June 6th - Categories and Hoops

Our baby Burmese called Nooma

     There have been a number of topics bouncing around in my head lately including how best to deal with Nooma (our new beautiful lilac coloured Burmese kitten - pics to come at some point:) some lyrics for a song, the reality of us being chosen by Christ and also a statement that a speaker called Carl Wills shared with a group of people here in Basingstoke. (A bit theological here if that's ok) He was talking about the word accuser and specifically about accuser of the brethren which is found in Revelation 12:10. I've heard teaching about that verse before but I've not heard the view that the Greek work for accuser means to catergorize or one who catergorizes, big deal right? Think about it? How do you feel when you have been catergorized into something or you are catergorized as something. For many years Rebecca and I were known as 'Earl and Rebecca from Goshen' or 'Youth Leaders from Goshen', these were fine titles as they were true. Yet they did not tell the whole story, we were also Earl from New York, Rebecca born in Oklahoma, accounts payable clerk, EDI Coordinator, Kindergarten Teacher, EASE Faciliatator, and those jobs were just in a span of a couple of years. Of course there are many stories out there which are untold when we are only known as this or that, rather than knowing the whole story of who we are.
     When we are put into a category or when we put others into categories we miss out on something of who they are. Why has this been on my mind, what does this have to do with our adoption journey you might ask. Now we are known as three things, we are Earl and Rebecca leaders of West Church, Earl and Rebecca the Americans in the village and Earl and Rebecca who are adopting. Our 'titles' here don't fully encompass who we are, most people who have only known us here don't know that we've led ministry trips to various countries, that we started dating in Greece, previously had a cat named Cameron and of course numerous other aspects of our lives pre-England.You get used to these titles, as we have done over the last few years.
     The last one is the newest and probably the hardest one for us to reckon with because while we are adopting it has not happened yet. It is difficult to have this be what you are 'known for' and in reality it has not taken place yet. I think that we can handle these titles though, but there are other areas of the adoption journey where categorizing people has struck me as well. In the USA adoption is really an option, you can see it as the word option is embedded in adoption. There are many instances of adoption from newborns all the way to teenagers, from within the country and abroad. There are countless agencies both local, national, government, private, Christian, etc... it is not hard to find one, we are so pleased with the one that we are working with. If a child is adopted there does not seem to be much of a stigma attached, rather there is the reality they are now in a loving family (usually that is) having opportunties that most children are afforded. This seems to be different in the UK from the conversations we've had with people, there is drastically many fewer adoptions that take place. There is an alarming lack of adoption because the system is very cumbersome to work with, there are few private agencies and hoops that one has to jump through would make an adopting family tired from the paperwork alone. Friends of ours who have successfully adopted have waited for years, and another friend ran into more trouble with a straightforward adoption than we would ever dream.. Put another way, adoption is not as much of an option.
     Another group that gets categorized are the women who are giving birth and then 'giving up' their baby. I think that the bravery and generosity they show by going through with the birth, and the placing of their child into the arms of another is flatout remarkable. It is not deserving of being chucked into a category; these might be: often a teenager, unable to cope, bad decision making, unfit mother, on and on with titles that might be given to the young ladies. How about the category of life-giving, brave and loving rather than taking the route of abortion or even the route of attempting to raise the child without the resouces that are needed for the long haul. These women are often not praised for their actions, probably scorned and shamed to some extent but they are the ones who carry on with giving-life to their baby and offering unending possibility to these same little ones. We look forward to the day when our little baby is not categorized by anything but being a Robinson, I'm sure other categories could be found but that one sounds like it's perfect.