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 had me wanting to take a vacation to the beach!

This year’s event was held at the Doubletree in Charlotte, North Carolina. We had several out of town guests this year so we all met up on Friday night and went to dinner at a very yummy restaurant in downtown Charlotte.

It was rainy and sort of gloomy on Friday, but when I woke up on Saturday, the sun was shining and I knew it was going to be a great day. Once all the birthmoms arrived, we kicked the morning off with introductions and door prizes. Each woman is also greeted with a goodie bag. This year’s bags were awesome and they were handmade by an adult adoptee in honor of her birthmother. They had some pretty cool stuff in them too such as a message in a bottle, flip flop shaped soap, flip flop shaped gummies, a palm tree shaped chocolate, and more!

After intros and announcements, we went into breakout sessions. This was a new element we had added this year and was very excited about! Attendees were asked to choose one session from Session 1 which was birthmother grief and an open discussion on the feelings surrounding closed adoption, search and reunion and then one from Session 2 which was Journaling and adoption in the Bible. All the breakout session leaders did a great job and it was exactly what I had envisioned.

After lunch on the veranda, we began the more serious, “program” portion of our day starting with a balloon release outside where each birthmother wrote down a prayer for her child, tied it to the balloon, and then sent it up, up, and away.

After the balloon release, we headed back inside where we had a few speakers (including a birthmother and an adult adoptee in reunion) share their adoption stories. And we ended the day with our candlelight ceremony that is always my favorite part just because it is so touching. Each lady shares a prayer, hope, or wish for her child.

I’m always so touched at how appreciative and thankful these birthmoms are of this event. It makes all the work worthwhile. It is always so great to be in a room of birthmothers. Even though our stories are each totally different and totally unique, they "get it."

It was a really amazing day and I’m already looking forward to next year!

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Related Posts:
Getting Together with Other Birthmoms
Recap of 2007 Birthmother's Day Event



Photo credit: Coley S.