How I was conned into adopting

Hey everyone. This is Ryan with my first post. Actually, my first blog, so I can cross that off my bucket list of stuff that I didn't care one way or another if I ever did.

A few notes about my feelings in regards to our adoption:
-Scared
-Excited
-Sad for the fact that the are kids anywhere in the world that don't have parents who are there to love them and raise them, whether it be in orphanages in the Congo, or in bad homes here in Idaho
-Scared
-Enjoying learning about the Congo
-Did I mention that scared thing?

I had never really thought about becoming an adoptive parent until I met Jess. I understood the concept, but just never really felt that interested in it. Orphanages were merely settings for characters in novels and movies.

One of the things that opened my eyes was on my mission trip to Tonga in the summer of 2002. While there, my mission team visited a small school for disabled children. Most of them had both physical and mental illnesses that required more care than they were able to recieve from their birth parents. Much like all countries, Tonga wasn't entirely sure what to do with these outcasts and opted to move them to this school. The kids there were amazing and my world view began to change.

Throughout our marriage, Jess has enjoyed browsing websites that talk about adoption, show the kids that are up for adoption, anything at all to do with adoption. She would often show me pictures of orphans and talk about how hard it was that she couldn't just bring them all home and keep them safe. This desire to save the lost often meant that we would take in stray animals until we could either find their owners or find them a new home. The need to provide for these lost ones even if only for a little while helped pave the way in my heart for adoption.

Eventually we had our own children, who I couldn't love more, but the needs of the orphans still exists. The love I have for Robby and Ella overflows and I want to share it with these children. We aren't trying to "save" these children from the Congo, or anywhere else. Instead, we want to give them the love that they haven't been able to recieve whether because of war or disease or ambivalence.

The needs of orphans are not as simple as biological children that you hold and love from day one, but they stem from that human need to be connected and loved. We hope that this adoption will give that connection to two children that didn't have it before.

It may sometimes seem like I am being dragged into this adoption thing by my zealous wife, but the truth is that I want this as much as she does. Jess is the heart of this family, but the four of us all want to share the love we have with others who were not so fortunate.

Ryan