“It didn’t happen the way we had imagined or planned, but she was always our Plan A. Every pain, every setback, every prayer was all worth it. She may not have my eyes, my hair, or my skin color, but she has my heart. I can’t imagine loving my little girl as anything less than a true daughter.”
“No one can make me as angry as my sister. However, no one can make me feel more loved. God gave me my best friend through biology.”
“I know it was a lot. It was loud and messy. You said things that were hurtful. It’s okay that today wasn’t perfect. No day will ever be.”
“Every morning he gets up, brushes his teeth, and asks, ‘Can I go by Ms. Susan’s house?’ When she goes out of town, he gets upset and says, ‘She’s been gone for too long!’ She is the perfect best friend and neighbor my little boy could ask for.”
“I was adopted when I was very young in 1961.”
“There have been some really hard days of tantrums, yelling, and crying. ‘Are we crazy? What are we doing?’ We wouldn’t be here without our village.”
“She came into this world only knowing our shared existence. At 4 months, she is learning her sun, moon, and stars…can just walk away. She only has one thing—a deep trust and faith I will come when she calls. As long as my arms, my chest, and my presence are where she finds peace and security, she shall have them.”
“At 6 years old, his brother died of child abuse. He was separated from his sisters, adopted without him. People could not see the child he was going to become. They only saw the broken child. ‘Is he available for adoption?’ I was ready to be his mama.”
“No one said anything but there was some whispering and I was asked to start coming by every 2 hours. ‘Just to make sure,’ they said. There is nothing you can do except to trust the doctors but I couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong and nobody wanted to tell me.”
“Today, my mother-in-law delivered this pan to our doorstep with a hot meal tucked inside, before getting back into her car to drive home and finally eat her own dinner. If only Hollywood knew.”
