The Saturday before Mother's Day has been traditionally honored as Birth Mother's Day throughout the US. While we think it's totally appropriate to celebrate birth mothers all weekend long, we're taking today to highlight the amazing, brave, loving women behind each adoption story.

One of the most common questions future adoptive parents have to work through, for themselves, is this:

"What would it be like to raise a child who also had another family that loved him first?"

A child's birth mother will always be a special part of his or her story. As most of Lifetime's adoptive parents share, once you get to know the ONE birth mother who has chosen you to become her baby's family, the natural progression is to grow a deep love and care for that amazing woman who made your adoption dreams come true.

So this Mother's Day weekend, as you recognize your own adoption miracle, or pray for the next step in your adoption goals, take a moment to celebrate the brave love that threads between all birth mothers. Here are a few ways you can honor birth mothers today:

Mother’s Day isn’t easy without a child to hold and hug, when more than anything, you want that. It's so hard to have that longing, and not have something that so many other women are experiencing - motherhood. Not having a child can make the second Sunday in May so much more difficult.

If Mother’s Day brings feelings of pain or longing for you, know that you're not alone. Lifetime's Founder Mardie Caldwell is an adoptive mother herself, and shares, "A lot of the time on Mother's Day, I just wanted to curl up in bed and forget the whole day because it can be really painful."

It's hard to wait when you're SO ready to be a mom. Right now, God might be saying, “Not yet. Wait.” While you have no idea what's in store, He does! His plan is more considerable than anything you can envision.

Hand-Lettered Artwork to Benefit Lifetime Foundation

Here at Lifetime, many of our staff have volunteered their personal time, donations, and talents to help the Lifetime Adoption Foundation serve birth mothers. This week our own Libby Denniston launched a project in her Etsy shop that combines her passion for modern calligraphy with the work we do through the Lifetime Foundation. Many of Lifetime’s followers will recognize Libby as a regular webinar hostess, but behind the scenes she also does a lot of our design for outreach and adoptive parent profiles, among other things.

In honor of Mother's Day this month, Libby hand lettered a verse from Psalm 9, and the proceeds from the sales of this art print will go to helping birth mothers through the Lifetime Adoption Foundation!

An adoption support group can be a wonderful resource for hopeful parents in any stage of their adoption journey! You might have just begun to research domestic adoption or you may be waiting for a birth mother to choose you. You might even have finalized your child’s adoption, and need help navigating adoptive parenting.

No matter which stage you're at in the adoption process, an adoption support group can provide encouragement! Members of an adoption support group are able to learn about and explore issues they may have in common. They also have group discussions that give members the chance to share problem-solving strategies.

These groups are a great place to connect with other adoptive families, share experiences, and ask questions. You might find an adoption support group within driving distance, but there are also many groups that take place entirely online. Keep reading to discover the benefits an adoption support group can offer you, as well as how you might find one!

We're excited to announce that Lifetime's blog has just been awarded in Healthline's Best Adoption Blogs of 2019! It's an honor to be among this list of other awesome adoption blogs. Lifetime's adoption blog was selected from the thousands of adoption blogs out there using search and social metrics. 

We hope you are looking forward to a beautiful Easter celebration this weekend. He is RISEN indeed!

Easter is a precious time to reflect on the great love that our God and Savior have for us. Through our faith we see just how important adoption is to our Heavenly Father: He chose us to be heirs in His Kingdom! What a family He's creating through adoption in Christ!

Did you know the Hebrew word for adoption means "to place” into a new family? It's intentional, it's permanent, and it's a choice. Adoption was something God PLANNED, as we see in Ephesians 1:5, which reads "God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ..."

The word "decided" stands out. Adoption is a choice made out of great love for a child.
Adoption is love.

Recently a new applicant to our adoption program shared that they found Lifetime after watching the recent blockbuster hit, Instant Family, starring Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne. The comedy flick featured a foster-adoption theme, and though at Lifetime we help mothers and hopeful adoptive families through private adoption, not typically associated with foster care or state interventions with family services, we can totally appreciate that adoption themes in the movies and media stir up adoption related discussion and dreams for viewers.

Today's article comes to us from LendEDU.com, a website that helps consumers learn about more about financial products such as personal loans, credit cards, insurance products, and more. 

Throughout the United States, the National Council for Adoption (NCFA) estimates that nearly 100 million people have been impacted by adoption in some form or another. This could be one of the more than 110,000 children adopted each year or the parents, family members, or friends of parents who decide to add a member to their family squad. Adoption can be a beautiful experience for both the child and the family, but it comes with a variety of considerations, particularly on the financial side.

For many hopeful adoptive parents, home studies are the most nerve-wracking and time-consuming part of the adoption process. They wonder, "Will our home be acceptable? What will they think about our approach to parenting? What about my past?"

Join Lifetime as we debunk common home study myths, share what to expect, how to prepare, and more!

When a couple begins to explore the idea of adoption, it's easy for them to get quickly overwhelmed with information, questions, and decisions.

One of the first decisions they face is whether to seek a domestic adoption or international adoption. Many factors come into play during this decision, including wait time, cost, legal concerns, children available, and medical history.

Join us as we go into detail about these five factors, so that you can decide whether a domestic adoption or international adoption is best for your family!