Why adoption? Great question!
It seems to me as though adoption has and was always meant to be a part of my life.
It is interwoven through my family; my paternal grandfather and 2 of my cousins are adopted. My grandfather was the first person to talk to me about it in a way that tied it back to how we are all adopted by our heavenly Father. My Grandfather explained and views his adoption with such amazing perspective that was not lost on me. Adoption just made since to me, even at a young age.
In 7th grade I went to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert with my friends. (Yes, I was the middle-schooler at the SCC concert rather than N'sync, trust me, if I would have had the opportunity to see N'sync I would have, talk about childhood regrets!) SCC's "cause" was adoption. They had just adopted their first daughter from China and he shared the story and heart behind it and sang his song, When Love takes you in, and my heart was broken. I went home and told my parents they needed to adopt a little girl from China. They said no, and I dropped it, knowing from that moment on, that I would adopt one day.
(May I just say that years later my dad sat Aubrey and I (at this point still just dating) down and made us watch a video about a family adopting a little girl from China, and told us, a little teary-eyed, that we had to do this one day, because they were too old now. I made sure to bring up the previous conversation from middle school in a nice humble way saying they should have listened to me then!)
I honestly don't even remember having a defining 'conversation' with Aubrey about adoption. It almost seems like it was just assumed from both of us that we would one day. So many of the 'big' conversations that many couples have happened this way for us. In this moment, especially, I am so thankful to God for giving us passions that align so well together.
So, for me, adoption was never really a question. I felt from young age that it was something God was calling me to do.
