Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. — Matthew 18:5 (CEB)
As I am writing this, Tanya and I are coming up on celebrating our one-hundredth day as parents. When we started imagining our journey as foster parents, neither of us imagined how much the many people in our lives would love on these children. This is something we have especially seen through many of you all in the church. When we first announced we had our kiddos, dozens of people in the church began flooding us with various gifts to help us get situated as an instant family. Since then, many more have taken time to embrace these children as much, if not more, than any other child that enters our doors.
One question Tanya and I have both received on several occasions is whether or not we are planning to adopt them. While I am sure we will both have to say this again, please know our two kiddos, at this time, are not legally available for adoption as their biological parents still maintain their parental rights.
And, truth be told, when Tanya first started the process of becoming licensed foster parents, we did not even entertain the notion of adopting – our hope was to be parents to children for a season while their birth parents took some time to get their life in better order. That all changed when we received our kiddos and absolutely fell in love.
In our effort to foster, we have inadvertently fostered a spirit of adoption in our hearts. Not only that, but I believe this spirit of adoption has been birthed in the hearts of the many people that have claimed our kids as our own here at First UMC McAllen. So, now, the long answer for the question of adoption is, should they become available for adoption, we would happily make our family their forever family.
I suppose this is my long winded attempt at saying thank you to a church that I continue to be proud to pastor – a church who has accepted these children, strangers in our midst, not only as children of God but as children of this church. Thank you.
To the Glory of God,
Pastor Robert
