Author: Tonya May Avent

I always wanted children, but it took me a long time to become a mother. After battling infertility and failed artificial insemination attempts, I finally had Danielle when I was thirty-seven. As a single mom working two jobs, my mother helped me care for her. But the desire to have more children never left me,… Continue reading When the Road is Difficult – An Adoption Story by Brenda Woodard

Late one night in 2015 while working for a crisis response organization, I was assigned to an emergency home dispatch. As a Mobile Response team member, I was routinely assigned to investigate behavioral or mental health issues. Soon after my arrival, the two children I was checking on fell asleep, and the mother poured out… Continue reading As God’s Word Changes Hearts – An Adoption Story by Allison Bell

“I’m sorry Tom, but you are sterile and will likely never bear children.” I looked at my husband, devastated. After over three years of trying to conceive, thirty-six months of praying and hoping for a baby, the doctor’s words were like a punch in the gut. I barely listened as he proceeded to share other options… Continue reading Being Steadfast in the Storm – An Adoption Story by Faith Evans

As I stared at the picture of my family – my husband Scott, and my son Brian – I hoped that the birth parents reviewing our portfolio would be drawn to our family and give us the honor of raising their unborn child. At first, family consisted of just Brian and me, then I married… Continue reading Trusting God’s Timing and Process – An Adoption Story by Jeanine Robbins

As we were planning our marriage, my husband Eric and I talked about having four children. We had always considered adoption, but of course, that would come after we had our own children naturally. It was always in our hearts to bring a child into our home who needed a loving family. However, God had… Continue reading Seeking God’s Voice for Direction – An Adoption Conversation with Jennifer Smedberg

I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. These last six years of marriage have been tough. But what could be so difficult about being married to your best friend? Terrell and I grew up a block away from each other but didn’t know each other. We even worked at the same job at one point, but… Continue reading When the Blender is Broken (Stepmoms) – By Jasmine Moore

As a teenager, dating someone with a child, my thoughts oscillated between where to go out to eat Friday night and talking through parenting styles with the dreamy guy across the table. Seven years later, I stood face to face with that dreamy guy, saying “I do” and in that sacred moment becoming a wife… Continue reading Chosen Motherhood (Stepmoms) – by Stephanie Judy

We have all heard the saying, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. This quote is often said as an encouragement to someone going through difficult times. It is certainly true about my life. I have survived so much trauma and have become stronger as a result… As a young wife in my early twenties, I… Continue reading Finding Strength in a Season of Despair (Stepmoms) – by Cherron McCutchen

As a single woman, I prayed for a man who was God-fearing, loyal, committed to his family, responsible, and would put me first in his life. If I met a man and he didn’t have these characteristics, he wasn’t for me. Archie and I attended the same church and met in 2006 during choir rehearsal… Continue reading The Sacrifice of Not Always Being Seen (Stepmoms) – By Dr. ShaEssa Wright Rice

Growing up, I wanted to be married around the age of twenty-five with kids by the age of thirty. That was the dream, right? Fall in love, get married, have babies, and live in a nice house with a white picketed fence. Well, that was not my story. I married my husband at the age… Continue reading Releasing My Dream and Plan to God (Infertility) – By Kelly Redman