A Dozen Great Adoption Books
November is National Adoption Awareness Month, but our family is aware of adoption every day. Our son Josiah and his wife Jayme adopted Eppie Grace almost three years ago.
I shared more of our adoption story on my blog at Christian MomLogic.
On my Website, The Spiritual Mom, you’ll find a video of the day when Eppie officially became ours.
You’ll also find a wealth of great information, insights, and personal experiences with adoption from our authors. I encourage you to share these books with others who are interested in adoption (click on each book title for ordering information):
The River Nile by Kenny Blair
Being a senior at Abilene High School, editor of the school newspaper, and having a new boyfriend all pointed to an exciting year for the pretty brunette. But when Julie wants to write a human interest story about an orphanage in Wichita, Kansas, her perfect world begins to unravel.
Why is her adoptive mother so upset when Julie starts digging for answers? What is the connection between the Catholic orphanage and the Women’s clinic next door? And how does mission work in Uganda, Africa fit into the equation?
The explosive truth will require Julie to rethink her belief system, and challenge the reader to re-examine their world.
Kenny Blair and his wife Jodi live on a farm near Lyndon, Kansas and have five children, including four who are adopted. They have been connected with the pro-lilfe movement since the 70s, and spent some time on a short term mission trip in Africa. Kenny is a Civil Engineer and Jodi is a nurse.
He Really is My Father by Susie Aseka Brooks
The universal longing for the security of a father’s unconditional love drives the intensely personal and compelling autobiography. The youngest of five, whose widowed mother was devoted to Christ, six year old Susie’s life takes a tragic turn when her mother suddenly and mysteriously dies. Years of abuse in a relative’s home, followed by boarding school in her teens, and romantic disappointments damage her emotional health and self image.
Not until old Dutch missionary friends from her childhood take her in as a young adult does she begin to comprehend what a real father’s love, and the love of the Heavenly Father, can be like. Follow Susie’s inspiring transformation as she finds her way through college, longs for a place to call home, and gradually finds assurance of her worth in the Lord.
The Adoption Network by Laura Christianson
Do you desire to start a support network for those in your church and community whose lives are impacted by adoption?
The Adoption Network guides you through the basics of planning and launching a support system for adoptive families, foster families, birth parents, or adoptees. You’ll learn how to:
- Develop a mission statement
- Plan a budget
- Recruit leadership
- Reach out to the community
- Create workshops, support groups, social events, mentoring programs, and more
Packed with practical pointers and worksheets, this handbook will equip you with the tools you need to create a vibrant adoption support network.
Laura Christianson shares her passion for adoption with a worldwide audience through her award-winning Exploring Adoption blog. An adoptive mom, Laura founded Heartbeat Ministries, a Christian support network for adoptive families. She is a popular speaker at adoption events and writers’ conferences. Visit www.laurachristianson.com.
Adoption as a Ministry, Adoption as a Blessing by Michelle Gardner
Of all the pictures the Lord uses to describe His relationship with believers, that of a loving father to adopted children is perhaps the most tender. As the body of Christ observes families who have lovingly welcomed adopted children into their midst, we gain a greater appreciation of our own adoption into the family of God.
Exploring what Scripture says about adoption and the value of children, Michelle Gardner demonstrates that adoption can be God’s first choice for some lives. Weaving her own children’s heartwarming adoption stories throughout the book, Michelle presents a new challenge for believers to do something drastic for a child.
After the Dream Comes True by Michelle Gardner
You’ve done it! After months or even years of prayers, dreams and effort your child is finally home. Now it’s time for happily ever after. And yet the days and months ahead will quite likely stretch you in ways you weren’t expecting. Using Scripture and stories of her own adopted children, Michelle Gardner helps you anticipate these challenges and gives you tools to help you cope.
In your adoption journey, how can the Lord be most glorified? It may be through a path you would never have chosen. Michelle asks you to consider what God can do to work in your life, your child’s life, and the lives of everyone watching to bring glory to Himself.
After the Dream Comes True explores:
- Emotions that might surprise you
- Why you got involved with adoption
- First days at home
- Setting boundaries and establishing routines
- Birthparent issues
- Spiritual issues
- If the dream turns into a nightmare
- Ready to adopt again?
As families lovingly and obediently welcome adopted children into their hearts and homes, there are many issues with which they need to deal. After the Dream Comes True helps families consider these issues from a scriptural perspective and challenges families to see adoption as an opportunity to learn to trust and obey.
Michelle Gardner, the Director of Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries, is a graduate of Multnomah Bible College. She and her husband Steve were missionaries with CBInternational for several years. Steve is now Pastor to Children and Families at Fourth Memorial Church in Spokane, Washington. They have six children, three of whom are adopted.
A Penny Parcel by Avery E. Hitch
“That girl has a painful memory connected to every normal life activity and every holiday on the calendar.”
In the year 1910, Luke Tanner, an upstanding social icon in the quiet but politically powerful town of Galesburg, Vermont, adopts Ashley, an abused orphan girl.
Because the cost of processing the paperwork is a single cent, orphans like Ashley are called “penny parcels,” seen by society as only worth that much. But Ashley doesn’t want a daddy, She would prefer to remain in the security of the orphanage, where her past can remain secret.
Luke’s wife, Grace, and their son, Wesley, try to love Ashley and help her break through the emotional walls around her bruised and broken heart. But her inability to live up to Luke Tanner’s standard of performance, as well as her tainted perception of family dynamics, isolate Ashley from those who care about her the most. Fighting his own misconception of truth, Luke begins to believe that Ashley’s adoption has a much higher price than he is willing to pay.
With both of them waging war on their own personal battlefields, Luke and Ashley collide. Their conflicts initiate a sovereign tragedy.
Avery E. Hitch ministers nationwide in the gospel music group Simple Grace. When at home in Nebraska with her parents and seven siblings, Avery enjoys working with horses, God allowed Avery to write A Penny Parcel through her personal experience, her passion for truth, and her own walk to freedom.
Over Coffee (We Shared Our Secrets) by Julie Surface Johnson
Meet six hurting women, brought together in a post-abortion support group, who gather the courage to share their secrets and their hearts.
- Liz—owner and barista of Over Coffee—hosting the group while harboring her own bitter secrets.
- Mariah—shy, sweet, victim of abuse—wanting a better life for herself, but unsure how to get there.
- Emma—sassy and opinionated—looking for love in all the wrong places but finding true love, at last, in Jesus.
- Susan—a single mom with broken dreams—trying to forget the past and help her kids move into their future.
- Annie—director of a pregnancy center—seeking to help others avoid the costly mistakes she made as a young woman.
- Carly—young wife and mother, facilitator of the group—leading the meetings with sensitivity because she’s been there.
As you read their stories, experience right along with them freedom from guilt that only God is able to offer. Then, rejoice with them as they learn how to forgive themselves and trust God . . . Over Coffee.
Includes discussion questions at the back of the book. Great for groups or individuals!
Julie Surface Johnson is an inspirational speaker and writer drawing from her personal and professional experiences to illustrate God’s unfailing love. Her approach is story-telling, offering biblical solutions for problems women encounter in a friendly non-threatening way.
Bittersweet by Gay Lewis
What happens to an eighteen-year-old who discovers she’s pregnant her first semester at Bible school? And what happens twenty-five years later when that baby reappears in the life of that young woman, now a wife and mother? The story is Bittersweet, its pain and despair overlaid by the grace and forgiveness of God and the miracle of restoration.
His Purpose for Me by Gene Ling
This is my story of personal and spiritual renewal, of God’s sovereign hand on my life; bringing me through a bad adoption, abuse, and separation. It includes being reunited with both biological and adoptive family after more than fifty years separation.
It is a vivid and precise illustration that it is God who is in control and not man; a fascinating example of how the 
Lord has orchestrated the events in my life for His own purpose and Glory. This book is written for:
- The adopted––particularly the abused, who may think God has forgotten them; and the assurance that He has not.
- The discouraged––Christian and non-Christian alike, who may wonder if God cares about their individual struggles, the “Where is He when I need Him?” type feelings; and revealing the certainty that He is very much involved in our lives, whether we can see it or not.
- The lost––I share my salvation experience; the incredible patience of “The Hound of Heaven”, and the working of the Holy Spirit in bringing an angry rebellious individual (me) to Christ.
Indeed, this book is for anyone interested in the popular current topics of adoption, child abuse, personal identity issues, and anyone seeking an answer to the question, “Does God care?”
Letters and Reflections to My Adopted Daughters by Jody Moreen
Amazing Grace transformed John Newton from a wretched sea captain of slave ships to a passionate pastor and hymn writer. Grace further equipped Newton, who was childless, to become a tender, loving, and compassionate father (by adoption).
He adopted his 2 orphaned nieces Elizabeth and Eliza. Newton took no courses in parenting, nor did he have the opportunity to read the countless volumes of self help books on child rearing that grace bookstore shelves today. He wholly relied on the guidance of his heavenly Father.
Through prayer and the reading of the Bible, he discipled his daughters in the love and counsel of the Lord. It is clearly evident in the compilation of these letters and memoirs to his daughters that he embraced the words of 3 John:4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
Newton’s godly mother faithfully instructed him in the truth through prayer and the reading of the Scriptures. She died when he was only six years of age and left him to be raised by his irreligious father. What joy and thanksgiving would fill her heart to know that the seeds of truth that she sowed in the life of her young son grew and blossomed. Newton accepted God’s gift of salvation as an adult and further shared this gift with his own children.
Returned with Love by Katheryn J. Page
Unmarried with a young son, and heartbroken with sorrow, I ached to hold my newborn daughter. I wasn’t permitted to know who adopted my baby; I was only told they were “fine Christian people.” However, when I signed the adoption papers my eyes caught their names–never to be forgotten. Grief would become a familiar companion. Twenty years later my daughter was returned to me through a series of events orchestrated only by God–a divine appointment. We cannot see around the bend, yet He is there.
I write my story especially for those with wounded spirits. We must all live with the consequences of our choices; fortunately God offers comfort for the broken heart and hope to the searching. I gave my baby away, and God gave her back! Only He can give beauty for ashes.
“Kathy,” has given away a baby for adoption and later adopted another child, experiencing adoption from two perspectives. Through a remarkable series fo events she was reunited with her daughter, though neither were searching for the other. Kathy and her husband Ken live in Phoenix, Arizona. With blended families they have 6 children, 16 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.
Baby Catcher by William J. Weise IV, M.D.
Except for the grace of God I wouldn’t be writing this book. In fact, I wouldn’t be here at all. The doctors had told my mother she should abort her pregnancy. She had contracted German measles and they felt I would surely be blind, deaf, or mentally retarded.
I wrote this little book to share some of my most memorable experiences delivering babies. I believe these stories show the humanity of the unborn child and that God has great mercy and love for the unborn child and mother. Perhaps someone reading these stories might choose to carry their pregnancy instead of aborting or perhaps place the baby for adoption. If you are pregnant, scared, and alone, remember that you are not alone. God is with you and loves you.
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