Color Blind

From the blog of Jonathan and Tara Nalley at http://jntordinarymiracle.blogspot.com/. 

Throughout this process Jonathan and I have understandably been faced with a number of questions regarding why we chose Russia as our child's birth country. We explained with some statistics/facts regarding this area in a previous post but I thought I'd elaborate on our decision a bit more tonight. AWAA was the first agency that Jonathan and I looked at when we decided to think about adopting. We were instantly impressed with everything the agency had to offer, which included references (which we found to be very important) and a honest Christian perspective on things.

We looked into other agencies, but it was clear that the Lord had led us to AWAA for a reason. At the time of our decision to adopt, the countries that were open to us were China, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, Russia, Rwanda, and the Ukraine. Brazil was in limbo at the time. I will first say that for as long as I could remember I felt a burden for Russia, I have no idea why. Although it may not mean anything, I will also say that for a majority of Jonathan's teenage/adult years he had a weird (to me) poster of the Kremlin in his room and the celebration going on after the fall of the Soviet Union. So while yes, I was always drawn to Russia, this posed a new dilemma with Jonathan and I both being the future parents and wanting to make this adoption decision together.

Immediately we could eliminate China because both parents must be over 30. Actually, we should have been eliminated from all of the other countries because all of the age requirements require both parents to be at least 25. I was barely 23 when we decided to adopt. Those age requirements were no match for our Lord's plan though, and after casually asking a AWAA representative, our worries were dismissed because we met the alternative but previously undocumented requirement of being married for over 2 years. China is not so lenient. So then we were faced with adopting from an Eastern European country (Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine), Rwanda, or Ethiopia. Rwanda was (and still is) temporarily suspending adoptions so that was not an option, and Ethiopia's wait time is up to two years. We both were ready to be parents the day we decided to adopt, so we wanted the shortest wait time possible. So that left us to decide between the Eastern European countries. So we prayed, and we read, and it wasn't long before we had clearly chosen the country that the Lord had for us all along.

I titled this post “Color Blind” because that's what I think adoption should be about. About 4 months ago we were asked if we would be willing to accept an asian child from Russia. We said “yes” without much thought. We both felt that just because God led us to adopt from Russia, didn't meant that he had led us to only adopt a caucasian child. We wanted God to choose our child, and didn't want to put any limits on what He can do. The chances of us receiving a child of Asian descent are slim now, but I would be thrilled either way. I see families that exemplify transracial adoption and it's a beautiful thing. Both Jonathan and I feel it's the outright display of what Christ did for us. There is never any doubt that that child is adopted. We hope and pray that the Lord will use us in the field of adoption as many times as He wills, and no matter how many countries or races he leads us to. We want to follow Him no matter what and no matter what the cost! We praise Him for adopting us into His family, and making all races brothers and sisters in Christ.