I adopted my daughter in 1989 and she was the single greatest thing that ever happened to me and my husband. We raised her with knowledge of God, love, her culture, and her loving birth mother. As adoptive parents, my husband and I always vowed to raise our baby with openness about her adoption and culture.
We also were open to her meeting her birth mother later in life because without this strong woman, we would never experience the overwhelming joy of parenthood.
Our daughter is so smart, kind, and beautiful and unfortunately, grew up way too quickly for her parents’ liking. She is everything we would ever want in a daughter; we are extremely blessed. When our beloved Jacie turned 21, we made the decision to take an emotional, yet beautifully fulfilling trip.
This journey was one that my husband and I vowed to make when our adoption was finalized. My husband and I felt now that she is a young adult, this seems like the perfect time to visit her birthplace to meet her birth mother and siblings. Jacie is the fifth child of seven, so she had six brothers and sisters to meet!
Jacie had so many emotions whirling inside her and so did I! She felt nervous, excited, curious, eager, and even sad. She looked up to me with her deep brown eyes and said, “Now Mom, you know this isn’t going to change how much I love you, right?” Tears filled my eyes and joy overwhelmed my heart. I tried my best not to cry in front
of her. I did not mean to have that thought, but hearing her say that made me even more excited for what we are going to do. This birth mother has no idea the beauty that she has created and then blessed complete strangers with.
I am so honored to meet her because we never met her in the adoption 21 years ago because she requested that it remain closed until her baby turned 18.
The plane landed and the big moment was finally here! We bought and prepared gifts bags for her mother and each sibling so I had those on one arm, and Jacie on the other, with her father right beside her. Jacie was holding tightly a framed photo for her mom to keep with some photos of Jacie’s childhood.
When Jacie walked up to her birth mom, they both stood a moment and admired each other. Then, they embraced with the warmest hug I’ve ever seen.
My husband and I couldn’t hold back our tears. They too were overwhelmed with tears. Her birth mother spoke first and said, “I have been praying to meet you someday.” And Jacie responded, “me too.”
I cannot completely put into words how completely incredible this experience has been! I have never had so much love and respect for a person I have only met once. We took pictures with Jacie and her biological siblings and her birth mom. When we got home, Jacie and I put them into a scrapbook: our favorite memory.
