began to see this concept as adoption in its purest form.

Jesus is our King. When we accept Him as our King, we become part of the Royal Family. We become joint heirs in the Kingdom of God. So, in actuality we are adopted into the family of God. Our lives are changed for greatness, not our own greatness or because of who we are, but because of HIM and who HE is. We now have an inheritance that is everlasting and can know the Love of our Abba Father and our Creator.

Adoption has been perfectly modeled for us by our Heavenly Father and therefore we are compelled to model it in our earthly lives. Galatians 3:29

Our Home Study Experience

The home study is one step of many in the adoption process. It feels more like a necessary evil than a joy, but is necessary nonetheless. The process goes something like this. If you are adopting internationally you will have two agencies to work with, one in your state and one that works in the country you are adopting from. The agency in your state is called the "supervising agency" and  determines your eligibility to adopt. They are the gatekeepers so to speak. They also handle your post-adoption studies if you are required to have them.

The home study (HS) is a narrative written about you, telling about who you are, where you come from, where you work, how much money you make, why you want to adopt, your preparedness for adoption, etc. It feels like a total invasion of privacy but is no more invasive than applying for a mortgage. The HS is completed by a Social Worker by means of interviews and home visits. Then is translated into the lingua franca of the country you are adopting from. It must meet your states requirements as well as the requirements of the country you are adopting from. This is no easy task, especially for the SW.

Our first meetings with our SW were rough. She didn't know us and we didn't know her. We really resented her questions at first but after some time we began to realize that she was really the best for the job. She got us thinking in ways we had not before, encouraged us and challenged us where appropriate, and by the end of the whole process, we really came to appreciate her. God was in it from the beginning, calling us to do this, even the hard parts, and without Him we would have given up after the first meeting.

Several close friends who have adopted and also had served in the military likened the home study process to Basic Training. BT is not so much about where your physical breaking point is but more so about where your mental breaking point is. Do you have the mental stamina and resolve to keep on keeping on? These words rang so true for us in our HS process, as did the promises of our Savior, to never leave us nor forsake us, that He will never give us more than He has equipped us to handle, and that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us.

We are happy to be finished with our home study in only 5 meetings, and now just waiting for the home study to be written up, reviewed, and then certified, so it can be translated. What a relief to have that behind us. Now we can focus on our I600A and gathering all the documents we will need for our dossier. Once our I600A is approved and we get FBI fingerprinted, we can accept a referral!

You may ask... Is it worth it? Worth the money? The time? The stress? The social workers? The disruption? The scrutiny? I would ask you... What is the value you place on a life? A life that could be changed forever by love, family, hugs and kisses?

Jesus said, 'Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ Luke chapter 15 is one of my all-time favorites. In it we see a triptych of parables reminding us how far our Heavenly Father is willing to go to have us be in His loving care, abiding in Him. If He did that for me, the least I can do is follow His example. Our son or daughter is worth it!