Music Monday: I Don't Wanna Be by Gavin Degraw

"I don't wanna be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately

All I have to do is think of me and my peace of mind

I'm tired of looking 'round rooms wondering what I gotta to do

Or who I'm supposed to be, I don't wanna be anything other than me"

If you have any suggestions for songs to use, feel free to email me or post a comment!

Quote of the Week: Room to Grow

"Dreams must be larger than your current position so you have room to grow."

If you have any suggestions for quotes, feel free to email me or post a comment!

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Music Monday: I Miss You Most at Christmas Time by Mariah Carey

"I gaze out the window 

This cold winter's night 

At all of the twinkling lights 

Alone in the darkness 

Remembering when you were mine 

Everybody's smiling 

The whole world is rejoicing 

And everyone's embracing 

Except for you and I."

Quote of the Week: Cherish Your Visions

"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements."

If you have any suggestions for quotes, feel free to email me or post a comment!

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Christmas Shopping

It's that time of year again.  Time to trim the trees, eat some good food, see your family, and exchange presents.  As the time to arrange my Christmas visit with my son approaches, I ask myself the awkward question, what does my son want for Christmas?  I say awkward because, well, shouldn't I know what my son wants for Christmas?  I have lucked out a bit with J.  Trucks and Legos.  He cannot get enough.  Granted, I think this is true of most boys.  I felt bad at one point that I'd gotten him one of something that he already had.  But his parents and other parents who were there assured me, "There can never be enough Legos, doesn't matter if they're the same thing."

This year, I'm going to try to find a Lego set, maybe even something musical for him since he seems to be interested in music.  He's four years old, so it will have to be something that is durable.  A drum might drive his parents crazy.  But I'll see what else I can find.

This year I also hope to give his parents Christmas presents.  Nothing really large or fancy.  Just something to show my appreciation not only for the immaculate care of my son and the fact that they continue to prove that I was right in choosing them as my son's parents, but also for their continued openness and willingness to include me and my parents in my son's life.  It's a gift that I cannot even begin to pay them back for.  I am grateful every single day for the care and love they lavish on J.  And I know this Christmas, while it has been a rough one for their family, will be a happy one.  They are family.  And family always comes together in the rough times and does their best to make the best of it.

I hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday season, whichever way you choose to celebrate it.  I hope for peace and harmony this December as the year comes to a close.  And I hope you all get to spend time with those you love and who love you.

BMB Reform Blog: Meet Jessika!

Hello Readers!  I'm back with another reform blog interview!  This time with a good friend of mine, Jessika.  Let's hear what she has to say about adoption reform.


1. Please tell us your name and a brief intro to your story.  (If you wish to remain anonymous, that is fine just let me know that here too)

My name is Jessika.  I got pregnant at 16, and quickly found myself single, with very few supporters of my motherhood.  Under the pressure of family, and the desire to do what I was led to be the right thing, I relinquished my baby girl to what I thought was a semi-open adoption.  Now, 6 years later, I've found out that I've been lied to about fertility issues, and communication with my daughters new family has come to minimum.

2.  Are there any aspects of adoption you would like to see changed?

I would first and foremost like to see the secrecy removed from adoption.  No more lies, no more false birth certificates or false labels.  Sure, there are times when it is necessary to legally recognize somebody other than the biological parents as a child's caretakers, but there is never a reason to erase identities and change histories.  No more "as if born to," because if you can truly love a child from another mother, you shouldn't need to pretend that that mother is you.  Secondly, and almost equally
important, is to remove the money from adoption.  Too many young women fall prey to adoption agencies with a penny to make, and parents who have "invested" in procuring a child for themselves. Money can often taint what starts out with the purest of intentions.  What starts out as wanting nothing more than to provide a home for a child can quickly become material when acquiring said child costs tens of thousands of dollars.


3.  What does adoption reform mean to you and why do you think it's important?

I feel like this question is almost the same as the previous.  So to put it shortly- true adoption reform would mean that no able and willing parents ever lose their child to adoption.  It means that relinquishment will always be a fully informed decision, made only after the child has been born, and every effort to remove barriers to parenting has been made.  It means that we as a society come together to support family unity - even when it means that a pregnant woman may need assistance from friends, family, or the general public.  It means that instead of removing a child from a dark, home with little or no food, every effort is made to provide the family with light and a meal.  It means that adoption happens only as a last resort, and never in secrecy.


Thanks Jessika!!


If you or anyone you know would like to be interviewed for this section, or if you have an important reform topic you would like discussed, please feel free to email me!  I look forward to hearing from you!

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Adoption's Impact

Most of you know by now that my adoption was closed a million years ago. And at Christmas and other holiday times, I feel an emptiness or like something is missing rather than sadness. Since we have never shared any holidays together, I don't have those kinds of memories. You might say that my loss is rather undefined. A strange place to be.

This year for the first time I am acknowledging another rather undefined loss: the birth of my grandson. Now he's actually 4 this year, so it's not a brand new thing. But for some reason this is the year it is really hitting me. My birthdaughter Katie did not invite me into her pregnancy or delivery. I didn't actually find out about Little Man until he was about a year old. At that time I was juggling two babies of my own. Maybe that is the reason for the delayed response.

But this year I am experiencing the profundity of it. The enormity of the impact one decision made in secret can have. For me the decision to carry my unplanned pregnancy seemed huge at the time, and it was. In spite of my mother's wishes, I decided to remain pregnant with no plan.

The decision not to parent was the next big decision, although the obvious right choice for me and my girl.

But now... seeing a bigger part of the picture is overwhelming at times. Realizing that even though I made a mess of things, the Lord has redeemed it and used it for good. Seeing for the first time that my decision stretches far beyond myself and my child and her adoptive family. Seeing that my decision will impact generations.

Only God has the perspective and can see the full impact one life can have. He alone sees all the generations not in existence because of one abortion. And he alone sees all the generations in existence because of one adoption.

Be encouraged this Christmas. No matter your circumstances, you have given a great gift to this world. God sees you and knows your pain and your sacrifice. Trust him to get you through.

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Music Monday: Black by Pearl Jam

"I know someday you'll have a beautiful life

I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky

But why, why, why can't it be, can't it be mine?"

If you have any suggestions for songs to use, feel free to email me or post a comment!

Quote of the Week: Cherish What Makes You Unique

"Cherish forever what makes you unique, 'cuz you're really a yawn if it goes."

If you have any suggestions for quotes, feel free to email me or post a comment!

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Thankful during the Holidays

Oh the holidays!

I don't know about you, but I have much to be thankful for this year. I may have mentioned our family's time of trial earlier this year. My husband broke his hip and the day after the BMB Retreat, he had it replaced. Now that is a surgery for old people. In fact his mother fell and broke her hip a few years ago and had it replaced. But we are not grandparents!

I digress... This year has certainly been hard. Instead of two children to care for, I've had three. Instead of giving two baths each day, I've given three. And my normally self-sufficient husband was not able to drive himself to and from work for a while. For those of you who are married, you know that husbands are the worst patients!

However some how along the way, our relationship changed. We became closer. He began trusting me more, which was his issue, not mine. We began to communicate in a whole new way because we had to. And along the way we experienced a journey that is uniquely ours and our girls'.

So what's my point here? Well, struggle stretches us and grows us and changes us. It's hard and we often don't want to do what is required. I don't know how many times during that period that I asked God to pleeeaaasssee return me to my life of ease. I know he was just laughing. But we're on the other side and the benefits of that short period will last us a lifetime.

What trial are you facing today? I promise if you will walk through it you will reap the rewards.

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4th Quarter 2014 Newsletter

The 4th Quarter edition of the BirthMom Buds Bulletin is now available for your viewing pleasure. You can check out the newsletter here. 

Music Monday: California Dreamin' by The Mamas and The Papas

"All the leaves are brown

(All the leaves are brown)

And the sky is gray.

(And the sky is gray).

I've been for a walk

(I've been for a walk)

On a winter's day.

(On a winter's day)."

If you have any suggestions for songs to use, feel free to email me or post a comment!

Quote of the Week: The Best Things In Life

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”

If you have any suggestions for quotes, feel free to email me or post a comment!

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Nature vs. Nurture

Today I thought I'd post a little something I've noticed about my son lately.

My son looks like me.  Now, that's easy to explain.  That's genetics.  I have two male cousins and one female cousin who all look like me.  We all look like our grandmother.  So as he's gotten older, we've compared to pictures of me and my cousins at the same age.  The funny part is that he often looks nearly exactly like the pictures of us from long ago.

But my son also acts like me in some ways.  And it's kind of spooky.  When he was two, he would insist on doing things over and over and over again.  My father said to them on a visit, "We had a rule, if you didn't want to do it a hundred times, don't do it the first time."

Now, many kids like to do the same thing over and over.  It's true.  But then it keeps going.

He makes up stories.  He likes to make up stories and tell them to his parents to see what they think.  I tell stories.  I write stories.  I wrote stories when I was little as well.  Not great ones, as you can imagine.  But I was writing then too.

He hates it when his things get messed up or you rearrange the words in a song.  Absolutely hates it.  Will get very upset about it even.  And yeah, you guessed it, I did that.  Still hate it when someone gets into my things.  I don't cry or scream anymore as you can imagine, but I still have to control myself when people start messing with my things.

He's musical.  He and his adoptive dad have been banging on the fridge and the cabinets and making music all their own.  I picked well in his adoptive parents.  I'm a musician.  And his adoptive father is too.  I can see the delight in his adoptive father's eyes when he talks about making music with Joseph and recording it.

If I added up the time that I've spent with my son, it would probably amount to about two and a half weeks all together.  But there are things I passed down to him without even knowing it.  There is one thing that puzzles me.

He's a practical joker.  I fail at practical jokes.  His biological father never did pull any on me or anyone else I know.  I don't know where it came from.  Maybe some distant relative.  Maybe he learned it from someone in his adoptive family.  I have no idea.  But we all delight in it.

As the years go by, I expect other traits of mine and his birth father will come out.  And traits he picks up from his adoptive family will come out as well.  And I can't wait to see what he makes of all of this.  Hope you and yours are doing well and let me know if you've seen bits of yourself in your own children.

Music Monday: I Miss You by Incubus

"I know I'll see you again

Whether far or soon.

But I need you to know that I care,

And I miss you."

If you have any suggestions for songs to use, feel free to email me or post a comment!