Mother's Day

We had many traditional Mother's Day years. Handmade cards, various breakfast, flowers. I adore the handmade anything. Pencil holders, poems with handprints. Love, love, love! This was our first year as adoptive parents and it really had me thinking. How to best celebrate this day as well as acknowledging the fact that 2 of our children have another mother. We don't scoot around this in our home. We are as open and honest as we can be, given their ages. We have a very open adoption and relationship with Baby E's biomom. So much so she texted me to wish me a happy day. We want this to continue, we don't want Baby E to ever feel uncomfortable with knowing her biology. As she grows we will have to begin explaining to her who this woman is, for now she is a nice lady we see who is fun. But then there is A's biomom. We can't have contact. No way, no how. She is extremely mentally ill and there is no way to be assured that she will respect what is in A's best interest. Not to mention, we are coping with the fall out of anger poor A has toward her biomom. This is anger she has earned, and getting through it is a huge step in her attachment and healing. But her biomom would never be able to understand that. So, for the past week I have had on my mind how we are going to acknowlege her heritage when there is nothing positive to say about this person. She gave birth to her. But she has neglected A, abused her and left her in situations where she was abused by others. How can we look past the hurts? How do we get past the anger we have? We are angry at the abuse, angry that we are the ones picking up the pieces. We have been thrust into a world we never imagined, trauma parenting. It's not fun! It's pretty darn icky at times. Other times it's heartbreaking beyond belief. We want A, but for A's sake, it would be so much better if she didn't have to come to us. She should have a "normal" childhood, raised by the people she was born to. There is no easy answer here. Lots of wishes. As with everything, we will continue trying our best to adapt to the new situations as they come. Mother's Day will never be quite the same. But, as in years past, we had a yummy breakfast! I also received a beautiful handmade card. Having kids in the make a card age again is such a blessing and I am treasuring every minute!

My Little Secret

H has been sick for going on 5 years now. 5 years she will never get back. 5 years that she has been homebound more than not. I hate it, with every fiber in my being. I want her well. We feel like we are finally on the right track and are seeing mini steps toward improvements, but there is still a very long way to go. When I let myself to go the dark what if places, or think of the regrets of all she has missed, one thought brings me back. And it's totally selfish. I would miss her. We have spent more time together, just she and I. We have battled the doctors trying to figure out what is wrong. We have shared a love of reading, corny movies and music. (okay, she keeps me up on the latest music and introduces me to bands I know I wouldn't find on my own!). We have shared watching baby E grow and confession time, H is much more strict that I am! All of this I would miss terribly. So, maybe this is my way of turning one ugly lemon into lemonade. I'd give anything to have her well, but part of me would have a hard time giving back this time together.