Adopted For Life by Russell D. Moore

From the time I was a young girl, I loved children.  It seemed when I was born God set my mothering gear to high.  I babysat, I worked at day camp and day care centers, and I dreamed of a large family of my own someday, even though at the time, zero population growth was really being pushed.  We were taught in public school that if you had more than the two children it took to replace yourself and your husband, you were being selfish and using up someone else's resources.
So when I saw a story in a newspaper magazine about a family who had both biological children and adopted children, for a total of twelve children, I was enthralled!  This was a way to have a lot of kids without anyone looking down on me, I thought.  Someday, I wanted twelve kids, too!!

And eventually, I accomplished that goal.  Over the course of my long life, I have given birth seven times, and adopted three times from the foster care system.  That, along with the two miscarriages I had (my two treasures in heaven I will be united with someday) gives me the twelve children I dreamed of.

I have also fostered more than fifty children over the years.

So when I came across the book, "Adopted for Life", I knew I had found a kindred spirit.  James 1:27 has long been the theme for my life as I have cared for children I gave birth too, children I didn't give birth too but was blessed with raising, and children I didn't give birth too, but kept safe for a while, and then had to give back: "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."

This book is the call for all Christians to consider the ministry making sure all children are placed in families, either by adoption, or by helping fund adoption for other families.  I heard a quote by a missionary once that if only 8 percent of all Christians would adopt an orphan or homeless child, every child would have a home.  Only 8 percent!  It's such an amazing ministry, how could we miss this?

Russell D. Moore and his wife, Maria, adopted two boys from a Russian orphanage.  He takes us through that journey to first meeting his sons in a dirty, smelly institution where the boys were laying in cribs in a dark room, covered in their own waste.  He tells about having to leave them at the end of each day and finally even having to return to America as they waded through the red tape that would finally make the boys their own.  The boys cried as the Moore's had to say goodbye for a while.  Hearing the boys call out after them, Russell Moore returned and placed his hands on both boys heads, telling them, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
"I don't think I consciously intended to cite Jesus' words to his disciples in John 14:18; it just seemed like the only thing worth saying at the time."  Moore remembers.

And come to them, he did, finally bringing them home as his sons.

This book is filled with scriptural insight.  It is filled with scriptural stories pertaining to adoption.  There is so much here, I could not begin to tell it all.  R. Albert Mohler, Jr. (president, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) sums it up: 
"Thankfully, there are good books on adoption and good books on the gospel.  But until now, there has never been a book that puts the adoption of children so clearly within the context of the gospel of Christ."

I agree, and I encourage all Christians to read this book!