Redefined

Redefined..... I ran across this word the other day.  It made me think a lot about adoption.

Adoption has redefined many things in my life :
Redefined family
Redefined sacrifice
Redefined needs
Redefined importance
Redefined God
Redefined me

I am going to try to put into words how adoption has redefined my life in a series of posts.
I am not trying to be profound or prophetic...just real.  "My redefinition" has been truly mind blowing in many ways.   I pray as you read you will experience the gravity of what God has done through adoption.

REDEFINED ----  FAMILY

2.4
That's the average amount of children in a family.    Humph.
I was almost there with my two girls for 12 years.   Twelve years of what society told me was "the norm".  I loved being an at-home mom and, then, graduating to a teacher at the school where my girls attended.  It was my dream job and made it possible to allow my girls to attend a Christian school. Who wouldn't want to be a PE teacher where you could "act like a kid" everyday and get paid for it?
(Ok....no comments from the peanut gallery)

Then came, THE sermon.   A sermon that revolved around the idea that you can do more and you NEED to do more.   Adoption was the "more" that our friend, Greg, spoke about.  He was not promoting adoption; but,  merely giving the example of how God called his family to do more.
They adopted two beautiful children from Guatemala.  Precious children who were very much in need of love and safety.   The family was obedient to God's calling.   "Two less" as we say in the adoption world.

This was the spark our girls needed to beg us to adopt.   God used them to open our minds to "more than 2.4".  We were quickly sucked in to the calling and the appeal of a baby girl was what consumed my dreams at night.  Our friends and family thought we were crazy.  We even heard the words, "You are ruining your life".   Goodness, the comments were harsh but The Lord led us away from the comments and into His pure and holy will.

Fast forward eleven months.

Stepping off the plane in Beijing was surreal.  We were in China after months of paperwork and prayers.  The sites and sounds were so different.  We were walking through the portal to a very different culture.  Streets were crowded with pedestrians busy on their way to work, the market, the park, to who knows where.  Busy busy busy. Walk walk walk.   On their way with an air of urgency.

We saw sights that were forever ingrained in our hearts.  Children begging. Disabled men bearing their scars with a tin cup nearby.  Poverty beyond our comprehension.  A culture completely upside down from that of what we knew and lived.  Children discarded because of their gender or special need.
It was a realization that I would be back.....one less would never be enough.

Our family continued to grow in the years that followed.  Adoptions in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2012  Our children all from China and needing to be loved and to feel secure.

8 less?   Yes.  Our family has been redefined and all our children's lives changed for better in every way. Every day is all consuming with the constant nag of a child "needing me".  It is exhausting and tiring beyond words.  It is God's calling in our lives fulfilled.   Our family is not even close to the "normal" family....the ideal family of our society.   Our family has redefined normal in a radical way,   It is our "new normal" and I would not change it in any way.

Being smack in the middle of God's will may not be easy but it is right where I want to be!

Family redefined.    It is a beautiful thing.