{"id":300487,"date":"2018-12-17T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/nurturing-a-heart-for-adoption\/"},"modified":"2024-10-07T22:41:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T02:41:40","slug":"nurturing-a-heart-for-adoption","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/nurturing-a-heart-for-adoption\/","title":{"rendered":"Nurturing a Heart for Adoption"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>guest: Michael and Sharon Dennehy | Series: A Very Special Family | Are you called to adopt?10 Ideas: Ministering to Orphans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever considered adoption? Michael and Sharon talk about the incredible family God designed for them, which includes 12 children, nine of whom are adopted and many of whom have special needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2018-12-17.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:26:45","filesize":"24.5M","filesize_raw":"25690510","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2818,2821,2090],"tags":[2712,4660,4177,4661],"podcast_series":[7274],"cwp_profile":[8869],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-300487","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adoption-and-orphans","category-reaching-out","category-special-needs-child","tag-adoption","tag-romania","tag-special-needs","tag-special-needs-adoption","podcast_series-a-very-special-family","cwp_profile-michael-and-sharon-dennehy","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/300487\/nurturing-a-heart-for-adoption","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/300487\/nurturing-a-heart-for-adoption","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"MrChGf5mOF\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/nurturing-a-heart-for-adoption\/\">Nurturing a Heart for Adoption<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/nurturing-a-heart-for-adoption\/embed\/#?secret=MrChGf5mOF\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Nurturing a Heart for Adoption&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"MrChGf5mOF\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg",508,508,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"kfairris@familylife.com","author_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/author\/kfairrisfamilylife-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Have you ever considered adoption? Michael and Sharon talk about the incredible family God designed for them, which includes 12 children, nine of whom are adopted and many of whom have special needs.","meta_box":{"show_notes":"","transcript_url":"https:\/\/transcript.familylifetoday.com\/fl2018-12-17.pdf","transcript_content":"<strong>Bob: <\/strong>This is <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> for Monday, December 17<sup>th<\/sup>. Our host is Dennis Rainey; I'm Bob Lepine. We\u2019ll introduce you to Mike and Sharon Dennehy today. They\u2019ve had a lot of people, over the years, who\u2019ve thought they were crazy. You\u2019ll find out why when we talk to them. Stay with us.\n\n<strong>1:00<\/strong>\n\nAnd welcome to <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>. Thanks for joining us on the Monday edition. We\u2019re going to visit a subject that is something that we\u2019ve talked about before. This is near to your heart; isn\u2019t it?\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> It is! I want to introduce a <em>very <\/em>special couple to you, but I want to create just a little suspense here and hold it for just a moment.\n\nLet me turn to the listener and just say: \u201cYou know that <em>FamilyLife Today <\/em>is a non-profit ministry. We\u2019re supported by people who donate. If you donate, we\u2019re here. If you don\u2019t donate, we go away. It\u2019s that simple.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> \u201cWe need you to stand with us. One of the things we stand for is, not only how marriage and family are done according to the Scripture, but we also have had the privilege of giving voice to the orphan.\n\n<strong>2:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\n\u201cWe have been a champion for the orphan, now, for all 27 years of our broadcasting.\n\n\u201cWhen you support <em>FamilyLife Today, <\/em>you\u2019re helping those who\u2014today, in the foster care system \/ perhaps, in a far-away land that have no voice in America\u2014you\u2019re giving voice to them. I just want to thank you, in advance, for giving; because I\u2019m convinced many of you, who have adopted or are adopted, will stand with us financially and say, \u2018I want you guys to continue to give that voice with tens of thousands of families across the country.\u2019\u201d\n\nBob, we need to care for the orphan; it\u2019s a biblical issue.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> And you and I have both met young people\u2014and their parents have introduced them, saying, \u201cThis son or daughter is in our home because of what we heard on <em>FamilyLife Today.<\/em>\u201d\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Yes; a mom who told me: \u201cI sat out in the Walmart<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> parking lot, listening to your program; because I couldn\u2019t leave. It was so compelling!\n\n<strong>3:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\n\u201cAt the end of that time, I went into Walmart, not just on a mission to buy something, but also determined to go home and talk to my husband about adopting a child.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Well, today\u2019s program may need a warning label on the front-end, because it can have that kind of effect on listeners. But again, before we introduce our guests today, if you can help with a yearend donation, we hope you\u2019ll do that. We\u2019ve had some friends of the ministry, who\u2019ve come along and offered to match every donation we receive during the month of December. Just recently, that matching-gift fund has been increased, to now a total of $3 million.\n\nAgain, we need <em>FamilyLife Today <\/em>listeners\u2014those of you who appreciate this program\/who have benefitted from the ministry of FamilyLife<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> this year\u2014we need to hear from you. Call us or go online at FamilyLifeToday.com; or call us at 1-800-FL-TODAY. Right now would be a great time for us to hear from you.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> And Bob, I\u2019d like to rephrase what you just said.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes?\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Right now would be an <em>urgent<\/em> time for you to give.\n\n<strong>4:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> We need you to stand with us, here, at yearend. We\u2019re watching what\u2019s coming in right now, and we\u2019re running behind where we need to be. If you\u2019ve benefitted in your marriage and your family from this broadcast, pick up the phone, right now, or go online and make a generous donation to <em>FamilyLife Today. <\/em>\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Alright; introduce our guests today.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Well, we\u2019re joined by a <em>really<\/em> special couple: Michael and Sharon Dennehy. They\u2019ve got incredible stories, as you\u2019re about to hear. Sharon\/Michael\u2014welcome to the broadcast.\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> Thanks; great to be here.\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> Thank you.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Michael and Sharon live in Virginia. Michael is in technical software sales\u2014security on the internet, and phones, and computers, and iPad<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>s, and the like. Does that capture it?\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> That\u2019s pretty good; yes.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> It\u2019s close, but let\u2019s be honest\u2014he got near it, but not there; right?\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> He grazed against it. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>Yes. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Sharon, on the other hand, is a mom\u2014\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> That\u2019s right.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> \u2014a glorious, glorious mom. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>5:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> And Michael is a glorious dad.\n\nI have a question for both of you. Here is my leading question\u2014we haven\u2019t established how many children you have: \u201cWhen you guys were dating\u201d\u2014be truthful\u2014\u201cdid you like kids? Did you think about having a family full of kids?\u2014Michael?\u201d\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> I would say that, when you\u2019re dating, kids are sort of an annoyance, to be honest. [Laughter] Right? You\u2019re trying to gaze into your date\u2019s eyes and make googly eyes; and the kids are next to you, at a table, making noises. They always seemed, to me, like the ones that make noises and mess up the <em>key<\/em> moments in life.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> So did you like them?\u2014did you like kids?\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> I had a little, tiny sister that was sort of a miracle baby\u2014that wasn\u2019t supposed to be alive\u2014and my mom had a lot of problems. So, when I was able to have my little baby sister, I sort of changed my view about kids before I met lovely Sharon. I\u2019d say, \u201cYes; I did like them, but I didn\u2019t like them when I was on dates.\u201d\n\n<strong>6:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> But as you started to think toward the future\u2014and think maybe Sharon was the one you would marry and maybe you guys would settle down\u2014did you have an ideal family size in mind?\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> Two point five. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> You were going for the national average; right? Actually, that\u2019s a little higher than the national average, at this point.\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> That\u2019s right; that\u2019s right.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Sharon, what about you?\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> I actually didn\u2019t want children, at first. I wanted a career. God changed my heart in a <em>big<\/em> way. I think you\u2019d agree when you know how many we have. I think it was something that grew on us. Actually, it\u2019s funny; because when we first got married, we said: \u201cLet\u2019s have our children while we\u2019re young. Then, we\u2019ll have so much freedom. We\u2019ll still be young when they\u2019re all out of the house.\u201d We kind of ruined that plan. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes; you did ruin that plan.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> You did. Well, I want to have you introduce your children.\n\n<strong>7:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nInstead of having you do it, here, on <em>FamilyLife Today, <\/em>both Bob and I watched a video that had pictures that accompanied, really, you introducing all of your children.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> We have a link, by the way, to the video at FamilyLifeToday.com. If you want to watch and see the pictures, you can go there and click on the link; but you ought to stay here because, even without the pictures, it\u2019s some great stories.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> There are some great stories, but this was one of the longest introductions I\u2019ve ever heard to anything. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> I\u2019m Irish; I can\u2019t help it. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> But you have to get there, you know\u2014you have to introduce all of them. We\u2019re just going to cut to the chase here and go to the Rock Church in Richmond, Virginia, and listen as you introduce your family.\n\n[Recorded Content]\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> I just want to tell you briefly about each of the kids. These are the bio-kids. We call them our \u201chomemade cookies.\u201d [Laughter] We have store-bought cookies and homemade cookies. These are our three homemade cookies! Just a quick word on that.\n\n<strong>8:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nI\u2019m not going to preach to you; but when we started doing adoption, everyone said to us\u2014and they meant well\u2014but they said: \u201cDon\u2019t adopt, because your kids won\u2019t get enough of your love and attention,\u201d or \u201cThey won\u2019t have enough of your time.\u201d\n\nWell, I tell you\u2014it got in their DNA. I\u2019m telling you\u2014if you\u2019re here tonight, and you happen to be a parent\u2014if you live out the gospel in whatever way you choose to live it out\u2014it doesn\u2019t need to be adoption\u2014if your children see you living out the gospel, it gets in their blood. [Audience applause] Marissa, who is up there, she just got back from China\u2014she spent a year. My son, Ryan, who is up there, was really involved with InterVarsity at JMU. Erin is now bugging her husband to do foster care, and he is barely able to resist.\n\nI just want you to know\u2014some of you, probably, are sitting out there, going: \u201cIt\u2019s crazy. How do you even have that many kids?\u201d Well, I think heaven\u2019s going to be pretty crowded. If adoption is a model of the gospel, I think we ought to, at least, try to mimic it a little bit.\n\nI\u2019m the brakes and Sharon is the gas pedal in this relationship. Somehow, it works out. When we had three children, I tried to tell her: \u201cThree is good,\u201d\u2014right?\u2014\u201cThis is a trinity!\u2014\n\n<strong>9:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\n\u2014\u201cGod\u2019s number: the trinity.\u201d Well, a bunch of things happened; we got to seven. I\u2019m like: \u201cSeven\u2019s good. It\u2019s the number of creation!\u201d Now, we\u2019re at twelve. I\u2019m still trying to put the brakes on a little bit\u2014so I said, \u201cEven Jesus stopped at twelve. [Audience laughter] Please, Honey.\u201d I don\u2019t know where this train is actually going to stop at the end, but it should be interesting to see.\n\nThis is George. He\u2019s going to get up here and play some music for you. All I want to say about it is: When we met George\u2014he was our first adoption\u2014he weighed nine pounds. He was about a year-and-a-half old. I don\u2019t want to embarrass him, but he was kind of a hurting little soul. The last line of his medical report says, \u201cThis boy will soon die.\u201d And there were three dots after the word, \u201cdie,\u201d that the Romanian doctor had put there.\n\nNext in our family was James. James was just a <em>National Geographic<\/em> for kids.\n\n<strong>10:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nJames has an amazing sense of humor. He was born in Bangalore, India, with no arms. We were down at the Outer Banks a couple years ago, and I came walking out of the ocean with James\u2014he just had his swim trunks on. This little girl was walking up the beach with her daddy, and she just stops. Little kids don\u2019t have a filter; right? She says to James, \u201cWhere\u2019s your arms?\u201d James looks down and says, \u201cWhen I was your age, I didn\u2019t eat my vegetables.\u201d [Audience laughter]\n\nAfter James came along Tommy. Tommy came to us when he was four days old, right out of the hospital. We were able to go to the hospital and actually bring him to our home and raise him up from that very first moment. He\u2019s a precious little bundle. The state of Connecticut told us\u2014we were up there then\u2014they told us we couldn\u2019t have him, because he was in foster care with us. We just said, \u201cLord, You\u2019re in control.\u201d The phone rings one day\u2014it\u2019s the state, saying, \u201cCan you adopt him?\u201d We said: \u201cHeck, yeah! Sure, bring it on.\u201d\n\nWell, we get a phone call one day\u2014be careful what you pray for, you know, because sometimes you get it!\n\n<strong>11:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nI\u2019m outside, right after we got Tommy, about a year after. I\u2019m raking the leaves. It\u2019s a sunny day; and I\u2019m saying: \u201cLord, You\u2019re amazing! You made all things. Look at the sun; look at the clouds\u2014You did it all. I\u2019m just a speck. I mean nothing.\u201d The front door comes open. My wife comes out with a cordless phone pressed against her neck: \u201cTommy has a sister! They want us to take her.\u201d That was the fastest adoption decision ever! I think it was ten seconds of pondering, \u201cYes, Lord!\u201d So this is Siobhan. Siobhan is Tommy\u2019s biological sister. She joined us right after Tommy joined us, and she\u2019s also a precious bundle of love.\n\nCaris came to us from China. We got to go to China for two weeks and be with her. She was on the older side when she joined our family.\n\nDon\u2019t be afraid\u2014if you\u2019re looking at orphan care, foster care, helping out, adoption\u2014any of that\u2014don\u2019t be afraid of eight-, nine-, ten-, or seven-year-olds. They\u2019re just beautiful kids, all of them, that just need some guidance. Caris joined us kind of on the later side, when she was ten. She\u2019s fit into the family amazingly. She\u2019s an amazing kid, and she\u2019s part of the team.\n\n<strong>12:00<\/strong>\n\nFriends of ours had just gotten back from Ethiopia\u2014they said: \u201cEthiopia\u2014the kids over there just need a home. They just need somewhere to go. There\u2019s a lot of infant mortality, and malnutrition, and starvation. Just give them a chance.\u201d They inspired us\u2014they had come back with two beautiful girls. So we got Kalkidan, who is here tonight. That\u2019s Kali\u2019s before and after picture, by the way. That\u2019s probably a little bit how our souls look to God before we come to Him; right? We\u2019ve got a before\u2014everyone in the room here, you have a before and after picture\u2014before Jesus and after.\n\nHer sister is Andinet. So Andinet and Kalkidan get over here from Ethiopia; they start learning English, very slowly. All of a sudden, one day, they say, \u201cWe have a sister.\u201d We\u2019re like, \u201cYou have a sister?!\u201d My first thought was, \u201cGod, You could have saved us about 10,000 miles and let us grab her on the first trip.\u201d [Laughter] But Sharon had gone to Africa all by herself to pick up Andinet and Kalkidan, because I had started a new job. She went solo and brought them back.\n\n<strong>13:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nI was thinking, \u201cLord, what do You want us to do?\u201d Well, bang!\u2014He says: \u201cGo get this girl. Bring her, and reunite her with her sisters.\u201d So Tamer is here tonight. This is their sister, Tamer, before and after. We had a very weepy, beautiful reunion at Dulles Airport when the two sisters and Tamer got to see each other, after two years apart. It was really emotional, so that was a joy.\n\nThis is Hope. Hope was born with no arms and no legs. She has a little foot that is attached to her hip. She is here tonight. We were able to go to Bangkok, Thailand, and bring her back this year. She\u2019s number 12. I think Hope is a great name, because she gives all of us hope. She uses her little foot for <em>amazing<\/em> things. She\u2019s mousing on the computer, doing the joy stick on her wheelchair, zooming around, bringing light into everybody\u2019s life. She came from a Buddhist country, and now she\u2019s telling everybody how much she loves Jesus. [Audience applause]\n\n<strong>14:00<\/strong>\n\n[Studio]\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I wish listeners could see the pictures. Actually, they can\u2014they can go to FamilyLifeToday.com and see the pictures of each of these kids, as they were being introduced. What a great family!\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> And I wish they could see the faces of their mom and dad, as they kind of relive it. What I want to know is, \u201cHow in the world can you get all the way through all of those without crying?\u201d [Emotion in voice] I mean, I was weeping by the time I watched this.\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> Yes; I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s a privilege and honor to even talk about it. I almost feel like I\u2019ve been photo-shopped into my own life by God. And sometimes, with a chance to speak to others, my prayer beforehand, in something like that, is just that somebody\u2014maybe one, maybe five, maybe ten\u2014are out there, right on the bubble: \u201cI\u2019m thinking about doing foster care,\u201d \u201cWe just talked about adoption,\u201d \u201cMaybe that\u2019s the little nudge we need tonight,\u201d\u2014you know?\n\n<strong>15:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes; a dozen kids\u2014three homemade; nine store-bought. That\u2019s how you started sharing about this. Sharon, <em>you<\/em> didn\u2019t think you wanted any, to begin with.\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> That\u2019s right. Well, God did <em>such<\/em> a work in my heart to change me. When we finally started feeling a heart for orphans, we went and did a home study with Bethany Christian Services<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>. We said to them, \u201cNo special-needs children, because we have three children; and that\u2019s a big family.\u201d Mike and I each had a sister, so three seemed like a big family to us.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So, you put the stipulation, \u201cNo special needs.\u201d\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> No special needs.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> But your first adoption was George.\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Tell everybody about George.\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> George was born with no arms. While we were doing the home study, we saw a little blurb about him in a newsletter\u2014it said, \u201cLittle boy, born with no arms, desperately needs a loving home.\u201d I saw that and I said, \u201cI really feel like God wants me to be his mom.\u201d It was something just unexpected, because I was afraid. I had no experience with that. I was afraid to even mention it to Mike; because I thought, \u201cHe\u2019ll think I\u2019m crazy!\u201d\n\n<strong>16:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Mike, do you remember when Sharon came to you and mustered up the courage to say, \u201cI think God wants us to adopt George\u201d?\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> Yes; one hundred percent\u2014I remember the day; I remember the morning. She had kind of put a circle around his picture. And you have to picture the picture; you know what I\u2019m saying? It was a little black-and-white picture, maybe an inch by an inch. It was smudgy. In the picture, he looks like he\u2019s in agony\u2014it\u2019s not a glamour picture. He\u2019s wrapped in some bandages or something. It just looked like he was almost dead in the photo. The thought that we would somehow get him\u2014originally, it just blew my mind; I have to admit.\n\nThen, during the day, I think I was driving around, thinking about it. I called Sharon and said: \u201cI think you\u2019re right. Something\u2019s telling me that this is the right thing to do.\u201d But I was more afraid than Sharon, definitely.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Sharon, I just have to ask about the transformation in your own heart from, \u201cI don\u2019t think I want kids,\u201d to \u201cLet\u2019s adopt a special-needs boy.\u201d\n\n<strong>17:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nFirst of all, to \u201cLet\u2019s adopt.\u201d When did the seeds for that begin to blossom in your heart?\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> I think once our biological kids were school-age, I started feeling like I wanted to do more to serve God. That seemed to match up with my gifts. I really just\u2014He made me to be a rescuer and a nurturer. I guess I didn\u2019t realize that until the Holy Spirit showed me that.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So that starts to blossom. You start talking to Mike, and was he right in-sync with you?\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> He was to an extent, I think. I think he was in-sync to adopt one. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Well, that\u2019s what you were thinking at the beginning; right?\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> Well, that\u2019s what I was thinking at the beginning too.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> You think, \u201cWell, we\u2019ll adopt one.\u201d\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> Right.\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> Baby steps.\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> Right; well, he\u2019s the provider and the protector, as the man is in the family. It\u2019s natural for him to want to protect and be careful about those things. I\u2019m the nurturer; so I\u2019m thinking, \u201cWe need to love these babies!\u201d I think we both have that\u2014those roles were important for both of us.\n\n<strong>18:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> I want to go to a place here that you usually wouldn\u2019t go because, I think, when you introduce a family like this\u2014and you see the pictures, and you see the children, and they\u2019re growing up, and they\u2019re becoming young men and young ladies, and there is a before and after: before they were adopted, and what their faces looked like; and now, after they\u2019ve grown up in a family.\n\nYour family is composed of 12 children\u2014a lot of special needs. What are some of the most difficult moments in having to take care of 9 children, many with special needs?\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> I think we expected it to be much harder than it actually is. I was expecting doctors\u2019 visits and therapists for our two sons with no arms. It turns out that they just are so independent.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I just want to know how long from the time you brought home\u2014and I presume it was nine-pound George that you brought home\u2014\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> Right.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> \u2014at a year-and-a-half old, he\u2019s nine pounds.\n\n<strong>19:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nHow long from that time until you said, \u201cMaybe there\u2019s another one of these in our future\u201d?\u2014was it months?\u2014was it years?\u2014what was it?\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> It was probably less than a year. I think I had caught the bug. [Laugher] It was such a rewarding experience; it was such a blessing. There was a website out at the time, called <em>Precious in His Sight<\/em>, that was all special-needs children that needed homes. I got to looking at that one day. God was really in that, too; because I had never thought about the country of India\u2014had never desired a child from India. I was just messing around on that website, and James\u2019 little face popped up. I read the description, and he was the exact same condition as George. I said: \u201cWow! I think these two need to be brothers.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Did you even know she was messing around on the web like this?\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> She called me over and said, \u201cLook at this,\u201d because George and James\u2019 actual condition is fairly rare. They literally have nothing on the arms. It\u2019s some outrageously rare thing. She said: \u201cLook! I found a boy <em>exactly<\/em> like George in India.\u201d\n\n<strong>20:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nShe was showing me his picture, and it was kind of interesting.\n\nThen, afterwards, I thought\u2014you know how Christian families have these web filters to keep out the bad stuff?\u2014\u201cI\u2019m going to have to get an adoption-site web filter.\u201d [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> You know, I was thinking about that as Bob asked that question\u2014she\u2019s surfing the web.\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> Yes!\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Going to limit her time on the internet.\n\n<strong>Michael:<\/strong> Yes; \u201cI\u2019m taking away your credit card and all your adoption stuff.\u201d [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> And as you can tell, his filter didn\u2019t work! [Laughter]\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>True!\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Well, I think the message to our listeners is clear. It\u2019s not that adoption is for everyone or that foster care is for everyone; but I do think going near the orphan, somehow, someway\u2014through prayer, through giving, through going\u2014I think, when you go near the orphan, you go near the heart of God.\n\nOne of our six is adopted. We\u2019ve shared many times, here, on <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>\u2014we don\u2019t remember which one of the six.\n\n<strong>21:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nI think you probably feel the same way about your dozen\u2014\n\n<strong>Sharon:<\/strong> Absolutely!\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> \u2014that three biological; nine adopted\u2014they\u2019ve all been grafted in, and they\u2019re all yours\u2014they\u2019re all in the family.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> And you have shared many times that there have been challenges associated with adoption. I think families, who have enlarged their family, would say: \u201cYes; there are challenges that come with adopting.\u201d There are challenges that come with having biological kids. That\u2019s just the reality of parenting, but there are some special\u2014often unique\u2014challenges that come for adoptive parents.\n\nThis is something that you need to make sure God is calling you to; but as I\u2019ve heard you say many times, Dennis, most people never even ask the question: \u201cIs this something God is calling us to?\u201d To ask the question is the first courageous step that a couple can take.\n\nI want to recommend a resource. It\u2019s one that we\u2019ve shared with listeners for years\u2014a book by our friend, Russell Moore, called <em>Adopted for Life<\/em>\u2014\n\n<em>\u00a0<\/em>\n\n<strong>22:00<\/strong>\n\n\u2014which gets in, not so much to the practical issues you\u2019ll face in adoption, but more to the theological and the philosophical issues\u2014the whole understanding of adoption in the plan of God. It\u2019s a book that we\u2019ve got in our <em>FamilyLife Today <\/em>Resource Center. You can order it from us, online, at FamilyLifeToday.com; or call 1-800-FL-TODAY to get a copy.\n\nAnd we\u2019ve got links to resources on our website to help you think through the adoption question and whether this is something God is calling you to; or if not, how you can be involved in helping with the needs of orphans in your community and in our world. Again, go to FamilyLifeToday.com for more information about Dr. Moore\u2019s book or about the other resources we have available.\n\nNow, I mentioned, earlier, the exciting news we\u2019ve received, here, at FamilyLife about the increase in our matching-gift fund here at the end of the year.\n\n<strong>23:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nWe\u2019ve had some friends of the ministry, who have offered to match every donation we receive during the month of December. Originally, the total of the matching gift was going to be $2.5 million. That amount has been increased, now, to a total of $3 million. We still have a ways to go to reach that goal. We\u2019re asking <em>FamilyLife Today <\/em>listeners to make a generous donation, here at yearend, to help continue the work of <em>FamilyLife Today <\/em>in the new year.\n\nIf you\u2019re able to help with a donation today, we\u2019d like to say, \u201cThank you,\u201d by sending you a copy of the movie that FamilyLife produced earlier this year called <em>Like Arrows.<\/em> It\u2019s going to be coming out on DVD on February 5<sup>th<\/sup>, but we have a limited supply that are now available that we can give to those of you who can help make a yearend donation. Again, this is the theatrical movie\u2014the one that was in theaters back a few months ago.\n\nYou can donate, online, at FamilyLifeToday.com; or you can call 1-800-FL-TODAY to donate. When you do, your donation will be doubled; and you can request the <em>Like Arrows <\/em>DVD.\n\n<strong>24:00<\/strong>\n\nAgain, thanks for your support, here, at the end of 2018. We appreciate your prayers for this ministry and your financial support.\n\nAnd we hope you can join us back tomorrow. Mike and Sharon Dennehy will be here; and we\u2019re going to talk about the times when their kids have, maybe, wished they\u2019d never been adopted. We\u2019ll hear about that tomorrow. I hope you can be with us.\n\nI want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, along with our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine. We will see you back tomorrow for another edition of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\n\n<em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas; a Cru<sup>\u00ae <\/sup>Ministry.\n\nHelp for today. Hope for tomorrow.\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you. However, there is a cost to produce them for our website. If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/donate\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\n\nCopyright <sup>\u00a9<\/sup> 2018 FamilyLife. 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