Adoption Talk Link-Up: Mother's Day Week

Hi, Sugars!

I'm so glad your here.  I know this week can be very difficult for many.   You might be approaching Sunday with sadness, or with anxiety, or with gratitude, or with reflection.   Or, if you are like me, you are dealing with a myriad of colliding emotions.

I wanted to share a few things with you to hopefully inspire you and bring you hope.

For me, Mother's Day is a day of both celebration and sadness.  First, my kids' first mothers are always on my mind, but they are even more so in my heart-space on the kids' birthdays and on Mother's Day.  Check out my recent Huff-Post article called To the Women Who Birthed My Children.

I am ever-mindful that my motherhood came at a tremendous cost to three other women.  In the adoption community, birth/first/natural/biological mothers are often deemed selfless, heroic, and sacrificial.   I'm not really comfortable with these terms, because I feel like none of them envelop the magnitude of the loss, the giving, and the journey of adoption.  

These two quotes, in particular, sum up my thoughts on my kids' first mothers and Mother's Day:

Motherhood is my life's greatest joy and honor, but it is also bittersweet.

Because I'm very familiar with the tumultuous, challenging, and surprising journey adoption is, my friend Madeleine (mom by adoption and adoptee) and I decided that it was time for a book specifically for parents by adoption and parents-to-be (by adoption).   Our book is full of HEART messages.   We wrote the book we wished we would have had when we started our own journeys to our babies.   We pray that as our readers pour over our word, they are, well, as the title shares, encouraged.

However you choose to spend Mother's Day and no matter where you are in your journey, I pray that you are able to find peace, joy, and hope.

I'm cheering for you.

An InLinkz Link-up