“‘A lot has happened over the weekend. The birth mom had her baby on Friday night,’ the caseworker said. ‘Do you still want to go through with the adoption since he was born premature?’ That question absolutely baffled me. This baby boy was being placed in the foster care system.”
‘I’m sorry. The adoption is over.’ He was being placed in foster care. I had this feeling, this wasn’t the end.’: Couple hikes the globe with kids after nearly failed adoption of ‘beautiful little boy’
‘Wow, super Dad. Dad of the year!’ And what did people say to me? Nothing.’ Mom’s candid reflection on husband being praised for simply ‘PARENTING, not babysitting’
“While we were walking through the airport with my husband loaded down with the ‘Littles’ and I cared for the ‘Bigs’ and the bags, he was lauded with praise. People watched him with admiration. ‘You’re doing such a great job,’ they told him. Apparently, I looked like I needed to take on more.”
‘This soldier, who died in Afghanistan, was being flown home on our flight. I have never cried so much for someone I didn’t know.’ Man recalls ’emotional’ flight, airline captain’s act of kindness
“I sat down in my seat, and 2 minutes later, boarding was ceased by the captain to observe a moment of silence. I thought, ‘Now what?'”
‘My husband and I were in the Dominican Republic. We took a private horseback riding tour around the island. It was everything you’d think it would be.’
“So, I made a comment just like that to our guide, about his luck to live in such paradise. But what he said in response really struck me.”
‘I told my husband I was going to the lounge for snacks. ‘I’ll be back in 5 minutes.’ I took about 10 steps. That’s when I heard it. Heavy footsteps. One, two, three, four. Then they sped up.’
“His arms wrapped around me and he started pulling me into an unlocked maintenance room. This man thought he killed me, but he failed. How do you explain to your kids, ‘Mommy is coming home, but I don’t look like myself’?”
‘Are you ok tonight?’ I was in the grocery store trying to pretend everything was OK, but it wasn’t. I was bawling my eyes out. ‘This isn’t a forever feeling.’ I’m so grateful to you.’
“I was afraid to leave my house without my husband. ‘I know this is hard for you,’ he would say. ‘Can you tell yourself that you’re safe?’ ‘No,’ I would respond. I reached out as a bit of a last-ditch effort, right there in the grocery store, tears running down my face. The response was incredible. Those women saved me.”
‘At 7 months pregnant, I found messages online to a dozen women, telling them he hated me, wished I was dead. He was my best friend, and had promised we could co-parent.’
“He cheated with lots of women, without protection, one of them had an STD. I spent months trying to love a baby that had the face of the person who ruined my life. And then I had an idea – Turns out my daughter was not all him, she was a lot of me too.”
‘My best friend pulled into my driveway. As l was venting my pain, she was texting my HUSBAND in a secret relationship with him, that l would soon find out about.’
“I constantly had a voice playing in my head, saying, ‘How can you continue to love this man, when he continues to hurt you?’ If you had told me l would be sitting in my living room with my best friend who secretly started having a relationship with my husband, I would have laughed in your face.”
‘We swiped right. She was heading on a huge trip. My first thought was: SHE’S ADVENTUROUS. Then she asked me if I’d join. My second thought was: SHE’S CRAZY.’
“Nevertheless, I booked all my flights. We had a match. We spent every single day together. It could have gone awry, but it didn’t. It became clearer that, ‘If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it.’ So I did.”
‘Yesterday we broke down 2 hours away from home on a busy interstate with three kids in tow. It wasn’t exactly ideal, especially with a hungry newborn. It was late, nothing was open, and we couldn’t get a rental car until the morning.’
“We called dispatch and AAA and an Alabama State Trooper showed up to help. I thought he was just going to divert traffic away from our lane, but he did so much more than that!”
