Adoption

We are Rick and Cheryl Lindner. And we decided to build our family through adoption.

When my wife had read an article in 1995 about orphans, mostly girls, in China, she felt sure we had a daughter in China. However, the laws at that time it made it impossible for us to adopt because of the age requirements. Four years later, with changed laws in China and a changed husband’s heart about adoption, we started the adoption process.

One year later, we brought home our nine month old Abigail Rose.We found ourselves back in China one year later adopting a two year old that we named Emma Grace. Both girls only being six weeks apart in age is just like having twins.

We were called to come live in China in 2010, and after being here only three months, we heard about a three month old body who was HIV positive in an isolation room with no one to take care of him. So we talked as a family and realized that we had no other option but to take him in and foster him. We agreed to foster him providing the orphanage would process his paperwork, (HIV positive files don’t usually make it to Beijing), and we would provide love, nutrition, and medical care to get him ready for his forever family.

It turns out, that would be us.

“God has a plan for everyone, and His plan for my family is to give a home to orphans. Right now, we’re taking care of a little boy we named Matthew. We want to adopt him because he seems like the perfect Matthew Lindner for us. I want him because I’ve always wanted a little brother and because this might be what God has planned for us.” ~ Emma Grace Lindner, 13