Recently, I was able to attend Charlie’s Kindergarten graduation ceremony. I know I am so blessed that his parents asked me and that I was able. While I was thrilled to be there, it was bittersweet at the same time but today I need to focus on the positive of that experience.

It wasn’t much different from other Kindergarten graduations. When Charlie saw his Mom, Dad, sister, and me he started waving wildly, pointing out who we were to the boy standing next to him on stage. He was excited to see us. The children all sang a few songs together; Charlie being the best of... more

While I was away, my family and I took a trip to Mississippi for a family wedding. Mississippi is where I was born and where I grew up until we moved to South Carolina. I have fond memories of life in Mississippi and was very excited to go there as I hadn’t been in about five years.

Before I left, I wrote about the trip. I knew that there might be some awkward moments with distant relatives (like third cousins and great-great aunts.) I knew that they might not know about Charlie... more

Wow, it is so hard to believe that it is already June! May was an incredibly busy month for me and in a way, while it was very exciting, I’m glad it is over and I have time to slow down.

One of the exciting things that happened in my life in May was the get together that we host each year. It takes a lot of work and preparation to pull of this event each year so I am always so pleased to see it come together so successfully.

This year’s theme was “beach bash” and coming up with décor and things for the goodie bags all related to the beach was fun and really... more

It is hard to believe that it is already the end of April! May is going to be a super busy month for me, so I probably will not be around as much as usual.

One of the things I will be busy with is the Birthmother’s Get Together that BirthMom Buds hosts each year. It is on May 10th this year in Charlotte, North Carolina. It seems to get a little bigger and better every year. I’m especially excited about this year as we have added some elements that I have wanted to have since we started having these but we knew we had to start... more

In my last post, I wrote about how there can be an initial change in the closeness between the adoptive mother and birthmother once the baby is born. Writing that post got me thinking in general about the friendship between adoptive mothers and birthmothers.

It is pretty common nowadays for adoptive mothers and birthmothers to be friends or be friendly with one another at the very least. This is very different from birthmothers and adoptive mothers of previous generations as they didn’t... more

Many times during pregnancy, the expectant mother may become close to the adoptive parents, usually the adoptive mother especially. While I think that bonding between these two mothers is great and could lead to a more positive open adoption experience later on down the road, it can also be a bit troubling at first post adoption.

I know many birthmothers who have become very close to their child’s adoptive mother during the pregnancy, but once the baby is born the level of closeness changes. They may have been chatting on the phone daily, emailing back and forth through... more

I was working last night on the computer and didn’t feel like listening to the Television so I let the computer randomly play songs from our music library. Starts with Goodbye by Carrie Underwood came on. I’m sure I have probably heard this song before as I’ve listened to the CD multiple times, but it never struck me the way it did until today.

The song is actually about moving on and getting over an ex-boyfriend or husband, but as I listened to the lyrics, especially the chorus, I couldn’t... more

In my last post, I wrote about the movie Juno and the few positive points that I found in the movie. I found far more negative aspects to the movie than positive ones. Below are a few of the issues in the movie that made me cringe.

1. They really did not go into any issues that birthmothers face post adoption. The movie was pretty much over once Juno had her baby. I’m guessing this is because it wouldn’t make very good entertainment but to not really show or mention that at all gives... more

In my last post, I wrote about Juno and promised to share some of the things that I thought they (the characters in the movie) did right and some of the things they did wrong. There were instances and situations in the movie, where I found myself a tad surprised that they included this or that but unsurprisingly, overall my list of what I felt was done wrong or didn’t accurately portray the adoption process far outweighs my list of what I felt they did right. So let’s start with what I felt was right or good. These are all... more

I finally saw Juno, the much talked about movie involving adoption. My husband laughed at me as I prepared to watch it, grabbing a legal pad and a pen. Nerdy, I know, but I knew there would be little things I’d want to remember later and if I didn’t write them down, I’d forget them. Glad I waited until it came out on DVD as I certainly couldn’t hit pause multiple times in a theater!

Just in case you have not heard anything about the movie, I’ll give you a brief synopsis. In the movie, Juno McGruff is a sixteen year... more