We use the word adoption very casually today--we speak of adopting pets, books, and highways. Yet the word has a far nobler significance. Adoption is the permanent placement of a child in a family with all its rights and privileges. God has forever placed us in his family. He has forever made us his children. He has forever changed our legal status. A Hope Deferred probes the depths of this wonderful reality and intertwines these blessings with an account of one family's journey to international adoption. The result is a valuable glimpse into the essential relationship between adoption, affliction, and the fatherhood of God over his people.