I mentioned previously that one of the hats I wear is the Mimi hat. But, obviously, before I could be Mimi, I first had to be Mom. I am the devoted mom to four amazing children- three who are biologically mine and one my husband and I adopted from Russia.
Our adoption story began in 2003, when I saw an ad in the local paper looking for families to host Russian orphans for a six-week summer program. I distinctly remember reading that ad and feeling a nudge in my spirit, a prompting to open this new door. And when I say new door, I seriously mean new door…kind of like walking down a brightly lit corridor and then suddenly a door appears where there had not previously been a door… a door with a flashing neon sign over it saying OPEN ME. So I did.
The first (and maybe hardest) step in our adoption process was to convince my husband that we should open this door. Granted, we were initially only signing up to host a child, not necessarily adopt, but I also knew that adoption was the end goal of the program. For some context, my husband and I live with our family in a rural community. We live near friends and relatives we both have known our entire lives…and none of those people had ever been to Russia or adopted a child internationally. The whole concept was pretty foreign to us (sorry 😂). But after some initial hesitation, my husband agreed. Thus began a whirlwind of classes and meetings and paperwork. Then, finally, on July 4, 2003, I traveled with a busload of other host families to JFK Airport where I got to meet Sergey Olegovich Servetnik, age 6, for the first time. And it was love at first sight.
Long story short, Sergey came to stay with us that summer for six weeks…and then we had to send him back to Russia. But somewhere between his first day and his last day with us (actually more like between the first and second days with us), we decided to adopt. We decided to make him ours. The entire process took almost a full year to complete, but two trips to Russia later, Sergey finally came home to America, to our little rural community, to our family. He became one of us…and I cannot imagine my life or my family without him in it.
Our adoption story is one only God could write. A story with the two most unlikely characters ever traveling to a foreign setting- characters who had never even been on a plane before- to take on antagonists like Vladimir Putin and a corrupt adoption system….well, that is all God. And we are better because of it, because of the journey, because of the struggle, and ultimately because of Sergey. Sometimes Sergey and I wander down that tangled path of what ifs that come with a story like his. What if he hadn’t ended up in an orphanage? What if I hadn’t seen that ad in the paper? What if we hadn’t gone to Russia for him? I cannot even pretend to know or understand the way God moves and works. I’m not supposed to understand it all. All I do know is that God put Sergey in our lives and in our family…for His purpose.
Because of our adoption story, I have come to see my life with Christ through different eyes. Because we quite literally chose Sergey, first from a picture and later from our hearts, I understand what the Bible says in Ephesians when Paul writes that God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1: 4-5). I understand when Paul writes to the Thessalonians that “God from the beginning chose you for salvation” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). And just as Sergey became our son after we chose him, each of us has become a son or daughter of God…. because He chose us and adopted us! Can you wrap your brain around that? God chose you…before you were even born. He predestined you…before you ever took your first breath. He adopted you….before you even knew you were an orphan. When you didn’t feel worthy? He chose you. When you didn’t feel lovely? He chose you. When you didn’t feel sufficient? He chose you. Not because you will ever be worthy or lovely or sufficient enough on your own….but because He is worthy….He is lovely…and He is sufficient.
But maybe you’re thinking today that you’ve made too big a mess of things, that if God only knew what a hot mess you were going to become that maybe He wouldn’t have chosen you. Sergey and I have had this conversation too….he has wondered, maybe even feared, that, if we had known some of the troubles he would get into, maybe we wouldn’t have adopted him, maybe we wouldn’t have chosen him, maybe we wouldn’t have loved him or wanted him. And I have assured him over and over again that, if I had a chance to go back to 2003 when I first saw that ad and first felt God’s nudge, I would choose him all over again. And so would God. God knew you before the foundation of the world. He knew all of you. Every flaw. Every mistake. Every failure. And He still chose you. He still calls you His own. He still loves you. So take comfort in that today. You are loved. You are chosen. You are adopted. You are a child of God.
