The Ultimate Adoption Story

Last year at Christmas time I was  up all night trying to teach Sambo to sleep through the night.  I had a lot of time on my hands during the the night so I read a novel about the love story between Jesus' parents, Mary and Joseph.  As I read, I thought a lot about my newborn baby and how his adoption story related to the Savior's birth and life.  I had a bunch of ideas and thought once I could articulate them, I ought to write an essay or at the very least a blog entry about it all.  In the last year I've thought about those ideas often.  Joseph was an adoptive father, although we don't often mention "adoption" when talking about Christmas.  But besides trusting Mary, which is a remarkable part of the story, he loved and reared Jesus even though he wasn't Jesus' father.  I wish I had the ability to articulate how those ideas affect me.

This week I watched the "Home For the Holidays" special on TV.  It was an hour-long show highlighting special families who have adopted children from the foster care system.  Celebrities with a special connection to adoption performed.  The show started with a song by Faith Hill, who was adopted.  As the song started I assumed it was a song about a birth mom, since the show was about adoption, after all.  But a few moments in, I realized it was a song about Mary and Joseph and birth of Jesus.  The song was fantastic and if it was still on youtube, I'd post a link to her performance.   Trust me when I say you are really missing out.  Instead you can watch the music video which is good too.  I was so moved by her performance I watched it several times that night and each time I thought, this is the exact idea that I've had about Mary and Joseph and how much the Savior has to do with adoption.  Obviously he makes adoption happen, but his is a story of adoption too. 

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!