Guest Post by Kari: An Adopted Child's View of Adoption

Let me preface this “guest post” with a little background… Bekah and I were suitemates in the great Lupton Hall freshman year at Auburn! The Lord was so good to cultivate our relationship and keep us close. We had a very special relationship… We didn’t have the same friend group or major or anything that MADE us stay close, but we continued to meet for coffee dates & walking dates, and we shared a very cool bond! I am so blessed to call her my friend (I remember helping her get ready on one of hers and Wills first dates), to watch her marry Will, and now to watch them become parents…
ADOPTION…
The very word brings deep emotion to me. Most of you don’t know my story, but I am adopted… not only by my gracious Heavenly Father, but my earthly parents as well. I was adopted here in the U.S. not far from the town that I grew up in. My brother and I were both adopted, and I will forever be indebted to my birth mother (who was strong enough to give me up), and to my precious parents, who began sacrificing for me the moment they heard about it.
ADOPTION…
I have this grasp of the view of adoption through Christ, that I don’t know if I would understand it so deeply without being adopted. God is so willing to give us the opportunity to be his child… the same goes for all the orphans out there… we have such a great challenge as Christians to care for them, and Bekah and Will’s steps to adopt have moved me deeply. I believe that every child deserves a home, and that one child at a time we can make a difference.
ADOPTION….
On a different note… not only has being adopted changed me, but also God has used my experiences to change people around me. I have been through quite a few things/hardships over the past few years that have given me the opportunity to hold some people close that I call “family”, but the world does not recognize as my family. So, to be politically correct… a family is a mom dad and THEIR kids. I wasn’t raised that way. My family is not blood related. Now, God has shown me how to use that background to build up my “family” in times of need. I don’t know that I could have offered myself in the ways that I did, if that weren’t my outlook on life…
ADOPTION…
Sorry this guest blog is scattered… if you knew me you’d know… well that’s just me! All over the place! My sweet husband Dan puts up with a lot!
But I want all of you to get something out of this… whether you have children of your own, adopt, have no kids, whatever, we have a great responsibility with great rewards. Even if adoption to you is taking care of your neighbors kids, being there for someone and taking them in as your own when needed, loving someone’s child as your own, teaching your biological children the importance of the fact that we are all deserving of love… we can all adopt! If anything…
ADOPT a new mindset today.
ADOPT someone who needs a friend.
ADOPT a new gratitude for your parents.
ADOPT thankfulness.
ADOPT a love for the Lord that no one can deny.
ADOPT ADOPT ADOPT!

Thank you all so much for listening! Thank you Bekah and Will! Thank you mom and dad. Thank you birth mother. Thank you sweet Dan. All praise and glory and honor be to HIM alone.
-Kari