The Fifth

I have been scouring the bible looking for scriptural precedence for adopting a child. While I haven’t found a verse that says outright, “Adoption is good; thou shalt do it,” there are the verses about God defending the fatherless and that we should also not forget the orphans. The concept is present in regards to our adoption as children of God. There are also biblical examples of adopted people such Moses and Esther; some even say that Jesus was adopted by Joseph.

Those are fine and good but the clinching verse that brought a sense of peace in my heart about our current endeavor of adopting a child is the fifth commandment. This act honors our parents and the heritage they have instilled in us. Here are their stories.

DaRonn’s mom is Charlesene. When she was expecting her eldest son money was offered to her to terminate the pregnancy. She accepted the money and bought a crib with it. DaRonn Washington was born. Later she married. This man came to the marriage with his son (by another woman). This boy became DaRonn’s first little brother. Younger by just a couple years Jared and DaRonn were as tight as any brothers could be. The extended family welcomed him in and to this day Jared is just as much one of Charlesene’s sons as DaRonn and Eric (who is her second son by birth about 6 or 7 years younger than my husband). Though the adoption is not official on paper Jared was adopted by DaRonn’s mom. She gave DaRonn the moral structure of valuing life in refusing abortion and caring for the son of another mother.

These photos of DaRonn (and Tyler) and his mom were taken in 2007.

My side of the story begins before I was born as well. In my mother’s words, “Fostering and adoption have been near and dear to my heart for a long long time. We started fostering special needs kids even before we had our own children. The fostering continued until our 4th child was 3 and we were fostering a little Down’s Syndrome new born who became a permanent part of our family.” Later she writes, “I can remember as a child myself playing orphanage instead of playing house.” How many babies were cared for in our home during my formative years? We stopped counting after one hundred and there were still a few years after that in which we continually had an extra brother or sister to love on. I am the oldest of five. Lucas, Emily and Shawn are the children born after me to Ronn and Jill Houtz. Kent is the youngest sibling; he is adopted, born in our hearts. We just couldn’t imagine letting him go so he stayed. My parents trained me that love is thicker than blood.

These pictures of my parents and me were taken this year, 2008.

The fifth commandment is precedence for adopting our fifth child. We honor our parents by carrying on the heritage of welcoming children into our hearts and our home based solely on the love that binds us together.

Tagged as: adoption, DaRonn, family, God thoughts