“I felt completely overwhelmed and exhausted. Enter Steven.”
‘Where is his wife? Why is he watching the baby? What’s she doing?’ My favorite part of this story is the way Steven told it to me.’: Mom grateful for husband’s help during child birth recovery
‘I notice the careful details in dorm rooms. The way you hold your not-so-little person a little too tightly. I am in awe of your ability to let go.’: Mom pens letter to the ‘brave mamas and daddies’ amid school reopenings
“You’re pushing your baby bird from the nest amidst a pandemic. You’re swallowing the fears setting sail in your mothering heart. Dropping your person off at college must feel like a bittersweet victory.”
‘Hold me a little tighter Momma, life is moving by so fast.’: Mom pens touching letter from perspective of child, ‘Holding you all these years has meant more than you’ll ever know’
“I’m not ready for you to go.”
‘I’m struggling to answer questions from my children about school and sports. I’m struggling to find the light at the end of the tunnel.’: Mom reminds us ‘we don’t have to walk this path alone’
“I’m struggling to make choices that seem unpredictable and scary. I’m struggling with the ‘what if’s’ and the unknowns surrounding the future.”
‘It’s funny, I see you becoming a mother to a baby, but not a newborn. He’ll have big, round, blue eyes.’: Single mom details attachment and adoption process from foster care
“I nearly fell right out of my seat when I saw my very first picture of Axel. A cherub, round face of a gorgeous 6-month-old, with the biggest blue eyes, stared right into my soul from the computer screen in that social worker’s office. I was floating on cloud 9, but she reminded me there are always risks involved with adopting from foster care.”
‘The feeling you know for a fact your child is out there on the other side of the world, is something I just can’t describe.’: Single woman details Indian adoption journey during COVID-19
“Single and adopting. Those two words, when said together, shock people. ‘Wouldn’t it just be easier to get married and have kids?’ I woke up Thursday at 3 a.m. with an email. They asked if I would be interested. I VERY quickly responded with an absolute, ‘YES’. Adoption always was in my story.”
‘Whether you choose to isolate 100%, form a pandemic bubble, or send your children to school, know you are doing the very best you can.’: Woman urges ‘choose joy, despite all the reasons not to’
“Living in 2020 is kind of like living inside of a dumpster…during a tsunami…while it rains dirty diapers. If you are doing everything you know to do, fear is no longer keeping you safe, it’s merely robbing you of your joy.”
‘I was billed $7,600 to end a pregnancy I desperately wanted. I didn’t know I’d have to choose.’: After miscarriages, woman starts motherhood movement, ‘I found healing’
“The car stopped and I ran to the bathroom. I was greeted by the most unwelcome guest: an amount of bright red, to this day 5 years later, makes my heart stop to remember. I was angry at the world.”
‘You would have to be prepared to adopt.’ My heart stopped fluttering; it just stopped. ‘How am I even allowed to be doing this?’: Woman becomes transracial foster mom, ‘We are the lucky ones’
“She was playing basketball with all the neighborhood kids in our front yard when I got home from work. My heart fluttered. ‘What the heck am I doing? Can I even be a good mom? I know NOTHING.’ I walked up and tried to say hello to her.”
‘He found her playing with a used drug syringe. ‘The kids can all come here!’ I didn’t even stop to talk to my husband.’: Couple fosters 5 siblings, deals with ‘roller coaster’ of 7 kids
“’Hey, I was thinking…’ I am the queen of crazy ideas. This was a single father with five children, ages 12 to 1. That hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn’t even hesitate.”