Inspire, Fall 2004

Recently I went to the dentist. As the hygienist made conversation, she asked where I was from. I told her, “Ohio.” She hemmed and hawed and said, “I don’t know how to ask this …”, and then I realized that she was wondering about my ethnic background. I told her I was Vietnamese, and then I tried to use it as a witnessing tool. I told her I knew God had great plans for me. I was adopted and brought to the U.S. when I was nine months old. She responded, “You speak such good English. You don’t even have an accent!” Sometimes I don’t think people realize what they are saying. I don’t speak a word of Vietnamese, but I admit that sometimes it’s fun to play with people using an Asian accent that I have worked on and perfected. I think a lot about my human adoption, and I compare it to my spiritual adoption. My parents knew they wanted me, so they prepared for me. God knew He wanted me before time even began, and He planned each day of my life before I was even a thought. I know there was a lot of paperwork, the home study, finances to pay for the adoption, traveling from where my dad was stationed (Bien Hoa to Saigon), etc. He was in danger taking those trips to complete the paperwork, and yet he risked his life to make me his own — just like what God did for me. He made sure that He provided a way for me to be a part of His family. He didn’t merely risk His life, He gave it. He paid the ultimate price to make me His daughter. I had nothing to offer my parents. I was severely malnourished, my hair was falling out, and I had sores all over my body. I really wasn’t worth much, just a sick baby who needed someone to save me. Funny isn’t it, we want to come to Jesus with something to offer Him, or we want to clean up our lives so we feel worthy. I am so thankful that my dad took me just as I was, with all my needs and all my health problems — just like Jesus — and all I had to do was accept his gift of salvation. I am thankful to have been adopted. I know there are such things as unplanned pregnancies, but I have never heard of an unplanned adoption. I was chosen, hand-picked by my adopted dad, just as I was chosen by Christ and am forever grateful and forever blessed. Eternity would never be enough time to tell my adopted parents or my Heavenly Father how thankful I am for the gift of being adopted. So where does that leave me? Well, I have a fabulous husband and four awesome children. My husband and I would love to adopt a girl from Vietnam and give her the same opportunity I was given, but right now adoptions are not permitted between the U.S. and Vietnam, so we will wait on God’s timing. Jen resides in Dayton, Ohio with her husband, Mark ’93, and children Andrew (6), Gabe (4 1/2), Ben (3), and Julia (1 1/2). Mark is a controller at Jergens Tool and Mold in Englewood, Ohio, while Jen is a homemaker and homeschools Andy and Gabe. Jen and Mark are active members of Washington Heights Baptist Church in Dayton. The Holsingers may be reached at mjholsinger@woh.rr.com. Inspire 17 God’s Adoption Plan b y K i m b e r l y M c D e r m o t t I guess I would say our story started with a little prayer and an extra dollop of faith that only God can give. My husband, Kevin ’94, and I began classes in January of 2001 to become foster/adoptive parents. Having a baby was not crucial to us, but having children was. However, we attended the classes more for curiosity’s sake than out of a readiness to make a commitment. Three weeks into the classes I was hooked. I wanted to bring a child into our home. In fact, I began to pray very specifically about it. I asked God for a little girl who was in permanent custody (free for adoption — I wanted to be able to keep the first child). And I asked God to bring her to us on June 15, because that was my first day on break from school and I would have two weeks to devote completely to being a “mommy.” June 15 was only four months away, and we still did not even have our license. Workers told us there was no way we would be able to complete our license requirements and have a license in our hands before June 15. After all, we were waiting on the government. Our fingerprints came back in two weeks rather than the normal six weeks. Our papers were signed on April 23. The next day, the woman in charge of this department quit, and all applications after that were held up for three months. We received our license the first week of May. I kept praying. My family thought I was crazy to be praying such a prayer. They warned me not to get my hopes up. I believed God would bring our child on the exact day that I prayed for. Our Sunday school class prayed with us, although I knew that they were a bit apprehensive of about what I called “my due date.” On June 13, we received a call about two little boys. I did not want to argue with God if he had other plans for us, so we accepted the request. It fell through. I was actually relieved. I had two more finals to take at school and besides, it was not the day that I had asked for. On the morning of June 15, I received a call on my cell phone. It was our caseworker asking me if we would be interested in taking a little girl who was in permanent custody. I answered with an emphatic, “Yes!” I picked her up that afternoon. When I walked into Sunday school that next Sunday, June 17, many friends rushed over to ask if anything had happened on Friday. I told them that we had our little girl and that she was down- stairs attending Sunday school for the first time. We cried as we shared in the amazing answer to prayer. But there would be many more times that I would find myself crying. The first two weeks went beautifully. It was everything that a new mommy and daddy could have hoped for. We baked and decorated cookies. We swam for hours in the community pool. We cuddled and ate popcorn while we all watched cartoons.