This Mother’s Day, I want to take a few moments
to say thank you to the birth moms all around the world who chose life for
their babies. Near the end of February,
God blessed us with our fourth child, a little boy named Micah. His birth reminded me even more of how
grateful I am to birth moms who endure the challenges of pregnancy and birth to
give their child the gift of life. My
pregnancies are mostly miserable-filled with so much sickness that the term
‘morning sickness’ is a serious under-exaggeration of what I endure well past
the end of the first trimester. I know
other moms who have persevered through much more serious maladies than I have
to make it to that beautiful moment when their child is born. Some of these moms have gone through this
knowing that they were going to make the brave choice of giving life to their
child and then placing their child in another’s care.
Since Micah was born, I have thought of and prayed for
Josiah’s birth mother more often. I will
probably never know what her pregnancy was like. Did she
have morning sickness? Was she
exhausted? Did she also have another
little one to take care of while enduring the demands of pregnancy? I don’t know, but I wish I did. Was
Josiah’s birth an easy one or was she is labor for hours upon hours? Does her body still bear scars of pregnancy
and childbirth? Did she breastfeed him
for the short time he was with her? Did
she name him? Was his birth father
there? I don’t know, but I wish I
did. What I do know, is that she loved
him enough to put him down in a place where we were able to get to him, even
though we were 7000 miles away at the time of his birth. This is what I will always tell Josiah when
he asks me about his origins. I will
tell him that God placed him in our family as a precious gift and that his
birth mother loved him enough to give him that opportunity.
Now, Josiah is a proud big brother to Micah. He loves to hug and hold him and is overjoyed
when Micah smiles at him. I am grateful
Josiah’s birth mother has allowed us to have these moments. Of course, not all moments in a family are
this sweet. Some are sad or difficult or
filled with making it through a 3 year old’s frequent struggles for power. But, they are all worth it and are all part
of being a family.
In closing, I want to publicly say ‘thank you’ to
Josiah’s birth mom. Thank you for this
beautiful, curious, strong-willed, smart, extremely energetic, and precious
little boy. And thank you to all of the
other birth moms out there who chose life for their precious babies. Thank you for the gift of the children you
carried in your wombs. Thank you for
enduring whatever you endured in pregnancy and childbirth to bring these
beautiful gifts into the world. “I thank
my God every time I remember you” (Philippians 1:3).
Proud Big Brother holding his little brother at the hospital!
Brothers Forever!
Our Family of 6 this Mother's Day after Micah's Baby Dedication at church! :)
