International Adoption

Okay, so there's this new catch phrase going around about international adoption which is "it's always best for a child to stay and be raised in their country of origin". Ofcourse after that then everyone agrees that there aren't enough people in those countries who are able to care for those children so then ofcourse a home and a family in any country is second best and is better than being raised in an institution.

We will be bringing home our Chinese daughter to raise her in a different country then she was born in. Does this mean that we are giving her what is second best for her? A thought I am currently processing.

Every time I hear this mentioned (which is frequently) I ponder it. I wouldn't say it has bothered me but I would say that I have felt challenged by it. Frankly, I am leaning towards not agreeing with it. Would I be any worse off if I was raised in a different country? Or would my kids be any worse off if we take them and raise them in another country (which we just may do some day....if God calls us to serve Him in another country)?

This is what I believe and know to be true: The best place to be for any of us is in God's will. To be right where He has called us and led us to be. Where we are in life may look to many people on the surface as less then the best. Perhaps in a smaller house, or living in a lower economic area, or wearing out dated clothes, working in a job with low prestige, to some going to public schools is less then the best, or driving a really old ugly car, etc... All of these things our world and our society would say is less then the best, just as some studies and some adoption "professionals" have said that it's less then the best to be raised in a foreign country. However, God has called many many many little sweet babies from other countries to live with their new mommies and daddies in the good ol' US of A. And God's plan is always the best. So, even if these little people have different skin color or have "different eyes" (as Caleb says it) or have different heritage, if they are just where God's wants them to be then THAT IS the BEST!

I just got to thinking about all of this again as I was discussing the life of Moses with someone. Moses lived with his biological parents (who were awesome, by the way) until he was about 3 and then adopted by the princess of Egypt. This adoption was all orchestrated by God so that he could be trained and prepared (unknowingly at the time to him), with the best that the Egyptians had to offer, to lead God's people out of Egypt. This adoption WAS the best plan for Moses because it was a part of God's amazing plan to deliver His people. If his mother had not feared and had faith in God then Moses would have remained at his place of birth and been surrounded by his own heritage/culture/environment, in the comfort of his own home, loved on by his own people....which on the surface sounds really good....until you go deeper in understanding and realize that the reality of that story is that his life would have ended while he was still an infant. How much more of an abundant life he had because adoption is a part of his story. How can you deny that being adopted by a people of different ethnicity was not the BEST for Moses?

If it's best for these orphans to stay in their own country, then that is where God will place them. If it's best for them to move in with the Skipper family, then that is where they will go. No one loves them and cares for them as much as Him.

oh Lord God, I praise you!