Canadian Running Magazine carries the story of American Olympic Marathon Runner Ryan Hall and his wife Sara (also a world-class runner), who last week shared the story of their adoption of four sisters from Ethiopia. The adoption took the vibrant pair in a moment from being a couple to a family of six.
Both the magazine article and Sara’s blog post are well worth the read. As Sara herself expresses, this is only the first step in a journey that will carry many joys and challenges. But the Hall’s self-giving and straight-forward perspective is as refreshing as it is beautiful. It reminds that – amidst all the complex and difficult questions that are rightly a part of adoption discussions – at the heart of adoption is so often the beauty of seeing children who might otherwise have grown up apart family being welcomed into one.
Ryan and Sara both have huge followings on social media in the running world and beyond. Their deepest desire is to use that platform to honor Christ and show the world His true heart. So they hold nothing back in sharing why they chose to adoption. It is, she explains, “a picture of what God does for all of us, choosing us and adopting us as his children and giving us a new life.”
Unless his training for the 2016 Olympics prevents it, Ryan and Sara will be with us at the CAFO2016 Summit (May 5-6 in Orlando.) If you have the privilege of getting to know them their, you’ll see they’re the real deal: loving Christ first, loving others second, and running third.
Sara acknowledges that at one time, the thought of adopting four siblings would have seemed almost laughable. “It’s neat how something that sounds so crazy to you at one point can seem totally normal when God gives you the grace for it,” she explains.
“We have come to know and experience a big God who is always with us and will always give us what we need to do whatever He calls us to do. It doesn’t mean you always win or it’s always easy but He is always with us to give us the grace to handle whatever we face and uses it all for our good …”