Hello, I Love You: Adventures in Adoptive Fatherhood

Book Synopsis: There’s nothing like adoption to make a grown man cry. Repeatedly. In this humorous and honest memoir, Ted Kluck—father, writer, and sports fan—details his adoption of his two sons from Ukraine. While not always self-flattering, his complaints and struggles will provoke laughter, some fear, and self-examination.

In the first part of his memoir, Ted reveals the chaos of Kluck’s first international adoption, the adoption of his son Tristan. He includes stories of: Loads of paperwork, inspections, and prayer in the United States, Traveling to Ukraine with tens of thousands of dollars in cash tucked in his belt, Unexpected waits, Consuming uncountable numbers of Snickers bars and soda, Sickness while still in Ukraine, Letters written to his soon-to-be son, God’s unending faithfulness and reflections on His adoption of believers.

In the second part of his memoir—the story of Kluck’s second international adoption—new struggles arise, causing Ted to process with his readers: Infertility—in a church full of pregnant women and large families, Struggling in silence, Travel, again, Missing the comfort of the United States, A small amount of electrocution—the result of foreign electrical engineering, Spiritual depression and struggle to provide for his family, Complaint and trusting that God’s provision is sufficient, The blessing of the body of Christ.

In each section of Ted’s memoir, you will feel deeply, laugh out loud, and learn. Whether you’re an adoptive parent, seeking to be an adoptive parent, or unmarried, you will enjoy and appreciate Ted’s humorous and honest stories of his adventures in adoptive fatherhood. “While Hello, I Love You is about the stories of two adoptions, in reality, the stories serve to show the trustworthiness of God despite impossible circumstances and the need to find contentment in his providential care.” - Book review by John Starke on The Gospel Coalition

An Excerpt from the Book’s Introduction: This book began as a journal—some spiral-bound notebooks that came with me to Ukraine the first time, and which contained letters that I wrote to Tristan during the experience. In the first half of the book, it reads like I’m addressing Tristan directly, while the second half is a more straightforward narrative of Dima’s adoption. They’re both love letters to my boys, and the whole thing is a love letter to Kristin, my wife.

You’ll also notice lots of frank, often sarcastic prose about cultural differences—usually with the author as the punch line, as it was my inability to deal with these differences that provided a lot of humor (in retrospect) and anger (at the time).

There’s also some tough content regarding infertility. If this is something you’ve struggled with in your marriage, I hope this chapter encourages you, and I hope you feel less alone in your struggle. If you’ve been blessed with biological children, please don’t feel guilty for having them, or in any way judged or made fun of by the observations in that chapter (see also: It not being you, but me).

Finally, the book contains lots of stories of God’s faithfulness—stories that we thought were too meaningful not to be told. Little “piles of stones” along the way that remind us of God’s goodness, love, and faithfulness. We hope that you’ll read them and not only be entertained, but be motivated to think of Christ and our adoption as His sons and daughters. It is only the love of Christ, and our hope in Him, that got us through the first, the most difficult adoption in the history of our agency’s work with Ukraine, then infertility, and finally a second adoption. And it was these adoptions, more than any other events or events in our lives, that truly taught us to find our peace, comfort, and identity in Christ.