A dad's thoughts on Mother's Day in China

I really intended to post this yesterday (Mother's Day) but we had a busy day and I never got it done.

Let me begin by saying how thankful Mary and I both are for our mothers (and fathers too). We are so blessed to have parents who have always loved, encouraged us and taught us right principles to live by. Thank you Mom and Dad and Barbara and Lyle. We love you very much.

I also want to say how blessed I am to have Mary as my wife and as mother to our six children. She is an amazing woman. I thank God for her every day. I have never had any doubt from the day that I fell in love with her that she was the one that God intended to be my partner for life. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I love her more today than I ever have.

This is our third trip to China. Our hearts have grown to love the Chinese people. Since we have just spent Mother's Day in China, I really wanted to share my thoughts and feelings to defend Chinese mothers who give their babies up for adoption. This is our third adoption from China. We are often asked, "How can a mother abandon her baby?" I asked myself the same question may times before our first adoption.

God began to change my way of thinking during our first trip to China. I was sitting alone in a seat on the back of a bus. Mary, Missy and Molly were in the seat in front of me. We had just had Molly for four days. There were six other couples and their adopted baby girls in our travel group on the bus too. The bus was taking us to the sites where each of our babies was found before they were taken to the orphanage (the "finding site"). The bus was unusually quiet as each couple was allowed to get off the bus and spend a few minutes at the particular site where their baby was found. We were the last to go because Molly's finding site was the farthest from the orphanage.

As I sat there on the bus thinking about Molly and her birth mother, God gave me a picture that I will never forget. It was the picture that I had seen in a children's Bible of Mose's mother and sister as they placed baby Moses in a basket in the water so that he might be found and his life might be spared. It was as if God was saying that Molly's mother had done what she knew in her heart would be best for Molly.

Molly's finding site was on a street corner near a market area. Mary and I have often imagined that her mother brought her there early one morning before the markets opened. She probably wrapped her warmly in a blanket and left her in a place she knew Molly would be found quickly. We have even imagined that her mother might very possibly have hidden and waited to make sure she was found. Whatever the case, we know that Molly's mother's actions did not escape God's sight. As we stood there in that place that morning I was overwhelmed by God's presence. We huddled together as a family on that corner and prayed- thanking God for Molly and her birth parents- and praying that someday we will meet them in heaven.

Chinese mothers are no different than any other mothers. They love their children just like we love our children. We pray that each of our adopted children will always know that their birth mother loved them dearly.

Happy Mother's Day from China.