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Adoption

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Don’t Forget: Three Wonderful Things…Yea Four! (Prov. 30:18)

Posted on December 12, 2019

Don’t forget your study routine! 

I know there’s so much to think about  this month. I hope you’re not forgetting to keep up with your Digging Deep study (or whatever study you do) for December. I think December is the month in which we lose the most diggers. Dropping routines seems to be the routine for this merry month.  It’s easy to lay the shovel down when our hands get full of shopping, getting together, traveling and entertaining; or, for some, weathering the winter while in poor health, being winter care-givers for loved ones who are struggling, or just trying to survive a season in which people are supposed to be merry, while you may feel like there’s not a lot to celebrate. December is challenging; but whatever the challenge, your year will end on a more hopeful note if you stay in the Word. 

I love December because of traditions, because my family comes to share those traditions and because the world somehow loosens its collective “tongue” about the Lord during the month when our world  of “Christendom” celebrates His birth, albeit mistakenly (since we do not know when He was born and since the Lord has not given us the go-ahead to celebrate the birth of Christ as a religious holy day).  It’s easy to find creative ways to promote conversation about the Lord with those who usually do not interject His name in conversation. I like that about December. 

Don’t forget the babies whose little lives are being rescued. 

If you did not read about the five little embryos who’ve been left in the freezer, but are now being given the gift of being placed in the womb of a Christian mother, I hope you will take the time to read. I know the parents who are choosing life, in this instance. I know the plans to bring these children up in a faithful home. I see the potential this situation has for eternal good. I have seen the power of prayer at work as I searched for a Christian home for these children. I am so thankful that my brother and sister in Christ said “yes” (after much prayer) to the huge proposition of taking these children.  I hope you will read and pray for them, whether or not you can help financially. I want to be clear that these parents did not ask me to help them fund this huge endeavor. Rather, I asked them–when I saw a need–if I could try and help. You can read about these five children and their prospective home here: https://thecolleyhouse.org/practical-pure-religion-your-chance-to-help  We are still about three thousand  dollars shy of the amount needed, so I hope your year-end giving can include this very special way to accomplish James 1:27.

Don’t forget to think of spiritual gifts you can give to those you love. 

It’s a great time of year to evangelize and to build up the kingdom by giving a book, a DVD, a new study Bible, or a Bible game for the kids. Several couples we know have given all of their elders a copy of “Awake at Night,” a collection of real problems churches today face and their potential solutions.  Spiritual  gifts keep on giving.  Spiritual gifts given to shepherds can have a multiplied influence on the whole church. 

Finally, don’t forget to enter the Christmas contest. 

(This one’s not as important as the others, but still, you could win some of those spiritual gifts.) Deadline is December 18th and you can read about that here: https://thecolleyhouse.org/tch-contest-the-merrys-in-the-music

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Practical Pure Religion: Your Chance to Help…

Posted on November 15, 2019
Practical Pure Religion: Your Chance to Help
 
It’s a rare thing that I ever appeal, in this blog, for funding for any private endeavor. However, during the past few years, I’ve sometimes been asked the question “How can I (or we) find the best way to keep the command of James 1:27 to care for the fatherless?” To this question I’ve recommended a children’s home that I know to be directed by God’s faithful people and I’ve recommended various pro-life organizations. Adoption is obviously another path to James 1:27 fulfillment, but sometimes it’s a very expensive process.
 
Several months ago, I was contacted to help find parents for five embryos being stored in frozen containers. These embryos are known as “leftover embryos” from an earlier in-vitro process. While I know that there are thousands upon thousands of stored embryos in our country, I cannot help each individual one. This is the first time, though, that I had been asked to participate in trying to find Christian homes from which these tiny children, with eternal souls, can grow and live for the Lord and, one day, die and go to heaven. So I began to search and pray for these parents.
 
At this juncture, I must say that I’m convicted that in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is a process that involves abortion in almost all, if not all, cases, Multiple eggs are fertilized in the process (usually about 15-20 eggs—sometimes as many as 40). Generally, fertilized embryos are discarded when chromosomal defects are detected. Then the most viable of the group of fertilized embryos are implanted, usually one or two at the time, and, routinely, a number of “extra” healthy embryos are placed in storage, in case other children are wanted later or the first attempt at pregnancy is unsuccessful, which is, in many instances, the case. As you can see, it is a process in which, typically, multiple fertilized eggs are eliminated. It’s also a process that’s left an estimated one million-plus embryos (babies) in storage in the United States. About 5-7 percent of these are abandoned and no one is even paying the storage fees for these abandoned lives. In any case, in which fertilized eggs are destroyed, abandoned or left in storage without implantation, IVF clearly violates the sanctity of life that Christians hold dear.
 
While I cannot support or endorse IVF, unless there is a case in which all fertilized eggs are given the chance to live and develop in the womb, I certainly can search for parents for babies who’ve already been frozen and for whom there’s no current plan for placement in a home. And God has blessed me in the search. I was able to contact a faithful couple—exemplary Christians who had been praying for children. This special couple is willing and thankful to be able to implant all five of the embryos for which I had been praying. They have begun praying diligently for these children, that they will survive the transfers and implantations; and, while they know that it’s unlikely that all five will survive, they are praying for each of the five little lives—for health and wholeness. They are, most of all, praying for these five souls, that they might be able to raise them up to walk in the ways of the Lord. In their words “Our biggest goal is to raise them in a Christian home, giving them all the tools possible to stay on the narrow path once they are grown. We are so grateful for this chance to adopt, not just to grow our family, but to put our beliefs in action by…standing for life.”
 
For this reason, I’m now trying to help this godly couple, who have been approved for this adoption and the implantations (there will likely be three separate implantations over time), to accomplish this lofty financial goal. While the cost is much more than this amount, they are trying now to raise just five thousand dollars. They’ve been personally saving. There are a few donors, who believe deeply in the ability of this couple to raise these children, who’ve donated. But I want readers to have the chance to help, too.
 
I already know there are some of you who want to help. That’s the kind of women you are. The elders at the West Huntsville church have agreed to collect these funds for them. If you’d like to send a donation, make your check payable to:
 
West Huntsville church of Christ
1519 Old Monrovia Road NW
Huntsville, AL 35806
 
Earmark the check: adoption of five.
 
If, by His grace, we should get more than the 5K, we will apply the rest to the cost of their travel for implantation, if needed, and to jumpstart them in the big and expensive journey of raising these kids! I will let you know how much we are able to give them.
 
Finally, will you pray?…for the babies, for the parents, and for the ultimate good in the kingdom that may come through this faithful family. Pray for kabad!
 
Thanks for being the women of God that you are!
 
 
Because of the Cross!
Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Sister to Sister: Q and A…Should a Single Christian Adopt?

Posted on July 13, 2015

Unknown-1Is it always wrong for a single person to adopt children?

Recently, I made the statement, in the context of gay marriages, that the choice to raise children in homes without parents of both genders is detrimental to children. I certainly believe that two homosexual people do a great disservice to children they might bring into that home. Such an atmosphere is extremely spiritually damaging to children.

But the question arises: “Did you mean to say that it is always wrong for a single Christian to adopt children?”

I did not intend to convey that. It is true that, given the choice between a Christian home with a single parent or a Christian home with two parents, I believe the godly home with two parents is far superior for many Biblical and logical reasons. I do not believe it would be a good thing for a single Christian  mom to adopt a baby if there was a Christian home with a mom and a dad available to be the adoptive parents of that baby.

But that option is, unfortunately, not always available. Thus,  I believe a truly Christian single mom may be the best available choice. It  is the better choice if the other options all involve parents who are not Christians.

Let me be clear. Our desire for all children, as Christians, is that they are raised for heaven. If you are single and your home is the best scenario available to facilitate heaven for a child, then It would be a right thing for you to adopt that child. If there is a better opportunity for facilitating that, then you should want to yield to that opportunity. If a single parent is the only available Christian parent, then, by all means, let’s connect the child to the Lord whenever possible.

Deep and foundational principles of Christianity should rule huge decisions like adoption. Agape instructs us to make every choice along the way with much prayer and the will to do what is in the eternal interests of the soul of the child. I understand that we do not know the future and we cannot always accurately predict just what is best for a child, but, to the best of our human abilities, we should unselfishly seek heaven for those children who need parents.

…And let us not forget that those of us who already have children should be operating daily on the same principle. Every parenting decision should be rooted deeply in our indomitable will that every soul in our homes will ultimately live in heaven.