From the Heart
This little girl has a story.
She has a story because in 1955 her birth mother gave her life. Her adoptive mother (her real mother) gave her a good life.
This picture was taken around the time that her adoption was finalized with the courts in Hamilton County. Manson Church, one of the founding partners of the law firm of Church, Church, Hittle and Antrim was the attorney for her parents.
She knows very little about her birth mother. Her ancestry will never be known. The truth is that she does not care. She only cares about the legacy she will leave for her children and grandchildren.
This little girl was raised to love with her heart and think with her heart. At times, she has been hurt because of her heart.
This little girl was raised to respect her elders, the American flag and those who protect her rights, both law enforcement and the military.
She is thankful that the laws of the land probably protected her before she was born. She hurts to think of other little ones who have not been protected. Her world today is very different from that in 1955. She struggles to understand her world today.
She was raised with the belief that God had a plan for her life from the time she was conceived. It was not the typical journey of the majority of children. While she was born on September 3, 1955, her real life began on September 7, the day she arrived to her forever home with her forever parents.
In 1955 the choices of a single woman, who found herself pregnant, were very different from today. Yet, there were choices. That woman in 1955 chose to give this little girl life. This little girl will be forever thankful for the choice that was made by that young woman.
What if this single woman made a different choice? What if this little girl was never born?
Her adoptive parents had tried for 16 years to have a baby of their own. They endured the devastating loss of having two failed adoptions. One baby died and the other had the birth mother change her mind to keep the baby. Yet, they did not give up hope.
For this little girl “pro life” is not about politics or laws or rights. It’s about her being given her life and to live it with a purpose. Unless you are adopted you don’t understand how this little girl feels.
She knows that she will never be able to change the world but each morning she rises up and prays that she will make in difference in the life of someone that day. She wants her life to matter.
She knows that family is not about blood but about the love that comes from the heart for a child.
She knows that her legacy is being written every day that she draws a breath. Actually, her legacy began some nine months before she was born.
This little girl was given a voice in 1955 when she drew her first breath. She is using that voice today to share her thoughts that come from her heart.
Yes, as you might have guessed, that little girl … is me.
My mother worked with Janet’s dad. I remember, I was eight, when she told me about Jim and, his sweet wife where adopting a baby girl. What stands out most is Mother saying, he was the happiest man she had ever seen. I know that a wonderful family became whole with the baby girl.