For all the mothers who adopted kids like me:

Happy Mother’s Day.

You are superheroes.

Your reasons for adopting are as widespread as the kids you adopted, but you adopted – and I thank you.

Some of you may not have been able to have kids of your own, some of you adopted from across the ocean. Some of you adopted as a calling – a special mission that only you and those like you can understand. Some of you were surprised by adoption – you got a call in the middle of the night. Some of you fostered first, fell in love, and just knew it was right.

But whatever your reasons, you did it.

Some of you had kids out of the house and you felt that urge – that twinge, and you adopted. You rescued kids from orphanages, from other countries, from across the street.

And I thank you.

I’m one of the kids who could’ve ended up in the system. I’m one of the kids who was embraced by new parents when my birth mother – brave and fearless – made the decision to graciously gift me away. I’m one of the kids who, for moments however brief, didn’t have a last name or a home or a family, but then…I was chosen.

You did that, too.

And I thank you.

I know you’ve had pain. The pain of infertility or the pain of loss. The pain of meticulously creating a photo album full of photos, waiting for a birth mother to choose you. The pain of waiting. The pain of hurting. The pain of an empty womb, an empty room, an empty home.

I know you’ve had fear. The fear of how to tell us, how to show us, how to explain to us where we came from, who we are, who we will be. The fear of our response, the fear when we would learn, the fear of our own pain – in case we didn’t understand.

And I know you’ve loved. The love – just as deep and full and unconditional as a birth mother. The love that holds our hair when we are sick, kisses our wounds, hugs our necks. The love that prays, the love that disciplines, the love that stays up past curfew until we come home.

For all this I thank you.

Your mothering is just as beautiful, just as precious, just as special. And some days, it’s a different kind of difficult.

But God made adoptive moms a different kind of people. The kind that, with His strength, can endure the different kind of difficult.

And I thank you.

For your patience, your kindness, your willingness to open your heart.

I thank you. Because I know some of you are struggling, or straining, or striving. I know some of you cry into your pillow at night. I know some of you feel you’ve done all you could to help us understand our value, our purpose, our belonging – and we still don’t get it.

But don’t ever lose heart.

Because the same God who created us, created you. And He created you for us. It was meant to be.

I just thought you might need to hear it today.

On behalf of ALL of us, I thank you.

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I was adopted at just weeks old by my incredible parents from a Children’s Home in Omaha, Nebraska. I would love to hear YOUR stories of adoption – please leave them in the comments so I can rejoice with you and even pray for you. My husband was also adopted – it holds a special place in our hearts and our family.

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