September Issue of Metro Christian Living

Be on the look out for this article in this month's Metro Christian Living!  A lot of you probably know the Schmelzer family and know about their upcoming adoption.  I'm so glad that Alison got the opportunity to write this article about adoption for the magazine (and amazed at what she got in in her word limit).  I'm just completely plagiarizing it so that I'll always have a copy nearby.  She speaks so plainly and clearly about the call to adopt and I could not have said it any better myself.  Enjoy- but don't forget to pick up a copy of the magazine, you'll get so see the cute pics of their family and be inspired by the many other articles.  (Just tested my links and found that the magazine is now fully online- find the Schmelzer article, turn back one page.  My parents have been published!!  Way to go Mom & Dad- I had no idea I was going to see you two there- what a fun surprise and what a great article!)

“A Baby Changes Everything”




Our family is on a journey. It is a faith journey with our heavenly Father that is going to change our lives and the life of a child…forever. This all began with a God-given season of "holy discontentment". I was no longer content to live a life of complacency, and I began to feel that God was about to call us to do something BIG! However, I was unsure of what His calling would be. During this time, God led me to the blog of a Tennessee family who had adopted a baby girl from Ethiopia. My first thought was, “They are so sweet to adopt, but we could never do that.”



Then I heard God ask, "Why not? What if I asked you to? Do you trust Me? Do you trust MY plan for your family?" And I sat at my computer and wept. He was breaking my heart for orphans, and I knew His calling was beginning to unfold. God had already chosen our fourth child...and she would have beautiful brown eyes, brown hair, and brown skin. But were we willing to take that big step of faith and trust His perfect plan?



At first, I was scared! I knew absolutely no one in our community, church, or the entire state of Mississippi that had adopted from Ethiopia! As I began to pray, I felt very alone and the doubts and uncertainties continued to creep in.



But God soon revealed something profound; we were supposed to be obedient to His calling to adopt from Ethiopia, no matter what! Whether or not our parents approved, our community accepted, our finances allowed, or another local family ever adopted an Ethiopian child...it really did not matter! God was leading us to this child, this was His will for our life, and that was the only thing that mattered!



As we continued praying, God began to blow us away. It was truly one of the most amazing times in our life. Confirmations from Him began to pour in, one right after another. As we started to move forward in obedience, all the fears and uncertainties were replaced with joy and excitement! With every step forward in the adoption process, we grew more confident in His calling. We claimed the following verse from Hebrews over our adoption journey: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see."



We are putting all our faith in God, believing that adoption is a beautiful picture of His love and redemption. He sacrificed His only Son, so we could become His adopted sons and daughters. Psalm 68:6 says, “God sets the lonely in families”, and we know He will one day set our baby girl into our arms…and into her forever family. This baby changes everything. Our lives will never be the same, and we would not want it any other way!



As we now work on adoption paperwork, we are so thankful to be on this journey to bring our daughter home from Ethiopia! But we do not believe our journey ends when she is home. God wants us to encourage others to seek His will in adoption. My constant prayer is that God would continue to call Christian families to bring orphans from all around the world…home!



I am confident of this: God has a plan that is greater than ours, and it will bring Him glory! The question is, will we be obedient to His calling and be a part of what He is doing? Oh, how I pray we will all respond with a big “YES”!



"...once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12