My heart soars...

when I hear or read about adoptions. Knowing that a child is soon to be united with their forever family and given the chance to live a carefree life full of laughter and joy should make any heart soar. There are two families that I personally know that are currently just months away from going and bringing their little girls home and one who just got their domestic adoption finalized yesterday. One family is in our church and one family is someone I used to work for at LCU. Both families are adopting from China. One is traveling at the beginning of November and the other is hoping to travel the beginning of December. Just imagine the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations they will have! And my best friend's family just finalized the adoption of their son yesterday. They have had him through through foster care since he was 18 months old. He is now 5 years old and officially theirs!

I have read some articles and blogs today about how adoption isn't as great as some make it out to be. The arguments by these authors state that adoption rips a child away from his/her biological parents and thrusts them into an unknown world and family. To some extent that is true. Especially for older children who are being adopted and having to learn to live life in an unknown family, home, country. But at the same time that's not true. The majority of the time the child is abandoned or thrown away by his/her parents. Sometimes the child's parents die of a disease like HIV/Aids (which is one of the main reasons children are orphaned in African countries). Sometimes the parents are unable for some reason or another to provide and care for their child and so they put him/her up for adoption. That doesn't sound like ripping a child away from the arms of his/her biological parents to me. That sounds like a consequence to sin and a result of evil to me. 

The articles I read also argued that the majority of adoptions are illegal and that the children are not actually orphans but rather children kidnapped from their parents and then sold and put up for adoption. I have read news articles where sadly that has happened. But I also know that the majority of adoptions are legal and done in an appropriate manner. I have 5 cousins who are adopted. One of my best friends is adopted. I have many friends and college professors who have adopted or are in the process of adoptions. I have read articles, websites and a stack of books about people who have adopted. People I highly respect and look up to as godly men and women. And they all adopted in the right way. 

I am not saying that the articles arguing against adoption don't have elements of truth. But I am saying that they aren't presenting the whole truth. That they aren't seeing the whole picture. That they are missing some of the most important things. Things like the look of a family when their child is placed in their arms. Things like the tears of joy when every step of the process is completed and finalized with that last trip to the embassy or courthouse. Things like the feeling of being whole when that child is brought home. Things like raising that child to love Jesus and to dream big. Things like saving a child from a life full of hopelessness and loneliness. Things like getting some of the best hugs and kisses when a child knows they are home and loved. 

Now obviously I haven't experienced those things personally. But I have witnessed them. And I will get to witness them again when the family in our church get's to bring their daughter home for Christmas. And I know that one day I will get to experience those things for myself when GOD tells my husband and I that it's time for us to grow our family in that way. And then my heart will soar even higher than it does now when I simply hear or read about a story of a child who comes home.