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The Adoption Gene
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By Donna Sheron
When You Always Wanted to Adopt
There is much talk these days on the subject of genetics and their role in
determining human characteristics and behavior. Our genes certainly dictate the
color of our hair, our height, and other physical characteristics. The real
question in the debate is how much genes affect the way we think and act-our
disposition toward certain things.
When it comes to adoption, it does seem that certain people have a
predisposition, a yearning, a deeply held desire-from a young age-to adopt.
They cannot trace where this desire comes from. They just know it is there. For
lack of a better word they have the "adoption gene." Although they cannot trace
its true origins, I believe the Bible does:
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you
have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
— Romans 8:15
When we desire to adopt an orphan into our family for life we are only
reflecting the heart of our heavenly Father. Thus, this "adoption gene"
originated with our true Father, our heavenly Father, who adopts us into His
family through the gift of His one and only Son.
Now, even before I experienced firsthand the love of God adopting me into his
family to be his little daughter, I had a deep desire to be involved with
adoption.
When I was eleven years old I very much wanted a little sister, only not in the
usual way. I wanted my mom and dad to adopt a little orphaned girl from
Vietnam. Mom said, "No." (I joke that she never gave me anything I wanted!)
Well, a little sister seemed out of the question for me, but that desire to
adopt stayed with me for years to come.
As I grew up, the longing to adopt an orphan never left me even though I
married a wonderful man and was able to conceive and bear biological children.
One day I heard Brian Luwis, America World co-founder and CEO, on the radio
talking about how many orphans there are in the world and how in the Bible,
James Chapter One, tells us we are to take care of orphans. It states that
caring for orphans and widows is pure, undefiled religion. My heart leapt for
joy! I knew it was time to adopt. My husband, Dan, and I had never talked about
adoption at length; we had several "home grown" children at the time. But I
went out to the garage and said, "Dan, I want to adopt a child from another
country." He said, "Okay." It was the easiest conception in history!
Immediately I sent in the application to America World and a year later we
brought home our first adopted child, Danna Li.
If we are made in God's image, then we must have some of the same attributes
that He does. I believe that adoption is the most beautiful manifestation of
God's unconditional love. Picture yourself an orphan, and a loving father goes
to the ends of the earth to bring you home. Just as I had this deep void within
my life until I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I also had a deep void in
my soul that could only be filled by adopting an orphaned child. Perhaps God
just wanted to show me more of Himself. Perhaps I have an adoption gene that
makes me desire to be an adoptive mom, for the desire could only have come from
God Himself.
We are now in the process of another adoption and this time we would like to
adopt a little boy. I had heard that adoption is addictive, that you can't
adopt just one! Well, for us that is true. It is also contagious. When I tell
people that when our precious daughter was handed to us it was greater than the
miracle of birth, they too want to experience the same joy that we have. Each
birth is unique, each child a miracle from God. When a stranger hands you your
baby in front of a room full of people, everyone else fades away. All you see
is him or her and all you feel is the presence of God and the miracle of what
love truly is.
I don't know if my desire was caused by an adoptive gene or not. But I do know
this: the two greatest voids in my life were both completely and joyfully
filled through adoption, by God adopting me into His family and by our adopting
Danna Li and (hopefully soon) her little brother.
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