Celebrating Mother’s and Birth Mother’s Day: Rachael’s story

This is a big weekend for Adoption STAR as we will be celebrating Birth Mother’s Day on Saturday, as well as Mother’s Day on Sunday. This week on the blog we will be sharing stories from both adoptive and birth mothers about Mother’s Day, Birth Mother’s Day, and their adoption journeys.

Today we share with you one single adoptive mom’s adoption journey. Rachael adopted her daughter Madelyn 4 years ago and they have been a forever family ever since.

Rachael and Madelyn have a Mother’s Day tradition of getting together with Rachael’s mother and grandmother (Madelyn’s grandma and great-grandma) for a 4-generation photo, and the four of them spend the day together.

Rachael said that the toughest part of the adoption process was waiting. She said that the first Mother’s Day during the process was bittersweet because her whole family was hoping that she’d have a child by next Mother’s Day, and their hopes came true when Madelyn came into their lives.

“I knew I wanted to be a mother from the time I was young, that was a serious goal in my life,” Rachael said. “Looking at the options for how to make that happen, it really became clear to me that adoption was a chance to build that family to benefit hopefully everyone.”

While being a mother is something Rachael has always dreamt about and wanted, she said that actually becoming a mother is an experience you can’t fully be prepared for.

“Being a mom is an amazing blessing and a challenge. Certainly more than you will ever imagine it will be. There’s more joy, more challenge, just more,” Rachael said. “I didn’t expect the amount of love and also the amount of decisions and choices that you make every day.”

Rachael said that one of her favorite parts of being a mother has been watching Madelyn grow throughout the years,

“When you think about adopting a baby, you think about adopting a baby, you don’t think about four years later when you have a 4-year-old,” Rachael said. “It’s neat to see her making her own choices, that’s really neat.”

As for what Rachael is looking forward to in the coming years, she wants to help Madelyn make “good choices, that will lead her to be a productive member of society. (I’m also looking forward to) growing together, learning, and making (good) choices. I’m really lucky to know her.”

Happy Mother’s Day Rachael!

If you are interested in learning more about the adoption process, please visit the adoptive parent or birth parent section of the Adoption STAR website.