Amy and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in June. For much of these ten years, we’ve been trying to have a child (or at least not trying to avoid a pregnancy). Yet, a baby has not come.

But it hasn’t bothered us much at all. You see, we are big advocates of the idea that adoption should be the default assumption of every Christian couple. In other words, the question shouldn’t be “should we adopt?” but “is there any reason why we shouldn’t adopt?” With so many orphans and “unwanted” children in the world, we the Church should be adopting. This is the sort of “church growth that God desires.

With this assumption, Amy and I had decided to adopt children first, and then have doctors help us determine what has prevented us from conceiving. We wanted to be able to adopt out of gladness, rather than out of a sense that we had no other choice.

And so, for the past couple of years, we’ve been looking into adoption. We decided a while ago that we’d try to adopt a sibling set out of the Hennepin County foster system. The only problem with adopting out of the foster system is that you need to qualify for foster care. For a number of reasons, we’ve been unable to do so. There are certain housing and income requirements that we’ve been unable to meet. And so, our dream of adoption has been put on hold…for a little while.

But a strange thing happened a couple months ago. Amy is pregnant! She’s due on March 31. Please pray for the health of my wife and emerging child.

About Mark Van Steenwyk

Mark Van Steenwyk is a member of Missio Dei. He is a speaker, writer, educator, and grassroots organizer. With the support of the Central Plains Mennonite Conference, he travels to radical and intentional communities around the country to help network and offer support.