Dear Reader,

I expected too little.

As my husband and I started the process of adopting a child, I looked forward to welcoming a new little person to our family, but wasn’t anticipating any earth-shattering changes in my life.

I did not know how adoption would expand my relationships and my world. I did not know how this adventure would change the shape of my heart, stretching it through vulnerability and difficulty – and also through joy. Adoption has made me uncomfortable. It has made me anxious and sad. It has also made me overflow with gratitude and love. And it has brought me nearer to God.

Adoption offers us a rich spiritual legacy. In adoption we draw near to the compassion, redemption, and love that have their source in God. At the core of adoption are loss and new beginning, costly love and redemption. These are also at the heart of the Christian gospel and central to much of our human experience. Adoption echoes the great refrains of our heritage. I started to see this in trickles as we proceeded through our adoptions; the trickles grew and grew until they had to spill over into a book. Carried Safely Home rejoices in the greatness of God that we can experience through adoption. It celebrates the spiritual riches embedded through this amazing way of building a family. It reveals how precious adoption can be in our pilgrimage towards God.

Of course, an adoption journey does not end once the paperwork is finished and a child is home. I look forward to continuing to learn more about God’s inexhaustible riches through all of my children - in this season when they are home with me, and also after they have grown to spread their wings in the world.

I invite you to join me as a fellow pilgrim on this wonderful journey.

Kristin Swick Wong

P.S. Selections from Carried Safely Home can be read on this website. See birthday celebration , waiting , and safety in storms.

“One of the many wonderful blessings of adoption is what it teaches us about God -- about his character, his passions, and his love for us as adopted sons and daughters. Kristin Swick Wong has used her adoption journey as a palette to paint a beautiful picture of our Heavenly Father.”

- Dennis Rainey, President, Family Life

More Endorsements and Reviews of Carried Safely Home

Buy an autographed copy of Carried Safely Home from the author's website, New Earth Enterprises.

Browse other books published by Faithwalk.

Meet the Author

Kristin is available to speak about adoption, parenting and education. Contact us for more information or to schedule a date. Some available talks:

• “Adoption as Worship”: Adoption can encompass more than the simple adding of a child to our family. Through adoption, we encounter God. We can know him in new, stretching ways. And we can be drawn into awe and love for him. Make use of your adoption adventure to fuel your worship of God.

• “From Ashes to Beauty”: By entering our world, Jesus chose to also enter our messy lives. He does not stay aloof from our troubles, but enters into them with us. Adoption often includes grief. But we need not enter that grief alone – we are following in the footsteps of Jesus, and we can watch him transform the brokenness into beauty. It is a great privilege to participate with God in redemption through adoption.

• “Children of the Heavenly Father”: God calls us his adopted children. What does it mean to be his sons and daughters? One of the joys of adoption is that as we set our love on our adopted children we can also meditate the wonder of God setting his love on us.

• “Building a Refuge”: For parents with adopted children at home. How do we work with God to heal the potential pain and deprivation experienced by our children early in their lives? God builds our children, and we can build with him. This talk includes recent research into the developmental and medical needs of post-institutionalized children.

• “Carried Safely Home”: The Wong family story, with parts of the other talks built in.

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