The reason we adopt...

This post was made on another family's blog and is a great way to express "why we adopt":

....The people that make up The Nativity Story are all very different and very crucial to the coming of Christ. Mary, Joseph, Zachariah, Elizabeth, John, the Three Wisemen, the lowly shepards...even King Herrod! I am in amazement that God sent his son to earth in the form of a baby! And what about the humble people chosen for the ENORMOUS task of raising Christ into a man!

That is what struck my heart the most....Out of all of the people in the nativity story, Joseph was one of my favorites! He rose above prejudice from others against his unwed, pregnant, soon to be wife. He made the choice to not only marry Mary but to raise Jesus as his own son.

Isn't that the choice so many of us have made with our adoptions? We have chosen to take a child, birthed by someone we probably will never know...and raise it as our own. The essence of adoption is, to the core, a spiritual decision. In order for God to adopt all of us as his own children, Joseph had to adopt Jesus as his son here on earth.

To adopt a child is to love a child in your heart instead of your womb. To know that you know, that the child you are adopting has been chosen for you and your family by God...just as biological children are chosen. Our adopted child is destined to fulfill a glorious purpose, as we all are! Those of us parenting any children, adopted or not, have the same awesome responsibility as Mary and Joseph were given...to raise our children to glorify God!

So, just like Joseph, and following God's example, we are perservering through this challange of adoption! Not that we thought otherwise, but it has been such an uphill battle! I am thankful for the example shown in both of these stories...and I am especially aware of it this time of year. The birth of Jesus! The adoption of Jesus by Joseph...the chance for our salvation through the adoption into Gods family...

Wishing you all many blessing in the New Year! ~ Tracy