Birth Mom Meet Up

A few months ago I had the amazing opportunity to attend a birth mom meet up; it was put on by Adoption: Share The Love. A handful of the ladies I had already "met" through the internet, but most I had never seen before. I have been wanting to be apart of a birth mother's retreat ever since I gave birth to Kinley, so I was so very excited to go and share my story with others and listen to others' experiences. If there are any birth mothers out there reading this, I HIGHLY  recommend trying to find a birth mom meet up. Even if it isn't an "official" one, just finding birth moms near you and going to lunch or hanging out and sharing your stories. Being able to hear birth mothers' stories who have been on this journey for many many years was so inspirational. I was able to get advice and also realize that there really is life after placement and we are all worth it. There were lots of tears and laughter and all for a great cause. It's amazing how all of us women are from various parts of the country, backgrounds, situations, yet we all have somewhat, the same emotions. I could just hug and cry with a random lady and we both just got it.

Look at all these amazing women!

The meet up was at a park and the second I pulled up and walked under the gazebo, I felt the most powerful force. The spirit was so strong there. I immediately had to talk myself down from just spewing tears everywhere! I hadn't even talked to anyone yet and my heart was full of love for every single woman there! We wrote our names on name tags and it was so great to see all the people I have talked with over Facebook and other social media sites. It was so surreal that I was actually PHYSICALLY talking to them. It was the first time I had ever met them, but they were and are some of my best friends.  I felt right at home with all of them. We walked around and introduced ourselves and I seemed to say "So, what's your story?" to every one. No story was the same. We were told to bring a picture of our birth children, so I of course brought a picture of Kinley. We also wrote 3 words that described what adoption meant to us. I chose MIRACLES, LOVE, and OPPORTUNITIES. They had us hold up our pictures and words for an awesome photographer to take our picture. I felt all fancy getting my pictures taken.

This is the slide show they created with all the photos! you may need a tissue!

I met Sarah a long time ago via Instagram and it was so awesome to meet her for real!

On the left is Rachel and I met her when I went to Utah for Kinley's birthday and it was so great to see her again! On the right is Jessi and she is pregnant with her sweet baby girl who she will be placing- I met her for the first time and we clicked and I'm happy to consider her a life-long friend!

These two are amazing! Christin(right) is the birth mom to Nicole(left) and they were reunited earlier this year. And Nicole is also a birth mamma to a little boy! I hope Kinley and I can have an amazing bond like these two!

Oh Janice- I met her over Facebook a few weeks previous to the retreat and she is the sweetest most funniest lady ever! Her birth son is about my age I think! 

These are 3 amazing ladies! Ashley Mitchell, Alysia Foote, and Haley Kirkpatrick! These are the ladies who made it all happen!

I am so grateful I was able to go to this birth mom meet up. I made new friendships and I was also able to carry some wisdom home with me.