Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Can't Adopt Just One


Adoption is on our hearts, minds and hands. We talk about it, pray, cry, listen, and dream. Ethiopia lies at the end of our path filled with twists and turns we have yet to see.

Beginning the journey, we asked the questions. God promised to fill our quiver, but how many arrows from Ethiopia? After seeking the Lord's guidance, the answer came through a child's innocent cry.

With gentle tears threatening to spill, my Joshua simply said "Mommy, there are too many kids who need a family, we can't adopt just one!"

Joshua, my little prince, God has blessed you with a special gift, the gift of compassion. For such a young warrior, your heart is full. Full of love for the youngest and lonely. Full of compassion for the hurting and abandoned. Full of joy to be the big brother to many.

You are teaching me, my seven year old. Mommy will fight to bring your brothers and sisters home. And we won't be just adopting one!

34 comments:

Sharon Sloan said...

Oh your Joshua sounds like our Gabrielle! Same heart.
http://joyinthetruth.blogspot.com/2009/05/pure-and-faultless.html

Will be keeping your in prayer. God will lead you perfectly. :)

Jenny R said...

That touched my heart. Sweet Joshua, to have such a tender heart at such a young age. That is about the age I was when I decided I wanted to adopt. By the time I was 11 I knew for sure. People thought I was crazy when I'd see orphans on TV and cry. We have our court date tonight for our little girl in Ethiopia. We are already thinking of the next child we will bring home.

I WOULD GATHER CHILDREN said...

Just saw your email on CAFEkids. You can follow our life at www.holdingfasttoyou.blogspot.com if you want!

Gotta run!
Smiles,
Jen in mi

Kimberly said...

so beautiful...that is overflow! God's great waterbucket of love is kept so full in your family that it just spills out all over the place! Thank you for sharing your heart...and God bless your little warrior!

Anonymous said...

Joshua, like his Mother--has the heart of compassion for souls and the hurting! He sees as Jesus sees...The Blessing is on your family. Love you.

day by day said...

How sweet! He will make a wonderful big brother!! : )

Anonymous said...

What an adventure! And what a boy that grows in your shadow. I look forward to reading more.

Mama in Uganda said...

Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog...sorry it has taken me this long to do the same! What a precious son the Lord has blessed you with, the heart of our Father's compassion poured out through him. I keep asking the Lord what more I can do, my faith is so little.

Unknown said...

Your Joshua is a like a breath of fresh air!

What a precious, tender heart so full of God's love and mercy!

Thanks for sharing this story with us!

Hugs and love!
Jill

Unknown said...

I agree-that's just too awesome!

Anonymous said...

Hi Bedenkop Family,
Oh, the power of prayer!!!!! Joshua, you were truly made in God's image. What a caring, overflowing with love, little man!!!
I wish you all blessings of love in your endeavors to adopt (not just one) child from Ethiopia. My prayers continue for a smooth and swift process for what you are doing for His Kingdom. Your love shines like the brightest sunshiniest day!!!!
Blessings to you all and to your extened family.
Keep in touch!
All my love,
Ruthie

Anonymous said...

We are so excited with your whole family that our prayers are being
answered and doors are being opened. Your family has a lot of love to
give and share and whomever He brings into your home will be blessed by
that. We continue to pray and also ask blessings on your day to day
sharing of the gospel.

We send you our love,
Vicki and Bruce

Anita London said...

You are such precious people and your hearts are so big for the Lord, for His kingdom, and all of His children. I feel honored and blessed to know you! May the Lord richly bless you with His perfec plan and every resource that you need to fulfill His desires. Much love, Anita & Gary London

Anonymous said...

Fantastic!!!

I knew you would take more than one - I am still praying for twins, HA!

Blessings and love to all!!

Doug n Gayla

Adeye said...

Oh wow, what a sweet heart and spirit he has. A young man after God's own heart, even at such a tender age.

I can hardly wait to see how things unfold. What an exciting journey.

Hugs

Kimmie said...

Oh, a young man after my own heart (and the heart of God, for sure). Bless you, bless you, bless you...upward and onward bound.

Kimmie
mama to 7
one homemade and 6 adopted

Michelle Riggs said...

What a sweet boy! Our daughters are asking us to adopt again too.

Michelle

RiggsFamilyBlog.com

mommy24treasures said...

oh isn't he the sweetest? What a precious heart he has. Oh how I long to bring another child into my home.

redmaryjanes said...

I see that we are kindred spirits. I can't wait to follow your journey to your children.

Maggie said...

Thank you for your kind words in response to my blog post (ledtoethiopiabyhim.blogspot.com). I have to tell you that we prayed about adopting siblings from the start of the process and decided that it was just something we couldn't do. While reading the book, "Attaching in Adoption" I decided that siblings was something we could do...it just felt like God was calling us to do so. We prayed some more and talked about it but it wasn't until I came randomly upon this blog post that I knew this calling was truly from God. The title alone confirmed it for me. Thank you for sharing this...God surely knows what he is doing! Blessings to you!

Erica said...

Amazing how God uses our kids. Can't wait to hear about who God has picked out for you. Having been to Ethiopia twice the older kids really are amazing!! Maybe you have waiting children out there already!! ;)

Unknown said...

Hi Sarah,

Don't worry about trying to figure out how to post the award. Just accept it as a blessing without having to try to figure out all the bloggy stuff. :D All you have to do to show off your award (like if you wanted to on the sidebar or something) is just put your mouse over the award image from my site, then right click and go to where it reads 'Save Picture As' and click that, which should hold the image right where you have the rest of your other photos on your computer. Then you simply retrieve it (it should show up there) from the same place as your other photo's on your computer. But please don't worry about it. It was just a joy to bless some others that I recently became familiar with.

I absolutely love your blog title name; it makes me feel so thirsty! Like I need a big gulp of Mountain Blast Powerade while I get my thirsty heart quenched from His word as well. :D

Glad to be friends,
In Him,

Sarah Cecilia

Amy said...

Sarah Dawn, I am SO looking forward to following your journing to your precious childREN(!) in Ethiopia! Sweet big brother, Joshua, will sing and dance them home to their forever family...I think he will be a delightful buzzing in God's ear until He gets the job done! :) What JOY!
Much Love to You,
Ame
p.s. I love your new header and I'm having fun splashin' around while we wait for our newest family members planted by God.

Unknown said...

Sarah, I just cried after reading this post; love it, love it, love it; so sweet and tender hearted. I too am the same way....how can you just leave another child behind and not want to scoop them up and carry them along for the new life awaiting them? That must be so hard, so much love to give put bound by red tape and paper work....I know the day will come for us to adopt but I'm not sure what day this will be yet. I'm still waiting for my husband to be on the same 'page' with me on this. For him he's not quite 'there' where I am desiring desperately to craddle and hold those poor little orphans who desperately desire a loving mommy, daddy, sister, brother, God, Christ, a home. No he's a little behind me in the desire, so please pray that God will touch his heart in this area so that him and I are on the same 'page' so to speak, emotionally, mentally, and heartfelt. Oh, and I don't know if I ever told you but I so love your blog name and header...it's just such an awesome name, and I love what Jill did for you with the header; it's so perfect!

Also, thanks for the advice on my upcoming wedding anniversary. Wow, cut out hearts all over your house? That's pretty filling 'eh? Very cute! That's definately a good idea; maybe I can do something similar but unique in its own way like a scavenger hunt and for every item he finds will have something new attached that I know he enjoys; such as a 30 back massage, or a 30 min. back carress. I definately can't buy him anything because he is WAY to picky, so I'll have to do something clever like your suggestion....that gives me a lot of open doors to work with. Thanks Sarah.

~Sarah

The Andersons said...

Hi! nice to meet you too! Blessings as you begin your journey. You can make your own africa heart on imagechef.com. Have fun!

Joyeful said...

Oh this post just tugged at my heart so much!! Sweet Joshua, his tender heart is so in tune with his Father God's.

Robin said...

HI! Thanks for leaving a message on my blog!! yes, I teared up too when I read what Joshua said :-) What a precious, precious heart of love for kids he's never met!! (as I write this my two girls are fighting over legos!! HA!) I just finished the Happy Intercessor and loved it too!!! :-)

Monte and Missy said...

Thanks for stopping by and reading about our adoption journey with the Father! What a beautiful story you've shared here! We are excited to "meet" so many of His children that He is giving a heart for adoption!

Andrea said...

Thanks for your note at my blog. I'm glad it make you smile. Your post here brought joy to my heart. Your sons compassion is so touching, and right where my heart is too. Can't adopt just one. Now I wait on the Lord to open the doors for more. God bless you!

Andrea

Unknown said...

Oh dear...I am in tears. Your son's heart is precious...reminds me of my oldest. I weep at the realization that my kiddos have acquired our passionate heart for the orphan! I CAN'T wait to see how the Lord is going to use them.

Sweet Joshua, you are right...you can't just adopt one :)

How I wish we could adopt them all!! We are ready for our next one but the Lord has said wait a little bit longer sooooo the next best thing....awareness...raising awareness about the orphan situation and finding these babies homes!!

It is very nice to meet you, btw...thanks for finding us and I can't wait to follow your journey to your peanuts! Blessings, stacy

Christy O said...

We adopted two at a time from Ethiopia and now are adopting three. Our experience has certainly been that if you adopt older kids, that more than one is really a blessing for them - someone who shares their language, some memories, cultural experiences and general things that would never occur to us because they are so outside our life experience. I always recommend more than one. This time around we were adopting two brothers when God put a third (unknown) child on our heart. So, now it is three!
Christy in WI
http://mommyturtle.blogspot.com

God's Girl said...

Oh... how precious! Are you in the process of adoption right now? One of my dear friends is in the process of adopting 3 from Ethiopia right now. We are in the process of adopting another one from Russia.

Praying for you!!! : )

Vashti said...

Hi there. thanks for stopping by my blog! So excited about your adoption.....I LOVE ADOPTION! Both of our sons are adopted and although we want to have biological children I know that we will adopt at least 2 more children. Praying as to if we should adopt our other 2 and then have biological. It is all so exciting. I will be praying for a smooth adoption for you guys and I will be praying that God protects your babies in the meantime!
God Bless.
Vashtix

Paula V said...

Becoming clearer...

Understanding more....

Thanks,
Paula