This week is part three of our celebration of motherhood series! Visit our website to read Kendrah’s (birth mother) and Kristina’s (birth grandmother) stories of choosing Rachel and her husband as Olivia’s adoptive family.
STORY 22/50: I used to wonder if I would ever experience motherhood, and now I feel motherhood in every part of me. It has to be more than biology, doesn’t it? It’s more complex, amazing, and sacred.
I was diagnosed at five years old with Type 1 Diabetes, and rather than go through a high-risk pregnancy, my husband John and I decided that adoption was the best way for us to grow our family. In 2013, after consulting with many people, we chose New Life Adoptions.
When we first started our adoption journey, I had many worries and questions. Would I feel like a mom? Would we bond right away? The first Mother’s Day waiting in the pool of adoptive parents was very emotional. I was so ready to be a mother but was unsure of when or if it would happen. John bought me flowers that day, and I was thankful he understood that I was a mother-in-waiting. My heart was ready. Life just needed to catch up.
After a few ups and downs, we adopted our oldest daughter in 2014. I just fell in love with her. It was a natural transition into motherhood, and now I feel in my soul that I am a mother, her mother.
As soon as we could, we began pursuing a second adoption. As we waited for a second placement, God kept reminding me of Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine…” I knew He was preparing us for something, and it was going to be better than I could design.
After waiting for four years, I woke up one day knowing in my heart that we would receive news of a very special adoption situation, and we did! We learned a week later that the birth mother, Kendrah, wanted to set up a meeting.
The day of the meeting, we were SO nervous! I changed my outfit at least three times. As soon as we walked in, we all laughed about how nervous everyone was. The whole meeting was covered by the Holy Spirit. But what was even more incredible was that God had shared a vision of the adoptive parents with Kendrah’s mom Kristina, and it was an image of us! We all ended the meeting in tears, and our daughter was born four months later.
As painful as our journey has been at times, it has also given us the purest joys of our lives. Becoming a mother, holding my sweet children whom I prayed so hard for, and watching them sleep peacefully, grow, and develop a sisterly bond have been some of the best moments of my life.
But motherhood is hard. I think I always knew that, but I didn’t understand it. I have come to hold so much respect for my own mom! But it is also so much better than I could have dreamed. I never truly comprehended the depth of love that I could feel, and I never knew how many people the word “family” could encompass.
