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Adoption Stories The Bidwell Family
Looking ahead, we are eagerly awaiting the homecoming of our child in the coming months. Though there were lots of financial questions for us to find answers to, God has ultimately provided the means for us to complete the adoption process through many different financial resources. Where He calls, He provides. We are so blessed that the Lord has chosen to grow our family through the miracle of adoption! The Lace Family
Each of us is in a similar hopeless position before a perfect and holy God. Because we have all fallen well short of the mark of perfect righteousness (Romans 3:23), we find ourselves separated from God because of a debt we have no way of paying. Furthermore, our best deeds before a perfect God amount to filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). So what hope do we have? Jesus absorbed our punishment on the cross, and we are gifted His perfect righteousness by grace, through faith. Paul writes to Titus as a motivation for Godly living the following words: “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy” (Titus 3:5). To the Ephesians Paul wrote, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that faith is not of yourselves, it is a gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Here is the connection for us through adoption – Theodore and Bethlehem have done nothing to earn their rescue from their hopeless plight. We chose them based on nothing other than the fact they had a need they were incapable of meeting on their own. They bring nothing to us but rags… While the price Jesus paid in no way compares to the cost of adoption, the cost of a physical rescue of these two children is one they cannot pay on their own. Needless to say, our efforts are ultimately not only to physically rescue Theodore and Bethlehem; we are hopeful that God will spiritually rescue them as well! The Melber Family
Four years ago, David came home from the country of Moldova forever changed. He had witnessed the plight of the orphan firsthand. God had moved in his heart in a tremendous way, and he came home from that trip ready to make a difference in the life of a child and in the life of our family through adoption. God directed our family in both of our adoptions. Our children were not tiny little babies when they entered our families. They were nearly seven and six when they became Melbers. They brought with them the clothes on their backs and stories from their pasts. God gave us an immense love for children that we had never even met. He united our family of five to a family of six, then seven in ways that we couldn’t. Each of our five children had their own sets of issues to overcome, but God in His overwhelming grace has given us what we needed every step of the way to become the family that He intends for us to be. Our prayer is that we will be living witnesses of His great love for us through our lives. The Dye Family
In the summer of 2007, we both started to have strong desires and conviction to grow our family, so our discussion returned to adoption. We looked into our options both domestically and internationally and discovered the need for adoption in Ethiopia. This was confirmed while chaperoning at Crossings Camp through a meeting with a family who was adopting from Ethiopia. They were able to share a wealth of information, and we were on our way. Since then, we have had many confirmations, disappointments and thanksgivings. We have had to change adoption agencies, and we have lost a referral for a child. We have trusted that God knows exactly who He has for our family and that He would provide for our needs if we would just continue to follow Him. On April 29, we received another referral for a little boy name Dagmawi who is 14 months old and a week later discovered he has a four year old sister who is being relinquished too. Not one, but possibly two….. Our biggest challenge has been finding finances to make this happen. Matt is a pastor of a small church, and I am a mom who educates her children at home (obviously unpaid). A one small income family trying to find an extra $20,000 plus in our family budget - WOW! That is enough to stop the process altogether! There really is no realistic way that our family could have done this. It is totally God’s math so far. God has allowed personal finances, scholarships, a family loan, and a matching grant to add up to exactly what we need to bring our two children (prayerfully) home from Ethiopia later this year. God is so faithful!Helpful Resources
All of the above files are in PDF format. You will need a PDF reader to view these files. If you do not already have one you may download a free reader by clicking the image below More Information If you feel that adoption could be a possibility for your family and would like more information, please call the Crossings Central Office at 502-491-7000 or email tmelber@crossingscamps.org.
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For us, the decision to adopt was a faith-building one. We both had always thought we would desire to be parents of an adopted child, but we imagined it “further down the road.” After experiencing the birth of our first biological child, we began to sense God working in our hearts and moving us toward adoption sooner than we thought. After just five years of marriage and in our mid-twenties, we were pretty hesitant about stepping-out and considering what seemed to be such a huge undertaking financially, emotionally and spiritually. We found ourselves asking, “don’t most people who can have biological children birth babies first and adopt later?” We spent time searching the scriptures to see what they said about adoption and God’s heart for the orphan. We also attended an adoption class at our church to learn more. Our hearts began to feel heavy with a desire to adopt based on God’s great love for us. After all, it didn’t matter to God whether we were white, black, young, old, cute or rough around the edges – He grafted us into His family through Christ. We’re His adopted kids! After considering all of this, we decided it was time to move forward and adopt a child.
There are over 9 million children in Ethiopia who have lost at least one parent. That demographic, by some estimations, could become completely parentless within a few years. Since a great number of these orphans will not live to see adulthood, in the truest since of the word, they are “hopeless.”
When all seven Melbers walk in a room, we can’t seem to go unnoticed. Aside from the fact that we have five children, our sons range from the most fair-skinned, blonde-haired boys to an Ethiopian and our daughters are polar opposites with one as a pony-tailed brunette and the other with coal black hair and almond eyes. We are a bit of a smorgasbord, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Over the years, we have discussed adoption as a path to parenthood. After three years of infertility and then the loss of our first child, we were able to have two biological children.