By JD Dahler for THE CHRISTIAN POST
In today’s world, we speak about heroes all the time. When somebody does something unselfish, dangerous and lifesaving, it’s easy to see them in a heroic way, especially when what they did affected you personally. But what if we identified a group of heroes and elevated them to a higher level, which made what they did “elevated?”
My wife, Sherry, and I cautiously followed God’s calling for us to adopt a 10-month-old baby girl from China. We had three biological children already, and together as a family, we walked in faith and added a fourth. Foreign adoptions were new during this time, so as you can imagine, we received all kinds of feedback. Knowing this was God’s choice, we faithfully pressed on. After all, Mia was easy to love. (Note: Sherry and I adopted before Brad and Angelina, so we started the trend.)
Shortly after, we felt called to adopt twin boys from Korea. They suffered from mental delays and at two and a half years old, couldn’t walk or eat solid foods. I can tell you today, those boys taught Sherry and me a lot of what we didn’t know about parenting. We thought we were the “experienced parents,” but we quickly learned otherwise. God doesn’t give you more than you can handle, and this was no exception. By this time, we heard comments like, “they are so blessed to have you as parents,” or “they are so lucky,” or “you both are amazing people for adopting.” We appreciated the kind words, but knew inside we were the blessed ones. God wasn’t finished. We adopted two more children, one from Vietnam (Zane) and another from China (Isabella). Our family was now complete with eight! God finally said, “Eight is enough!”
Over time, Sherry and I recognized that what those biological mothers from all over Asia did was simply remarkable. They were our heroes! All of them risking judgment, ridicule, sorrow and sometimes persecution, chose life for their child whom they knew they couldn’t keep. They all had challenges to face. I guarantee the choice for life was not the easiest of paths. If they followed the majority in Asia, they would have chosen abortion, and our five kids would not be in this world today.
