“‘So you are the people that want teenagers… are you crazy?’ I said, ‘Something like that.’ She replied, ‘Well, I got a phone call in your driveway for a 16-year-old male who needs a home by tonight.’ I told her, ‘Bring him home.’ My husband looked at me like I was crazy. But he agreed. ‘She’s right, bring him home.’”
‘I’ve never had real parents before. I’ve waited my entire life to be treated the way y’all treat me.’ Couple adopts 18-year-old who was ‘abandoned by his birth mother with no name’
‘You don’t look old enough to have 10 children!’ If they only knew. My oldest is only 9. Strangers commenting, ‘You must have your hands full’ when I’m out with just 3 children are always amusing.’
“I’m a mom of 10 under 10 years. ‘Did you have them all with the same partner?!,’ I’ve been asked. Or rude comments like, ‘Seven kids? That’s terrible!’ Is it tiring to be constantly pregnant? Believe it or not, I still get thrilled with each positive test.”
‘We sound like the beginning of a bad joke. A Black, Transracial, Mennonite Adoptee and a White Mennonite Midwesterner walk into a bar…’
“Eight years ago, I got in a car at midnight to eat bad cheese fries at a sketchy truck stop. I took a chance to be vulnerable with someone I didn’t know. And, it changed my life.”
‘Before our wedding, we were in a serious motorcycle accident. I was laying on the road waiting for first responders. ‘We can always adopt. We will have children someday, no matter what.’
“I held her hand and supported her as she bravely brought her daughter into the world. I didn’t know what to say throughout her labor. I just remember repeating, ‘You’re doing so good. Just breathe. You got this.’ There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.”
‘I gave birth to my son while high on methamphetamine. I wish I could tell you I sobered up, but I did not. We were joined at the hip. We were both addicts, but wanted to be sober.’
“I was so afraid. I just knew CPS was going to take him, but a miracle happened. He was born completely clean. No drugs in his system. He was perfectly healthy. Neal and I cried and cried. We went home that following Monday and swore we would stay sober.”
‘I married the man of my dreams, created a family, and realized after 9 years we weren’t able to pray the gay away.’
“He pulled me aside and told me he ‘struggled’ with homosexuality. My response: ‘Wow, you’re going to need a really strong wife!’ For the very first time, Kyle actually said out loud, ‘I am a gay man and I want to be with a man.’”
‘I was raised not to have sex before marriage, and now I am unwed and pregnant. I sat in the bathroom alone and terrified.’
“I found out he was seeing another woman and everything came crashing down. I ruined myself all for someone who never loved me.”
‘The restaurant was 20 yards away from the starting line of a gay pride event. It was the annual ‘Drag Race,’ which you can tell by the picture, was not exactly a NASCAR event.’
“No less than 6 families ushered their children back to their cars and found somewhere else to eat their dinner. I know those folks.”
‘I flew halfway across the United States to attend a child’s 10th birthday party with a group of woman I met on the Internet’: Why this mom’s online friends are her BEST friends
“Our sisterhood began with a 1lb 3.5 oz baby named Travis. Frankly, I have never seen a group of women rally together so completely to support someone… which was especially surprising since none of us had ever met in person.”
‘Holly I got THE call. They might have a match for us. When can you come home? They said they wanted to talk to both of us.’
“She was due in 6 weeks and wanted to meet us.”