Article: "Joseph of Nazareth"

Joseph of Nazareth

Church News, 12 December 1992, p. 16

When unexpected events come into our lives it is often difficult to cope with such unforeseen or surprise happenings. Some people under these circumstances lose their moorings or even abandon the original goals they were seeking before the unintended events faced them.

But such was not the case with Joseph of Nazareth, whose life took an unanticipated turn of events as the time drew nigh for the earthly advent of Jesus Christ.

Joseph, a carpenter by trade, was of the royal lineage of David. Had Judah not been under Roman rule, Joseph would have ruled as her rightful sovereign. He was engaged to one of his city's most beautiful maidens, his cousin Mary. Their fathers were brothers, and this was expected to be a joyous family event.

Under Jewish law marriage took place in two steps. First was the espousal or betrothal, and then later came the more formal marriage ceremony. The espousal carries with it the fullest sense of responsibility. So serious was this time of betrothal that it could only be broken by a process akin to divorce.

It was during thes sacred period of commitment to each other the Mary received a surprise visit from the Angel Gabriel, who announced to her that she had found great favor with God. And then he said:

"Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name JESUS." (Luke 1:31.)

Because she had not yet married Joseph, Mary questioned the angel how such a thing could be. "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35.)

With humility, the young virgin, perhaps 15 or 16 years of age, accepted the angel's message and did, indeed, conceive child of God.

But then came the task of telling Joseph. This must not have been easy, for the supposition is that after she informed him she quickly left Nazareth and went to the land of Judea to be with her older and wiser cousin Elisabeth, the wife of Zacharias. The angel Gabriel had told Mary of the miraculous pregnancy of Elisabeth, who was to bear John the Baptist.

With Elisabeth and Zacharias, Mary must have felt secure for both of them had received witness through the Spirit that Mary was to bear the divine Christ child.

For about three months while Mary was in Judea, Joseph wrestled with his unexpected problems.

In his agony and uncertainty Joseph must have wanted to believe Mary's account because of his love for her. However, the scripture states, "Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily." (Matt. 1:19.) Under Jewish law this meant that he would give her a letter of divorce in the presence of two witnesses rather than make it a metter of public knowledge and possible gossip.

One can only imagine how Joseph must have pondered and prayed, how his faith was tested to the utmost, and how he went through the refiner's fire. But his faith triumphed, he passed the tests, and the Angel Gabriel then came to him and declared:

"Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." (Matt. 1:20.)

How welcome these words must have been to the troubled Joseph. Now he knew. There was no doubt. He bade Mary to return and they were married immediately. But the scriptures assure us that Joseph honored the condition of Mary and "knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son." (Matt. 1:25.)

Under Jewish law a man could consider an adopted son his own if he taught him a handicraft or trade. Undoubtedly Jesus learned carpentry from Joseph. The scriptures affirm: "And he served under his father, and he spake not as other men, neither could he be taught; for he needed not that any man should teach him." (JST Matt. 3:25.)

Joseph was a faithful husband to Mary. He was a valiant mortal parent to Jesus. The Lord had called him to a special mission, and every indication is that he fulfilled it with diligence and honor. How glorious it would have been to hear him bear testimony about the events surrounding the birth and early life of Jesus.

Like Joseph of old we, too, must cope with unexpected events. When they occur and our faith is tested, it would be well for us to exhibit the courage, persistence, and valiance of Joseph. With such faith and determination we, too, can do all that God expects of us and conquer the unexpected problems of life.

Birth Parent Gift Idea: Create a Tradition

Start a yearly tradition just for the birth parents.
Whether it be a handmade ornament for Christmas,
sugar cookies every Valentine’s Day, flowers on
their birthday, or an annual trip to the zoo, you
can be creative and make it your very own special
tradition. Something they will always look
forward to.


Great Gift Idea for: Anytime, but especially around the holidays.
Appropriate for: Birthmother or Birthfather

Article: "The Faces of Adoptees"

image courtesy of flickr.

The article for today is called

The Faces of Adoptees

by Abby

It is taken from

www.adoptionblogs.com

(Which is a really fun place to surf around and read about others who are involved in domestic and international adoption from all sides and perspectives.)

Here's a highlight from the article:

In every walk of life, there are people struggling with issues, but that does not mean that everyone in that walk of life is also struggling. It is funny, sometimes it is like everyone else expects adoptees to be angry and even have issues with being adopted.

This leads one to wonder why others want, expect, or need adoptees to feel negative. Society it seems acts as if adoption is all about the birth mother or family. When adoptees do not search or feel the need for contact with their birth family members, it is just unthinkable to people. People refer to adoptees birth parents as their “real parents”. Does this imply the adoptees are living an “unreal” life with pretend parents? I have never been asked by a person questioning me about being adopted, if I had a happy childhood and am I at peace with being adopted? I have talked with other adoptees and this seems to be a common trend.

Birth Parent Gift Idea: Custom Puzzles

You know that picture you just love? Have a
puzzle made. They will love putting the puzzle
together and having it be a fabulous picture of the
child. It is something they will enjoy doing over
and over again.

Great Gift Idea for: Anytime
Appropriate for: Birthmother or Birthfather

Dallas, Texas FSA's Items Drive for the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas

Dallas FSA had a successful items drive for the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas this Fall. With leadership's approval, several wards in their area even got involved and together they were able to bring 2 big trucks, and 2 cars FULL of items. The RMH was absolutely thrilled!

Here are a few pictures from the event:

Incredible work, Dallas!

Article: "Lives Blessed by Adoption"

Image courtesy of flickr.

Lives Blessed by Adoption

A grandmother whose daugher placed her child for adoption...

“I have seen my daughter grow into a mature and lovely young woman with strength of character and maturity beyond her years. I have come to appreciate the correctness of the decision made by a . . . girl who followed the prompting of the Holy Ghost and the advice of Church leaders as she made a wise and eternal decision in a difficult situation.”

—Name Withheld, “But What Was Best for the Baby?” Ensign, July 1999, 63

A mother who placed her child for adoption...

“It was so hard to see my baby go, but through the comforting strength of the Spirit of the Lord, I found the courage and strength to entrust my child to a couple who had waited and prayed for him for such a long time.“I learned that the impossible is in fact possible if one turns to the Lord for help. I had done what our Father in Heaven wanted me to do. I was so grateful for [my baby]; his strong spirit helped me through many long months. I helped give him life, but he helped give me a second chance at life.”

—Name Withheld, “Could I Let My Baby Go?” Ensign, February 2002, 62

A mother who placed her child for adoption...

"I knew that my baby would have good parents to love him and teach him the gospel, and that they could give him much more than I could as a teenage mother....
“I am grateful that I was able to gain such a strong testimony of faith, repentance, fasting, prayer, and our Savior’s love for me and for all his children. I could not have accomplished all that I have without my Heavenly Father by my side, guiding me with his wisdom and mercy.”

—Name Withheld, “My Decision,” Ensign, August 1991, 29

A mother who adopted a child...

"As we knelt across the altar in the sealing room, it was hard to contain our tears. We felt so thankful for the love and mercy we had been shown. We felt again the sure knowledge that this adoption was right before the Lord. [Our daughter] was sealed to us as surely as if she had been born to us.”

—Karen B. Thompson, “Not of My Blood but of My Heart,” Ensign, April 1991, 52

A woman who was adopted as a baby...

“After experiencing the pregnancy and delivery of my own four children, I appreciate even more deeply the gift [my birth mother] gave me. When you carry a baby for nine months, that baby truly becomes a part of you. To give up that life so selflessly in order to allow that baby to have a complete family and the opportunity of temple blessings takes a deeper kind of love. It is true charity.”

—Eve Burch, “A Greater Love,” Ensign, June 2006, 60

Birth Parent Gift Idea: Basket of the Child’s Favorite Things

Making a basket of the Child’s favorite foods,
toys, music, etc., gives the birthparents a
wonderful gift that lets them see some of the
things that the child has come to enjoy.

Great Gift Idea for: One year
Appropriate for: Birthmother

Oregon FSA Wins Blue Ribbon

Congratulations to Oregon FSA for taking first place in their local parade!

Many of them sporting handmade adoption shirts, they were surprised by how supportive the crowd was of adoption. FSA delighted the crowds by passing out "Adoption - It's About Love" bracelets and even had one woman specifically ask for one as she had placed a baby for adoption several years earlier.

Well done, Oregon!

Article: "Is Adoption Acceptable to the Lord?"

A Father's Gift By Liz Lemon Swindle
Available here.

Is Adoption Acceptable to the Lord?

By A. Garner Oleson

Unmarried parents considering the best future for their child and themselves, and couples struggling with the emptiness and sorrow of childlessness, often ask, "Is adoption really acceptable to the Lord?"

In a practical sense, placing a child born out of wedlock with adoptive parents resolves several problems, but is it really right? What, if anything do the scriptures and prophets teach about adoption? So much emphasis is placed on the family and responsibilities of parents to teach and provide for their own, that the question of "rightness" of placing that trust in someone else appears to be a troubling concern to many.

The birth parents and their families are reminded of the scripture, "bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh" (Genesis 2:23). "This is my child," they tell themselves. "Wouldn't I be shrinking my responsibility if I asked someone else to teach and rear and provide a home for this child? Shouldn't I feel guilty if I didn't at least try to do my best to parent the child, even if I am single, or even if I am young?" Didn't the Apostle Paul say, "if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel" (1 Timothy 5:8)? "Am I appropriately 'providing for my own' if, as a single parent, I make an adoption plan for my child?"

Adopting parents often wonder, "Why are we unable to bear children? Doesn't the Lord want us to have children? Would we be circumventing His will if we adopt a child? Can we expect His blessings in rearing the adopted child the same as if the child were born to us? Is the adoption really okay?"

The answer to those concerns and questions can come from a variety of sources including the scriptures, latter-day prophets, and professional research on adoption.

Insight From The Scriptures

Even with the limited scriptural accounts of the first 2,000 of the world's history, there are many references to the anguish of childlessness. Consider Sarai's childlessness and her efforts to resolve her grief by taking her maid, Hagar, to Abram to bear a child for her (See Genesis 16). And, Rachel, who cries in desperation to her husband, Jacob, "Give me children, or else I die" (Genesis 30:1), and Jacob's helpless response, "Am I God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?" (Genesis 30:2) There is Hannah's pleading with the Lord at the Temple and her weeping and refusal to eat due to her grief over her childlessness. In helplessness, her husband says, "Why weepest thou? And why eatest thou not? And why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons? ...And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore." And she vowed unto the Lord, "give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life" (1 Samuel 1:5-28).

Regarding the rearing of children by those other than the children's parents, Father Abraham, himself, was born into a home where his needs could not best be served. As a young man he was taken "away from [his] kinsfolk, into a strange land which [he knew] not of" (Abraham 1:16).

The account of the discovery of the baby Moses in the bulrushes is well known. Moses, for his protection was placed in the care of others. "And the child grew, and she [his birth mother] brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water" (Exodus 2:10). Though he lived 3,500 years ago, he is to this day known and honored by the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim cultures worldwide, and is spoken of by the Lord by the name, Moses, which was the name given him by his mother by adoption.

Samuel, the prophet of Israel who anointed King David, was taken by his mother to be reared by another. The scriptures tell us "and the child was young ...and she said, as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord" (1 Samuel 1:28). He grew to manhood not in the home of his parents, but in the home of Eli and his family. It was Eli, his "adoptive" father, who guided him as a child to listen when the Lord called his name in the night (1Samuel 1-3).

Even our Heavenly Father entrusted his Only Begotten Son to be reared by Joseph, who was not his biological father. And, while on the cross, Jesus established a new "family" relationship when he spoke to his mother, saying, "Woman, behold thy son!" and to John, "Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home" (John 19:25-27).

Timothy, the young companion of Paul, was the son of a Greek father and Jewish mother and was spoken of by the Apostle Paul as "my own son" (1 Timothy 1:2, 18). It is clear that care of family members by those other than family was practiced and approved in biblical times.

The term "adoption" in the scriptures generally refers to being adopted into the House of Israel through faith in Jesus Christ accompanied by baptism and reception of the Holy Ghost, or to being adopted sons and daughters of Christ, becoming his children by obedience to the gospel (see Moses 5:7-8). Of course, as the spirit children of God, we are all adopted into our mortal homes. It would appear that when it best served those concerned, one is practicing a form of godliness to allow a child to be adopted into a home that will further his or her progress and bless the lives of hose involved.

What Have Latter-day Prophets Told Us?

In the early days of the Church, twins, a boy and a girl, were born into the home of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Emma. Both died within hours following birth. Not far away, on the same day, the wife of John Murdock died while giving birth to twins, also a girl and a boy. When the Murdock twins were nine days old, Brother Murdock took them to Joseph and Emma and asked them to make them their own. Brother Murdock called it a gift "more valuable than all the tokens of friendship ...ever received in that land of hospitality" (cited in Vernon Lynn Tyler, "Adventures in Adoption," Improvement Era, June 1968, p. 115). What trust! What love! Joseph and Emma felt joy as they undertook to raise the children.

Adoption, as a legal process in the United States, was first instituted by statute in Massachusetts in 1851, serving as a model for other states. Every state had enacted some form of adoption laws by 1929. Today, it is a rare family that has not been touched by adoption in some way.

Adoption in the Church was formally recognized in 1921 when President Joseph F. Smith designated the Relief Society Social Services Department as the Church's official child-placing agency. In 1969, under priesthood correlation, the Unified Social Services was organized and designated to provide adoption services. Unified Social Services is now known as LDS Social Services (which is now LDS Family Services).

In homage to women denied the power to bear children, President David O. McKay said some adopt children "as their own, rear them with an ability characteristic of and inherent in true womanhood, and fill the lives of their darlings with a love that only the yearning soul of such a mother can know. Such are true mothers, indeed, though part of the experience of motherhood be denied them!" (Treasures of Life, pp.39-40) President Ezra Taft Benson, speaking of those that adopt stated, "to these wonderful couples we salute you for the sacrifice and love you have given those children you have chosen to be your own" (To Mothers in Zion, Fireside Address to Parents, 22 February, 1987).

In a letter to Church leaders dated February 1, 1994, the First Presidency counseled:

"A child needs both a mother and a father...When the unwed parents are unable or unwilling to marry, they should be encouraged to place the child for adoption...Placing the infant for adoption through LDS Social Services helps ensure that the baby will be reared in a faithful Latter-day Saint family and will receive the blessings of the sacred sealing covenant...Such a decision enables the unwed parents to do what is best of the child and enhance the prospect for the blessings of the sacred sealing covenant...Such a decision enables the unwed parents to do what is best for the child and enhance the prospect for the blessings of the gospel in the lives of all concerned."

The First Presidency has stated, "Adoption is a positive, natural, and loving way to build families. We commend those who participate in the adoption process, whereby children may reap the benefits of having a loving father and mother and a stable home life" (Church News, November 18, 1989).

Thanks for being an advocate! Adoption needs you!