as we are looking at sharing our news publicly tonight, i figured these might be two of the questions people ask first. so decided i'd just go ahead and address it as many new viewers might be sent here.
(sidenote: the quiet, more reserved side of me is so nervous to make this very public announcement!!)
my parents asked how long we had been considering adoption...and we both easily responded, from the moment we got married. my sister was fostering our now 7 year old niece talia, the year jacob and i got married. we talked adoption then and knew as we walked into marriage that this was something we were both super passionate about. in fact, three years ago we had an appointment with a local agency and were considering south korea, but didn't feel it was the right timing...and now we know why. God had to walk us through so much before we were parents. he had much teaching and learning for us. he had other endeavors for us to be apart of and another country to be preparing for us.....so we've always wanted to adopt. and this organization, at least for now, doesn't allow you to already have children...so it was easy to decide bring home our taiwanese children first before pursuing biological any further. so that's the why now.
why taiwan? lots of reasons. jacob and i love asian culture. always have. could be because my best friend from age 3 on was chinese and i love her and her family still dearly. could be because jacob's dad has been asked on several occassions if he's asian because let's be honest all cecils have asian eyes. we're not ashamed to admit that. jacob's been obsessed with jackie chan since our early high school dating age. so while i love africa and have been to both ethiopia and south africa it wasn't where our heart really was. asia seemed right for us. many of the countries require that you are 30 and we are just shy of that. so when jacob ran into a couple that were on their way to taiwan through an incredible chiristian organization we had to learn more. and we did...and continued falling more in love with taiwan...
it was important to jacob especially that we adopt from a country that christianity was not the dominate religion. taiwan's christianity percentage is 4% with buddhism and taoism creating the majority. and the more we researched the more our heart hurt...taiwan has the number one abortion rate per capita in the world. the world. my heart hurts for our birth mother even now at this thought. for every one live birth there, they have three abortions. and 90% of all single mothers there will abort their child because the stigma is so harsh for single moms...and asian culture tends to lean towards believing that life does not happen until birth. we recognize almost daily how brave our birth mother(s) must be to carry our children to full term. we pray for her often and will tell her when we meet her face to face for our first court hearing. we see this as much as an opportunity to share christ's redemption with the mom as we do our own children. God can use any and every situation to open a door to his love.
hope that explains a bit of our heart in this process. why this country in particular is so amazing, not to mention the missionary organization we are going through. and why we, more than ever, know that now is the right time. all the other previous posts of what God has been doing in our lives will be evidence of that as well.
and those who are using this post as their first intro to our story...let me briefly say the term "sweet potatoes" is something we began early in our process. we read an article that said taiwan is shaped like a sweet potato and for that reason the residents often refer to themselves as children of the sweet potato...hence our little sweet potato picture announcements!! :) thank you for sharing this journey with us. we are thrilled and humbled almost daily. prayers always appreciated as we continue this journey.
(sidenote: the quiet, more reserved side of me is so nervous to make this very public announcement!!)
my parents asked how long we had been considering adoption...and we both easily responded, from the moment we got married. my sister was fostering our now 7 year old niece talia, the year jacob and i got married. we talked adoption then and knew as we walked into marriage that this was something we were both super passionate about. in fact, three years ago we had an appointment with a local agency and were considering south korea, but didn't feel it was the right timing...and now we know why. God had to walk us through so much before we were parents. he had much teaching and learning for us. he had other endeavors for us to be apart of and another country to be preparing for us.....so we've always wanted to adopt. and this organization, at least for now, doesn't allow you to already have children...so it was easy to decide bring home our taiwanese children first before pursuing biological any further. so that's the why now.
why taiwan? lots of reasons. jacob and i love asian culture. always have. could be because my best friend from age 3 on was chinese and i love her and her family still dearly. could be because jacob's dad has been asked on several occassions if he's asian because let's be honest all cecils have asian eyes. we're not ashamed to admit that. jacob's been obsessed with jackie chan since our early high school dating age. so while i love africa and have been to both ethiopia and south africa it wasn't where our heart really was. asia seemed right for us. many of the countries require that you are 30 and we are just shy of that. so when jacob ran into a couple that were on their way to taiwan through an incredible chiristian organization we had to learn more. and we did...and continued falling more in love with taiwan...
it was important to jacob especially that we adopt from a country that christianity was not the dominate religion. taiwan's christianity percentage is 4% with buddhism and taoism creating the majority. and the more we researched the more our heart hurt...taiwan has the number one abortion rate per capita in the world. the world. my heart hurts for our birth mother even now at this thought. for every one live birth there, they have three abortions. and 90% of all single mothers there will abort their child because the stigma is so harsh for single moms...and asian culture tends to lean towards believing that life does not happen until birth. we recognize almost daily how brave our birth mother(s) must be to carry our children to full term. we pray for her often and will tell her when we meet her face to face for our first court hearing. we see this as much as an opportunity to share christ's redemption with the mom as we do our own children. God can use any and every situation to open a door to his love.
hope that explains a bit of our heart in this process. why this country in particular is so amazing, not to mention the missionary organization we are going through. and why we, more than ever, know that now is the right time. all the other previous posts of what God has been doing in our lives will be evidence of that as well.
and those who are using this post as their first intro to our story...let me briefly say the term "sweet potatoes" is something we began early in our process. we read an article that said taiwan is shaped like a sweet potato and for that reason the residents often refer to themselves as children of the sweet potato...hence our little sweet potato picture announcements!! :) thank you for sharing this journey with us. we are thrilled and humbled almost daily. prayers always appreciated as we continue this journey.
Best announcement EVER!!!
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