Not on a train! Not in a tree! Not in a car! Sam! Let me be!

Every night Henry requests three books. Hop Pop (Hop on Pop), Go, Dog! Go., and Ham (as in Green Eggs and). These three books have been the nightly routine for months, so Henry "reads" them along with me, complete with flipping his finger on his lips when everyone goes underwater and the Who shouts "I do not like them Sam-I-am!"

What sticks out to me from these books is Sam-I-am. He is one diligent breakfast food pusher. Seriously. He arranges these ridiculous scenarios to entice the Who. (I mean, who hangs on a box from a tree and where did he get that fox?) He chases the Who. Hunts him down even, knowing that if only the Who will try his Green Eggs and Ham, the Who will have a better life.

And people, as of late, I have been that Who. And God has been chasing me.

The other night, as I was putting Henry to sleep, I knelt next to him at the foot of his bed and said the Lord's Prayer and it gave me pause. Specifically when I prayed "On earth as it is in Heaven." Countless times I have prayed this and yet I wonder if I really mean it? And if I really mean it, then why are we only willing to show our adoption profile to Caucasian women? I've said time and time again that I think if you are called to adopt across racial lines you'll know. Beyond a doubt. What I didn't consider was the fact that I'd know I was called to be willing to do it and yet I would pretend otherwise. That I'd hear the call but let it go to voicemail.

And during that little Lord's Prayer, with Henry's chubby right hand clasped around his cast and my fingers, I was suddenly convicted of my own hard heartedness, racism, and lack of trusting in the Cross of Christ to be the foundation of my identity. When we get to Heaven, our family will include every tongue, nation, and tribe and will be vastly more diverse than our Christmas cards show. And what a unique position our family would be in to reflect the grace, mercy, and truth of the Gospel were it to be abundantly clear that it was God who knit our family together!

And yet, we continued to hem and haw--do we want to be poster children for adoption? How would our child be accepted in the capital of the Confederacy? How many fights am I going to get in at the bus stop with children? If we have a little girl, is someone going to teach me how to do her hair? Does this mean I have to like Obama? Thankfully, like Sam-I-am, God was not content with our protests or first answers. Over and over again, He has brought us into contact with more African Americans--that family on the beach, a couple in our Sunday School class, women in my Bible Study, people at Henry's preschool. And like the Who, I've ended up treading water amidst a goat driving a train, thinking, fine, Lord, I'll consider it if you'll just get off my case.

So.....

We have decided to open up our profile to include all races. And much like that stingy old Who in Henry's favorite book whose heart is changed, we are eager to parent whatever baby God has for us be it in a box, with a fox, in a house, and yes, even with a mouse.

As Christians, we are told to let the Truth guide our decisions. And Scripture is quite clear that there is only one blood that matters--Jesus' poured out for us. There is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:28-29)

It is very exciting to follow God's leading. It is said that God works in mysterious ways. But what I've found is not so much that God is mysterious, but that I spend so much time navel gazing that I miss out on the very obvious things God is screaming at me, be it in Scripture or through the way He orders my day. Now that we've made the decision, I'm really at a loss for as to why we didn't make this decision sooner. We talked about it, and half-heartedly prayed about it, but really never said out loud, "Yes. It will be hard. We will be talked about. But it is the correct thing to do. It is what is right. And we will choose to do what is right even though it is not what is easy." Instead, I thought to myself, "It'd be hard, and yeah, it's certainly the right thing to do, but I'm really not up to being obedient if it means I have to put myself out there."

But the truth is, every family has to decide what rules they will follow. Every family has to come to grips with what the world says is the way to be and what God says the way to be is. This isn't unique to families who adopt, or who even adopt transracially. And what we want for our children is to know that first and foremost, before they are Phillips, before they are white or black, before they are Americans, and yes, even before they are Tarheels or Gamecocks, they are His. That this is always our starting point. Belonging to Jesus is always the only true thing about our identity that lasts. The big work of bringing God and people together has been done. The rest, is just food coloring in your eggs.