Children

With the exception of Swedish Rocket Scientist (retired), everyone I know has kids.
For better or worst.
And usually not just one.

Dutchman was the first to adopt.
He and his wife wanted children but she was not able to have kids.
Then one night he got a call one night of another pastor's "family" disintegrating.
He was an elder and expected to find accommodation for the boy in the family.
He was the only one willing to take on sheltering this little guy.
And a year after, the parents still could not be found, so they adopted him.

Unfortunately, Dutchman was traveling heavily to various avionics manufacturers, so guess whom got to get calls at 2 AM because someone would not go to bed!
I was not too concerned over having a family.
I knew that no child should ever be cursed with my genes!

Then the day came when I realized that I had a large income and a large empty house, and I could easily help some kids grow up.
So, after massive negotiations, Gaelic Girl and I adopted one older Russian orphan and one Siberian.
It went so well, that I went back for two more a year later to southern Russia.
To be followed by a flood of friends and family doing the same!
Yeah, our children became poster children for adoption - literally!
There was even a tv segment done on them!
And people realized that adopted children could be amazing.
In all, 152 Russian kids found new homes because of them ...

That was twenty years ago.

I just heard that one of my acquaintances from the old church, is changing to another church.
They live in an agricultural area and there is like one church only, in any direction for scores of miles!
Then I found out why,
And I do not blame them one bit!

It seems on Mother's Day, like in any church, the women stand for recognition.
But my friend was told to stay seated because her children were not 'natural'!
It seems that only people whom have given birth are allowed to be recognized in that church now.
Oh, were it possible for me to fly home and start the systematic beating of people on that elder board!

As if adopted children are any different than 'natural' ones and take any less parenting!
If nothing else they take more, as an adopted child has to fight history just to accept new parents!
--- sigh ---

And instantly up came the quotation about us, in identifying ourselves as Christians, are therefore adopted into God's family.

There are an awful lot of really dumb ideas masquerading itself around the various churches of this world as "Christianity" - but this one really startled me!  ... at just how far the Western Church  continues to decline ...
So it seems that my friends do well in abandoning this place of evil,
For, as the Apostle Paul stated,
"We know them not."