Thursday, December 22, 2016

The Interiorista: An Adoption Story

Every Thursday, Angelica Yerrington guest posts on my Blog as "The Interiorista." Usually she lets you glimpse into her home and the homes of others with decorating ideas. But today, she offers a very special glimpse into her personal life and something very exciting happening to her family. Enjoy!

Before I share my story with you, let me start by saying that if you are still waiting to be a mom, my heart goes out to you. I can’t imagine how painful it must be, and I am certainly not indifferent to your pain.  Some of my dearest friends are experiencing infertility right now and I so wish I could erase this extremely challenging episode of their lives. It is my prayer that God fills your mind and heart with His peace as you wait, and that He becomes your joy during this so very difficult time.

I met my husband when I was a toddler, but we didn’t start dating until we were in our early twenties. After a two year long distance relationship, we decided to get married. I was 25 years old and super excited to finally be able to start our lives together. So, I left my country and my family in Spain and Dan and I moved to the States as a military couple. Four years into our marriage, we welcomed our oldest son into our family. Two years after that, my oldest daughter was born, and in the following two years, our youngest daughter joined our crew.

As a military family we moved around quite a bit getting to know many wonderful people. Some of our friends chose to adopt and we got a glimpse of what adoption was about through their experiences.

In 2012, we were stationed in Okinawa, Japan. The church we attended served at an orphanage in the Philippines, and even though we never got the opportunity to serve there, we were able to visit an orphanage in Japan, and also help others adopt through donations. I remember feeling my heart being pulled towards adoption during those years. My husband and I talked and prayed about this a great deal, and even looked into the possibility to adopt in Japan, but we realized it wasn’t a good time as we were about to move again.

In 2014, we moved back to the States, this time to settle down and set some roots. As life got familiar and comfortable one more time, we found ourselves thinking and talking about the future. We wanted to love on another child and felt God calling us to adopt:

 “ A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
    is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families…”
     Psalm 68:5-6

We started the adoption process in September of 2015 and are now waiting, as I write this, to bring our son home in just over a month (Can’t. Wait!!!!!).

I know some of our friends think we are “complicating” our lives for choosing to adopt. We have three kids … why bring a toddler from another ethnicity to our “comfortable” lives?

I know others think we are “good Samaritans” doing a good deed. And I know others think we are just doing the “trendy” thing to do.

I truly don’t feel offended by what the opinions of others are. Truly. I also have my own opinion on things, but for what is worth, I’d like to share with you why we are adopting.

My husband and I firmly believe that our lives are not our own -- that our lives have been bought at a very high price. We want our lives to glorify God and even though we do this in a very imperfect way, this is the goal we aim for. We don’t have the parenting thing figured out, and we don’t have it all together. We are not “good” people either. On the contrary, we are sinners who acknowledge our need of their Savior….

We are just willing. I hope you hear my heart on this. I don’t mean to make you feel bad because you are not adopting. What I want is to encourage you to take part in adoption. Maybe you can’t take home a child but you certainly could help another family do so. Maybe you could provide necessities for an orphan to have a more comfortable life. Maybe, you could volunteer in an orphanage or become a foster parent. In whatever form, I just want to encourage you to TAKE PART.

Because of Isaac is helping raise money to help a couple, Ryan and Briana Huisman, adopt. Thisis their story. This couple has worked hard to raise the money for their adoption, but due to a back-log in their area, are needing to raise additional funds to move to another agency.


If you would like to help them adopt, please click here to read how you can help. You can also email Wendi at wkitsteiner@gmail.com with any questions you have.

Love,


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Angelica

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