It really bothers me when people view adoption as second best. Many times I’ve read infertility blogs that say they are doing everything possible to have a biological child, but if all else fails … there is always adoption.

I said it too on my blog.

If you remember, our original plan was to do the IVF cycle first, have a biological child and then pursue adoption as a way of expanding our family.

So many couples, who do go through infertility and for whatever reason are never able to achieve a pregnancy, do pursue adoption. And to the public eye it seems there is a measure of sadness that they are “having to adopt”.

But to that couple, they are realizing, as God unfolds their story, that adoption is most certainly NOT second best, nor a “Plan B” type deal.

It is miraculous.

It is something that brings wonder and amazement, heartache and pain, joy and deliverance.

It is adoption and it is beautiful.

I am forever grateful that God had adoption written in my life story. Not only because it was through adoption that I am the mother to my sweet Little Bug, but because I am forever grateful that I have experienced the miracle of adoption first hand and will again experience it in the future.

Growing up I always thought I’d feel like something was missing if I never gave birth to a child. The beauty of adoption makes me realize that I haven’t missed a thing – I have only gained.

If only adoption was all beauty.

Unfortunately there is an ugly side to adoption.

Adoption is a story of redemption and a story of redemption always has an ugly painful side, but then beauty always prevails in the most miraculous way.

One woman is faced with the decision to choose to not parent her child. Whatever the reason behind this choice, it is usually made with much turmoil and anguish, but with an ultimate desire for the child’s best interest.

Another woman is faced with circumstances beyond her control. She desperately wants to be a mother, but isn’t able to conceive.

Enter redemption.

One woman gives her child to another so that he/she can have the life she cannot give. The other woman accepts the child as her own and her dream of motherhood becomes reality.

Ashes turned to beauty. There will always be a measure of pain involved for both women, but overall, their stories are a story of redemption.

A story of adoption. A story of beauty. A miracle.

And that has become my life. Every child that enters my family will come with a story of redemption.

Adoption is not second best, nor a “Plan B”.

It’s a miracle.

<p align="center">It’s a story of redemption.</p>

- Elaine