ADOPTEE | MOTHER | WRITER

First published by Red Letter Christians—Six years ago, I survived an apocalypse. My mom was dying—and while it felt like my entire world was crashing down on me, that wasn’t the apocalypse. But it was the catalyst for it. Even though I survived just fine, and also found myself flourishing afterwards, I’ve only recently learned that an apocalypse isn’t something …

First published by Red Letter Christians— “You’re God’s gift to us.” “God brought us together.” “It was God’s will for you to join our family.” Have you ever said things like this to your adopted child? For adoptees like me—growing up in Christian circles where adoption is often presented as biblically sanctioned and as abortion’s golden opposite—these blessing statements are …

I am incredibly touched that Searching for Mom has garnered a gold medal in the memoir category of the Illumination Book Awards, “Shining a Light on Exemplary Christian Books.” What an absolute honor and what fine company I’m among. A part of me wants to keep this on the down-low, after prattling on so much about my journey with this …

Searching for Mom is a spiritual memoir. I want to be forthright in letting you know that. My story is about many things: my mother-longing as an adoptee and my search for my first mother; experiencing the premature death of my mom while trying to make sense of our complicated mother-daughter relationship; my struggles with faith as impacted by my …

I’ve been wearing my mom’s “Transplant Recipient” hoodie a lot lately while I’m at home writing. It helps me feel close to her—which I like, especially with our mother-daughter book releasing next week. I didn’t realize I’d still had my hoodie on when I took the kids to the Burgermaster drive-in the other day. “I’m glad you’re still here,” the …

First published by Godspace—November is National Adoption Awareness Month in the U.S. – a good time for adoptive parents to grow their awareness around the importance of honoring birth mothers. I’ll make my case, first and foremost, by going biblical. Moses is the first abandoned baby mentioned in the Bible (Exodus 2). Moses gets a lot of airtime throughout the …

First published by Godspace and Her View From Home—God, help me remember the great honor it is to have these children in my life.When I’m full of frustration because the kids don’t listen, or they talk back, or they fight with each other, or fight with me, help me to pause, to breathe, to forgive, to gently guide, and always, …

First published by Godspace—For the last couple of years, and especially this year since reading Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want to Talk About Race, I’ve been trying to ponder and deeply explore privilege. I don’t mean this as a brag in any way, but I’m overflowing with the stuff – in so many areas of my life. I am embarrassed …