Thankful for the mother who made my motherhood possible

Today has been a full day...an exhausting day. I will write more about it when my brain and heart have had a chance to fully process it. Because today was the day my daughter "met" her birthmother for the first time.

Olivia is too young to really understand this fully... we've just been talking about adoption in bits and pieces. We didn't tell her who Samantha was to her...just that we were meeting Miss Samantha for some play time and lunch. I figured that it would be easier to explain the connection to her if Olivia had a real life experience of the person who made the complicated decision to place her for adoption. I'm not really sure how to adequately explain the adoption triad to adults, let alone to a child. But I think this was a good first step.

We had a good day. Olivia played with Miss Samantha at the library, and then we had some lunch. Miss Samantha did Olivia's hair in braids (something I've been too afraid to attempt). Olivia warmed up immediately to Samantha and chatted easily with her throughout play time and lunch. She ended the visit by giving her a hug and kiss. Like it was natural. Like we were just meeting another member of our very large family. Which, in a way, we were.

Samantha talked about her life and the challenges she's currently facing. She has matured so much in two years. She talked about how she's making positive changes in her life and how happy she was to see Olivia thriving. And she said, again, how she has never questioned her decision that we should be Olivia's parents. She sees how happy she is and says that she never has to worry about how her life will be.

It was a good day for all of us.
Happy Mother's Day, Samantha. Thank you for choosing me to be Mom to your precious baby girl. You are in our prayers always.