“’Who is that?’ I asked. ‘My son. If it’s a deal breaker, let me know.’ His bio mom would answer the phone at 6 p.m. and say, ‘Josiah is eating breakfast and going to school.’ She thought it was 6 a.m. when it was actually 6 p.m. She made up elaborate lies.”
‘When are you going to adopt me?’ His bio mom would coach him on our calls. She made up elaborate lies.’’: Mom adopts stepson as a teen, ‘When love is there, nothing can break you’
‘My baby’s placenta never stopped growing. The doctors were confused.’: Couple pursues open adoption, ‘I will never forget those sacred moments’
“We were told her mama needed space. She had very little support and I just wanted to wrap my arms around her. I told the nurse, ‘Please let her know we love her.'”
‘Can you take care of her hair?’ We’d be lying if we said we were fully prepared. We had work to do.’: Adoptive mom to transracial family says ‘we are committed to learn and grow’
“We didn’t know everything we needed to know when Josie was born. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. We acknowledged we needed to educate ourselves.”
‘It can’t be.’ We were shocked. ‘How in the world are we going to raise this army of littles?’: Foster mom shocked by pregnancy, cares for 5 under four, ‘I was made to be a mommy’
“I didn’t feel like I could give them what they needed. I wasn’t enough. I was telling myself these lies they were better off somewhere else. But I couldn’t make that choice. I couldn’t give up my children!”
‘I noticed changes in Jason’s behavior. He was tired and depressed all the time. His headache would just not go away.’: Widow re-marries after loss, ‘Celebrate the good every single day’
“Jason ended up in the ER. Within hours, we were told, ‘He has a 5-7 years left to live.’ Or so we thought. Only 14 months later, I’d attend a grief camp with my kids where I would meet Jason #2. We kept our relationship secret, at my request. I adored him. I was nervous whether my in-laws and friends would accept my new love.”
‘I got pregnant. My father said I ‘ruined his reputation.’ A black family was not welcomed.’: Woman in interracial marriage says ‘my family is a symbol of unity’
“People would approach our daughter and ask if she was lost and needed help finding her mommy. We were followed and harassed by cops sometimes for miles while we drove. They demanded to know if he was a gang banger.”
‘I thought she’d be browner. Disappointing, huh?’ they said. I struggled with her not looking like me.’: Mom of mixed race family comes to terms with herself, ‘I should never have justified comments’
“A boy said, ‘Yuck, do you shave your sideburns?’ I was mortified. I’d lighten my hair with at-home kits. When my white friends got their noses pierced, I joined in. But I swiftly took it out again, because it made me look ‘too Indian.’”
‘He drilled my boyfriends. He put a down payment on my first car. He comes over to check my car’s oil and fix things that break.’: Woman celebrates father figure, ‘What day celebrates the Gene’s?’
“As a kid, I didn’t know what to make of Father’s Day. My dad left when I was a baby. Gene has been in my life as long as I can remember. He wasn’t my dad. He wasn’t even technically my step-dad. He was Gene.”
‘The first thing I heard was, ‘If she survives, she’s losing all of her limbs.’ I let her go. I’d rather live a lifetime of pain than have her here selfishly.’: Mom says ‘I have never felt more like a mom than I do after losing Kinsley’
“I let her go. That all sounded like a pretty sh*tty existence, right? Then they proceeded to say she had a stroke. As I watched my daughter die, all I wanted was to trade places with her. I wanted to take the pain away. So, I let her go.”
‘Really? Another mom in the picture? More kids?’ I realized I’d robbed them of some of their favorite things.’: Stepmom realizes ‘every member of a blended family has to be flexible from time to time’
“I would make an effort to hide my bump if we were at school or sports functions. The quips came out of the woodwork. ’They’re crazy! This will be the end of them…’ I tried to involve the girls as much as possible. I wanted them to feel the joy I was feeling.”
