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Thursday, May 27, 2010

My Child, Their Child


My Child, Their Child


This is my child, Yet she is not mine-

My flesh and blood, but their sweat and tears-

She caries my genes, Yet will be shaped by their

personalities-

She lives strong in my heart, but her heart

feels for them-

She lives in my fantasies, my dreams.



Yet she's their dream come true, their beautiful

and precious reality-

I gave her life, with which she made theirs whole

I learned so much to love her, that I let her go-

My child, their child it doesn't make sense,

Yet at the same time-

My child, my dream for her to have better, then I

could give,

Their child, their dream, to give her better then

I could give,-

My child, so painful, the hurt caused by her

leaving so much grieving,

Yet a world full of happiness in their receiving.

© Heather Corcoran-Schneider

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Birthmother's Day lunch

I got to spend some time with my angel and her family and little brother. Braden and I met them at Flancer's in GIlbert. We had such a great visit, I got to play with my angel. I can't believe how big and smart she is getting. They gave her a hair cut, making her a little person now. She knows who I am and I love it. I don't ever want her to forget who I am. While we ate lunch I played with her. We played the where are my eyes game. I asked her my eyes, nose, mouth, ears .. she knew where they all were. She loves her water and was saying aqua and mommy. She watch tv with her thumb in her mouth. OH how I love the little girl. I am so gratful for an open adoption and the Love her parents show me.




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Friday, May 7, 2010

May 8th 2010---BIRTHMOTHERS DAY

 Please remember your birthmothers tomorrow.. this is one of the hardest days for us. I find this to be a hard day for me. this is my 2nd birthmothers day.  I am truely grateful for baby girls parents. they never forget about me .. about the 8 hours of labor and giving birth. i truely feel loved but i always feel a small empty hole. sometimes i wish i could be her mommy just for that moment but when i see her smile and the love of her parents i remember why. thank you allens for never forgetting about me.. you make a hard day easier for me



Birthmother's Day




Mary Jean Wolch-Marsh first conceived the idea as a result of her own adoption experience. She knew she was a mother, but didn't feel recognized as such, either by those around her or by her daughter's parents. Remembering the feelings she'd experienced at her daughter's birth - feelings of triumph and euphoria - she used them to help in her own healing.



May Birth Mother's Day bring acknowledgement and recognition to every birth mother who ever loved a child lost to adoption. May it honor and celebrate every mother who became childless after birthing a child, and was forgotten on Mother's Day.



- Mary Jean Wolch-Marsh





For birthmothers, the observance can be a time to affirm joys and acknowledge the sorrow, grief, and pain that are a part of many experiences. It can also be a time to break the silence and release years of anguish, worry, shame, or guilt. The purpose of Marsh's Birth Mother's Day ceremony is insight, affirmation, growth, and wisdom.



Recognizing Birthmothers



Whether you choose to recognize your own, others', or all birthmothers on Mother's Day and/or Birthmother's Day, there are many different ways to do so:

•While I use the word "birthmother" here on the site since it seems to be generally understood as referring to a woman who gave birth to a child placed for adoption, many women prefer other words or phrases. A simple way to honor these women is to use the word or term they choose for themselves.

•Many adoptees in open adoptions and adoptees who have re-connected with their birthmothers, celebrate in personal ways, together as birth and adoptive families, separately with the exchange of cards or gifts, or as part of both Birthmother's Day Ceremonies and traditional Mother's Day events.

•Many celebrate just the one day, Mother's Day, without making a distinction.

•Adoptees, their adoptive mothers, and birthmothers who have not re-connected can also share in ceremonies to honor and remember the birthmother experience and the gift of life.

Ceremonies



Attend One. Birthmother's Day ceremonies may be organized by support groups, adoption agencies, and other local groups. Check local listings and our our Community Calendar to see if one is planned in your area.



Create One. You also have the option of planning a ceremony of your own. Mary Jean Wolch-Marsh has written a comprehensive Birth Mother's Day Planner available through Insight: Open Adoption Resources and Support to help organize an event, large or small.



Cards, Gifts, Activities



If attending, or organizing, a ceremony is not your choice, there are other ways to honor birthmothers:

•Write a poem or letter. A personal expression of your feelings will always be appreciated. If you are not reconnected, save what you write for a future time.





•Send a card. Many adoption sites have cards especially for the occasion.





•Give a piece of birthmother jewelry. Using a birthstone or anniversary marker as a place to start, select something unique. Our adoption-related Specialty Shops offer adoption-related jewelry as do several of the more general online adoption shops.





•Send flowers. On our first Mother's Day after reunion, my birthmom actually sent me flowers... Forget-Me-Nots. If you plan on sending flowers rather than delivering them yourself, consider using something like the Children With AIDS Project (CWA) arrangement with FTD.com. You get a discount, and CWA gets a donation.





•Plan to get together.

Check all the shopping resources for books and other items.



In My Families



Birthmother's Day has long been a topic of discussion on our forums, and opinions differ greatly as to whether Birthmother's Day should be observed, why, why not, why we hate it, why we like it, etc. Whatever you do, make sure it fits with your family.



In my reconnection with my birthfamily, I've been fortunate to find myself in the midst of communicators. This has stood us in excellent stead on many fronts, one of which is this peculiar non-holiday called Birthmother's Day. I'd like to share two steps that have helped us to put this in perspective. We have taken a moment...

1.to communicate with each other, to say with love some of the difficult truths: that "Mom" isn't comfortable to say or hear; that celebrating creates too much of a conflict; that 55 years of shame is too hard to acknowledge in front of others.





2.to remember the monumental tragedies of

◦children around the world who have lost their mothers to war, illness, disease, starvation;

◦those who aged out of the foster system years ago and are on their own with no sense of family.

and other families with unique parenting structures, such as

◦step-families;

◦male parent households;

◦non-custodial mothers.

For me, my adoptive family, and birth family, thinking of other mothers and those without any mother to share either day with does nothing to invalidate those emotions we may collectively or individually feel a need to "claim,", and it helps us expand our focus from the minutiae of our daily lives to the world beyond.

Monday, May 3, 2010

April BBQ at our house

This was a very special visit because this was the first time my little sister was going to me her little niece. It was so much fun. Evelyn is a little person now.. She walks and talks and can say things in spanish. It was a very fun visit. We also got to see her little borther, he is so adorable and Ev just loves him to pieces. I was able to visit with Lynzie and have a great talk. Its always good to visit with them.