How many kids do you have?

[MLCOPE2]

Mike,
Congrats on the Churches ceremonies today. Woo Hoo. Immanuel is a Major thing.

Believe me. Down here in Indy at 2nd RP you have been outdone. LOL. Only 7? LOL

It was a great day at Immanuel. Pastor Long preached a great sermon this evening about the blessing of a new church and we had a great fellowship dinner. Even better, beforehand a few of us went down on the trails behind the church and sat on a bridge over a stream and broke our new pipes in a little more. It was great fun and fellowship.

I'm not too concerned about the kids, were still young (both our family and our church) and I have no doubt we will one day catch up!

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

You are the man and your wife is the woman. May God prosper his heritage. I look forward to doing the pipe thing behind the church someday. Lets do it.

 

[Scot]

5 girls, 1 boy

 

[JennyG]

I see from the poll I'm bang on trend with three

 

[MLCOPE2]

You are the man and your wife is the woman. May God prosper his heritage. I look forward to doing the pipe thing behind the church someday. Lets do it.

You wouldn't believe the amount of free tobacco I got from the show. Probably around 16 oz. of various brands, blends, and flavors all for free. I have enough to last me a year almost. You should plan on coming next year, definitely worth it.

 

[he beholds]

Is it really that easy to adopt in the US? You are blessed in that, then...in this country especially for Christians it seems to be made harder and harder (not that we've actually tried - I'm going by what one reads)

I think in my state that if you adopt a minority baby or a baby with special needs or an older child, you could do it for free/cheap and pretty quickly through social services. If you go through a private agency (and there are Christian agencies which are probably less intimidating to those who share our worldview) you will be paying around at least $19,000 US dollars (no idea what that equals in euros, but for my family that'd be like 44% of our income). The benefit of the agency is that they do a lot of the work for you, which is intimidating to me. Some see as a benefit of an agency the ability to be chosen by the birth parents, and I imagine you could choose the sex, race, etc of a baby. You'd just have to wait for the agency to have that kind of baby available.

My best friend and her husband had been raising money to cover an agency adoption for over a year, and they had been "picked" several times by bio families that ended up keeping their babies (praise the Lord for their change of heart and hopefully they will come to know Him and raise their kids within the Covenant!). They finally got chosen by another bio-mom and were waiting on a little boy. At the same time, a teenage family member got pregnant and asked them to adopt her son. They decided to adopt both, if both bio-moms would go through with it in the end. Both did, and they now have two newborns (born within four days of each other!). One is black and one is white! I know that their whole lives their story will bring glory to God and be a testimony to God's (and their parents') faithfulness! Now my best friend and her husband have four kids age four and under. Two biological girls and two adopted newborns baby boys! They are a huge inspiration to me and my husband.

We were approached by someone last winter about adopting a baby and we decided to do it, but the bio-mom changed her mind.
I am sure things like that are common in every country, and there are certainly many, many struggles involved with adopting (follow KMK's prayer requests and your heart will smile at the difficulties that loving, godly people will welcome in order to keep kids in the fold), but it is quite possible to adopt in the States. It just takes perseverance and God's strength.

does sound as if it's easier with you - by easier of course I wasn't meaning "less hard work/heartache" . I've heard of people who were desperate to find a child they would be allowed to adopt, but it was impossible. It's notorious that in Britain there just aren't any newborns to speak of up for adoption any more (abortion of course) but in any case, local authorities turn couples down because they're too old, or too fat, or too serious about religion, or don't want to sign an agreement never to smack the child. As for the idea of a white couple being allowed to adopt a coloured baby......forget it!!!

---------- Post added at 10:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:48 PM ----------

In Britain fostering is fraught with difficulties too.
There was a case not long since of someone who had been fostering successfully for years, until she made the mistake of allowing a teenage muslim girl in her care to convert to Christianity. As in, she wasn't instrumental in it, it simply happened under her roof. The teenager herself testified that it was her own idea entirely, but the foster mother was still removed from the register.

As of now, American Christians have a little less to be worried about concerning Islamic laws than the UK. I'm a big fan of the Atlantic Ocean.

Anyway, I just read this from an article in a Pennsylvania newspaper:

Transracial adoptions have surged since 1994, when the Multiethnic Placement Act reversed decades of matching children based on race. The federal law banned discrimination against adoptive parents on the basis of race, and since then the number of white families adopting outside their race has grown, while the number of black families adopting non-black children remains low.

So apparently it used to be like the UK in that respect.

 

[puritanpilgrim]

1Boy and 3 girls: 4yo son, 3yo daughter, 19mo daughter and 2mo daughter.

 

[CatherineL]

I mostly get comments like, "Wow, you are brave," which doesn't bother me because I think it is courageous to have three small children. I thank God for the courage that he has given us.

This is for you, Jessi:

 

[Peairtach]

Zero.

I'm happy to be a bachelor - at present.

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

You are the man and your wife is the woman. May God prosper his heritage. I look forward to doing the pipe thing behind the church someday. Lets do it.

You wouldn't believe the amount of free tobacco I got from the show. Probably around 16 oz. of various brands, blends, and flavors all for free. I have enough to last me a year almost. You should plan on coming next year, definitely worth it.

I am overly strapped right now and I wanted to shed some books around. I will try to come up and share some it with you. LOL.

I would love to come. I have even stopped my other hobbies to do more important things. See ya soon Mikey.

 

[moselle]

I voted three. Yes I am counting the one in the womb.

Nate's story is funny, and I bet most people with more than two kids have heard the same thing. When people ask about how many kids we want we always say twelve. The usual response is a gasp and a surprised look. Once or twice we've heard a "Good fer you!"

The one I can't stand is "You know what causes that don't you?" I always respond "Yes, God" It usually stops the conversation though.

I always say - "Of course - that's the best part!"

 

[MLCOPE2]

I voted three. Yes I am counting the one in the womb.

Nate's story is funny, and I bet most people with more than two kids have heard the same thing. When people ask about how many kids we want we always say twelve. The usual response is a gasp and a surprised look. Once or twice we've heard a "Good fer you!"

The one I can't stand is "You know what causes that don't you?" I always respond "Yes, God" It usually stops the conversation though.

I always say - "Of course - that's the best part!"

 

[CatherineL]

My dad (who had 5 kids) used to answer, "Sure do, do you?"

I'm not sure if I could pull off that kind of snark though. Maybe if I practiced...

 

[Caroline]

I was reading this thread and wondering why I never got the comment "You know what causes that, don't you?" even though I have four children. Then I realized that I usually hang around with my friend who has nine children, and that probably makes me look like a Birth-Control-Waving Feminist on the rare occasions that we have enough energy to venture into public settings. I wish I had more kids, but health problems and all. I grew up in a family of nine kids, and the house always seems a little too quiet.