Tag: adoption

Awkward question from neighbor how daughter and I look nothing alike
Daryn's Blog, Family, Good News, Parenting, The Hard Stuff

Neighbor’s question shines light on our different family

“Where do you get your pretty blue eyes from?” a neighbor asked Daughter, looking at her and then over to me. “Certainly not from you,” she peered into my dark brown eyes. Daughter and I both paused. We travel through our daily lives like most mothers and daughters, loving and annoying each other. It’s moments like these that make us stop. They remind us of what was so obvious to the neighbor. We look nothing alike. They remind us that our family

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Why we are supposed to be 500 miles apart on our anniversary.
Daryn's Blog, Family, Parenting

The Honest Reason Why It’s Better We Are 500 Miles Apart On Our Anniversary

We won’t be together this anniversary. It makes perfect sense, actually. Things are working just as they are supposed to. In a world where often not much makes sense, This does. I need to remind myself of that today. This is an anniversary that very few get. And one, I bet, You, who are a parent, Dear Reader, will understand. I did not come to motherhood in a traditional way. I married a single dad who was raising his young

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Daryn's Blog, Family, The Hard Stuff

Why It Only Took 24 Seconds For My Daughter To Make Me Cry

I might as well go ahead and tell you. Self-report. Spill. If I don’t, surely, you’ll hear about it from my daughter. Same daughter who is about to become a senior in high school. Same daughter I thoroughly embarrassed this week. It all started with an invitation I never saw coming. “My senior class pictures are Tuesday and I think you should come with me,” she casually threw out a few days before. Apparently, this is quite the deal at

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Adoption from overseas can mean your family doesn't look like others and that's okay.
Daryn's Blog, Family, Love Stories, Parenting

When You Know Who Your Family Is, Even If You Look Different Than Others

You’ll forgive my cousin. She’s a little weepy today. Her Facebook feed popped up one of those anniversary photos that remind you where you were a year ago. What a photo. What a year. Amanda and her husband, Adam, were in Ethiopia. Meeting their son for the first time. In person, that is. They met him in their hearts years before. So, you might want to make this “What a three years!” Ask anyone who has adopted, Dear Reader. They’ll

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Family, Life Lessons Took Me Long Time To Learn, Parenting

When Your Life Doesn’t Fit Inside A Hallmark Card

I took the trip again this year. Because I forgot. What a big waste of time it is. Yet, each year, I feel compelled to go. The event is big and must be marked. And so, I make the trip. Down the card aisle at the local drug store. I pick up countless cards. Not a single one fits. Where is the card you give your daughter commemorating the anniversary of your adoption? Where is the card that says meeting

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Family, Kids, Parenting

The Last Place I Ever Expected To Find My Daughter

I thought we were so special. So different. No one else had a story like ours when it came to becoming a family. This kind of story of adoption. And there are a lot of great stories. We have cousins just back from Ethiopia with the son they worked two years to adopt. Me? I found my daughter in the funnel cake line. Yep, funnel cakes. Truth is, I actually didn’t find her. My friend, Craig, did. One hot, sticky

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Family, Parenting

An Adoption Celebration: Motherhood Is Like A Cup of Tea

Get out the gloves and nice dresses. My daughter and I are heading to High Tea at a fancy schmancy hotel here in town. It’s what we do each year to celebrate the anniversary of our adoption. And I do mean OUR adoption, as she was 11 when we met, 13 when I married her dad. 14 when the judge made legal what was already long official in both our hearts. When a kid is a certain age, she has

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Family, Life Lessons Took Me Long Time To Learn, Parenting

14 Wishes For My Daughter On Her 16th Birthday

Dearest Daughter, We met when you were 11. I married Daddy when you were 13. The judge made you and me legal with our adoption when you were 14. This parenting gig really does fly by in flash, so before you zoom out the door, on the occasion of your Sweet 16, here are 14 wishes from me to you: 1. I wish that you know how much joy you’ve given your two mothers. Both Mommy in heaven, and now

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Family, Life Lessons Took Me Long Time To Learn, Parenting, The Hard Stuff

My Tears Have A Clock Of Their Own; Yours, Too?

“Did you cry?” There you have the number one thing my daughter wanted to know, as she quizzed me like I was a guilty suspect and she was a top detective on CSI. Truth is, I can’t really blame her. As I’ve shared with you Dear Reader, since becoming a parent, I’ve become a crier. If you ask my kids, they will tell you that I cry at the most ridiculous times. I cried when one filled out a form

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Family, Parenting

The Day I Wish All Moms Could Have

Please catch my newspaper column each week in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Dayton Daily News and other newspapers across Ohio.  Here’s this week’s column:     It seems unfair.      Really unfair.      It’s something so wonderful I wish all moms could have it.      And yet, only a small minority of us get to.      My fellow adoptive Moms, this is the column you could’ve written. That Sad Look         You know that sad look some people give when they see someone

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