I have been doing adoption agency research for When The Time Comes and When We Are Ready. One agency, recommended by a friend, seems very professional and also VERY evangelical Christian. As in, the info packet came with a DVD explaining why God wants Christians to adopt. And I sort of got all offended by it, like, WHAT? Why don't Christians already know that adoption is a good idea? It was as if some people would need to be talked into it, and the best way to talk them into it is the let them know that THE LORD HAS PLANS FOR ORPHANS. And while I do believe that the Lord has plans for orphans, I think that even a cursory reading of the Bible would give that impression, and also the impression (because it says so directly) that we are to care for widows and orphans, so it shouldn't need to be explained. It's pretty basic, right? But we live in America, land of the Bless Me Christian, home of self-focused faith and Jesus As My Personal Savior*. So whatever. I should not judge. And yet, I do! I keep right on judging, in fact. Which is why I think that this is not the agency for us.**
So we keep on looking. I think I may have found the agency we'll use, but I don't want to judge prematurely. There was another that I thought was good, and the lady on the phone was very warm and well-spoken, but then I ran across a ton of negative reviews about that agency, and I decided it was just too risky to work with them. So onward we go. The current agency I favor links to blogs of adoptive families that seem a lot like us; this is a good sign.
*I'm kind of sick of the whole Personal Savior deal. Did Jesus save you? Sure. But He saved a lot of other people, too, came to save THE WHOLE WORLD, in fact, and I have trouble finding evidence in the Bible that he is any one person's Personal Savior. He is here for ALL OF US. Emmanuel means "God with US," not "God with ME." Thus the whole Body of Christ thing and people being together in one accord.
**I also had terrible phone chemistry with the guy in charge of the program we are interested in; the whole thing was all kinds of awkward.
2008-12-17 - 12:10 p.m.
