Did you guess by the title
??
We are amazed and surprised and so blessed to announce that we are adopting a baby girl
! Yes, another baby. Yes, another newborn. Yes, a girl. Yes, yes, yes.
In Part 2 of
Seth's story, I mentioned being obedient to God and saying yes when we felt His peace. That's what we are doing here. It's an absolute step of faith and desire to be obedient in response to God's amazing grace and mercy in our lives.
Let me answer the big question:
**WHY NOW
? Why would we adopt another newborn baby at this time, right after adopting Seth
?
We are saying YES to this baby girl because that's what we feel led by God to do. We don't feel obligated, we feel peace. We don't feel like we are "rescuing her", we feel like she is part of God's plan to rescue us from ourselves, from our natural bent towards selfishness and self-centered living. God knew about this baby, just like He knew
Joanna, Rita,
Luke, and
Seth - before they were born, when they were being fearfully and wonderfully made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth (Psalm 139).
Baby girl's birthmother requested us specifically. Her birthmother is Luke's birthmother. Yep, Baby Girl is Luke's birthsister. And that's an amazing reason for us to say yes - to give Luke a link to his birth family, to provide opportunities to minister to this birthmother, to give another baby a loving home with her very own brother.
Some facts about adoption #3
:
*Baby Girl was born on July 13 (Hampton's birthday, so cool
!), don't know birth weight yet
*Our social worker told us about Baby Girl on Friday, July 17
*We prayed and talked to a couple of advisors/mentors in our lives, then we said YES on Saturday
*Baby Girl is currently staying with the same foster family that had Luke for a few weeks before we adopted him (such a great connection with their family
!!)
*We are waiting on paperwork and hoping placement will happen this week
!
*If you haven't figured it out by all of the "Baby Girl" references, we do NOT have a name yet :)
You may be thinking
: those McClendons are CRAZY. Nope, just normal people following Jesus.
You may be thinking
: how are they going to handle three kids under three years old
? With lots of prayer, and many humble calls to family and friends.
You may be thinking
: Wow, they are going to have their hands full
! Yep, hands full of AWESOME.
Seriously, guys. We are so BLESSED. We have always wanted a big family, and we have always wanted to adopt. God is doing such a work in our lives through these "crazy" circumstances. However, we pray that when the world sees our family, they don't see "crazy" - they see the gospel.
To truly understand what God has done for us is to understand
the heart of adoption. As believers in Christ, as followers of Jesus,
we are adopted into His family.
"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of ADOPTION as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!' The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." ~Romans 8:14-17