Rick and Heather Hanna have five children—three biological children and two children through adoption. Rick is a pastor and Heather is a homemaker / homeschooling mom. They love the gospel and care deeply about adoption. They live in Columbus, OH.

Here is their transethnic adoption story:

1. What initially motivated you to adopt?

Heather has encouraged others to adopt for many years and prayed for six years that God would show Rick that we were to add more children to our family through adoption. For several years, we prayed together about whether God wanted us to consider adoption. Through God’s direction in a variety of ways, we eventually sensed that God was moving in our lives to take a step of faith and knew that we had more love to give. We wanted to be parents to more children and God began to open doors that brought us our two sweet babies in one year’s time!

2. What kind of responses have you received from extended family and friends about your decision to adopt?

Initially it seemed that some people were shocked. Honestly most people could not understand why a family who already had three biological children would even consider adopting. In time, we were able to talk more about adoption and our family and friends began to understand and to pray for all the steps to happen to bring about these miracles in our lives. Once our children were home, our family and friends lovingly accepted them just as they had all of our children.

3. How do you think the gospel should influence the decision to pursue adoption? Continue reading →