National Adoption Day

I just heard on the news that today is National Adoption Day.  Adoption has, like this country, become a hugely diverse concept.  International versus domestic, open versus closed, non-traditional families adopting, and the list goes on and on.  While the circumstances and the mechanics may vary, and I may not even morally agree with all the different types, one common element that I can celebrate is that people are taking on the responsibility to parent a child that needs a parent. 

 

Even though Amy and I have been parents now for six weeks, we still struggle to see ourselves as parents.  Sometimes it feels like we're just babysitting this cute little girl, albeit one who has latched onto us and one we'll be babysitting full-time for quite some time.

 

But when you think about it, aren't we all parents doing the same thing?  Children are a gift from God, whether you birth them biologically, travel around the world to take home, or secure in court downtown.  In a sense, they're on loan to us, and like good babysitters, our job is to have the most fun and be the most loving with them with the time we've been given to be with them.

 

I'm reminded of a friend of mine who told me she survived a really bad fire at a church retreat when she was a teen.  Some of her youth group, I believe, was killed in this fire.  She told me her parents flew to the site of the fire, the whole time not knowing if their daughter had survived or not.  She told me the whole time they prayed that she was still alive, but most of all they prayed that they could give their parenthood into God's hands, and see their daughter as on loan from Him, for however many years.  I was moved by my friend's parents' faith in the midst of such tragedy and panic. 

 

So happy National Adoption Day.  To all parents, both adoptive and biological.  May we all stewarding our kids as best as we can.