“My 11-year-old self ran to my bedroom, fighting back tears. I didn’t know when I would see them again or even where they were. My husband blurted out, ‘We should look into that.’ ‘Into being foster parents?’ They were only 5 and 3 years old. They would be so scared. I wanted to be the nice foster mom.”
‘I blurted out on the phone, ‘My little sister and brother have been taken to a foster home.’ My 11-year-old self ran to my bedroom, fighting back tears.’: Foster family realizes ‘we didn’t need all the answers’
‘Dear God, please bring me a 4-year-old sister.’ Then came an email. ‘Let’s not get our hopes up.’ I wanted to protect her.’: Couple adopts 3 ‘unlikely siblings,’ ‘We are a family’
“I couldn’t shake this feeling. ‘I have this strong sense we have a child who is already alive.’ I whispered to my husband. ‘Nothing would surprise me at this point,’ he responded.”
‘That made her BIG mad. We’re talking wailing, crying, and gnashing of teeth. ‘You’re an EVIL mommy!’: Mom feels closer to God after toddler’s tantrum
“I let her mourn and scream. There was no reasoning with her, anyways. She wanted what she wanted. But, I couldn’t stop thinking, ‘If only she knew what was coming. If only she knew why I wouldn’t pull over.’ I was contemplating this to myself and realized, holy cow, I’m no better than my toddler.”
‘There was a long post shared. It was from the niece — her aunt is in hospice. I truly wish all those prayers would work.’: Woman hurts for those struggling with cancer journey, ‘It feels SO unfair’
“I scrolled her page. My tears kept falling.”
‘She just listens to the ceiling fan spin. Her hurt and doubt soak her pillowcase with tears.’: Woman prays for others struggling with acceptance, ‘Dry her tears, God’
“When her head hits the pillow, her mind suddenly wakes up. And then, it gets really freaking mean. ‘Why aren’t you in better shape?’ it hisses in her head. ‘Your husband is aging better than you.’ By two, she’s exhausted from the thoughts, the Googling, and the tears.”
‘Please end his suffering.’ The universe heard me wrong. He was only 8. Now one was sick and the other, gone.’: After losing son, mom teaches others how grief can lead to empowerment
“‘Please put an end to his pain. He had over 300 seizures. My husband shouted, ‘There has been an accident!’ A phone call confirmed a mother’s worst nightmare.”
‘Two kids, that was our plan. I expected a ‘NO WAY!’ But he started talking about it before I did.’: Family adopts after hosting foster child, ‘He was meant to be here’
“Our kids tried to fight back tears. ‘Will we see him again?’ You’d have thought the 3 of them had been brothers since birth. Nothing prepared me to watch him get on a plane, not knowing if we’d ever talk to him again.”
‘I had custody of her son.’ I was the bad guy who worked with DHS to keep Henry. After all, I had the advantages. ‘Would you like me to visit?’: Woman visits son’s biological mother in jail, ‘I left LOVING this woman’
“There was this overwhelming sense I was the bad guy. She’s incarcerated and I’m not. I asked if she would like me to visit. I’m not going to lie, I did not expect to leave the way I did. I was sitting across from someone whose life choices, while pregnant, are the reason Henry will have a lot of challenges.”
‘I was in a wheelchair for 3 months, unable to walk or make a living. We were homeless. Friends donated furniture, filled our pantry, and clothed us.’: Family stays hopeful after ‘losing everything’ in fire
“We decided to build a small barn and live in it temporarily. Two weeks from being able to move in, I took a bad ladder fall down the side of the house. What little cash we had left now had to become living expenses. But, God!”
‘Can I use your phone? I need to call the police.’ This woman found it ‘funny’ to scare little black boys, and I am heartbroken.’: Mom of black son says ‘images of 1950’s racism are on my 2020 TV’
“The people listening to her story worked in education, and most of them found this story funny. So, instead of cutting the story off, they laughed. I am heartbroken. This is my response.”
