Y’all, thank you so much for your responses last week telling me what’s going well for you! Even if I guilted you into it…I loved every message.
Time for a #yayme celebration moment!
Did you mean to share yours but got busy? No worries! I’m still excited to hear from you! Reply here 🙂
Hello, November!
Time for a BIG change of topic…
Did you know that November is National Adoption Awareness month? It began 17 years ago…
On November 1, 1995, President Bill Clinton made the following proclamation, “Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 1995, as National Adoption Month. I urge the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate activities and programs and to participate in efforts to find permanent homes for waiting children.”
Bravo, President Clinton! (Source: adoption.org)
You may or may not know that I, (yes, me!) was adopted at the tender age of 6 weeks old by Bob and Helen Leary, an American couple who were living and working in Ottawa, Ontario, (yes, in Canada!). The year was 1970, and they wanted a daughter. They already had a natural son (my big brother, Mike, 7 at the time). So they worked with the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa and picked me! And so I got my forever home.
I grew up in Raleigh, NC, where my younger brother, (also naturally born to Bob and Helen), joined our family in 1975. I felt happy and secure with my family, the Learys, for 4 decades.
Growing up, I knew little about my biological mother, but always felt comforted that she made such a brave choice that worked out so well for me. I could only hope that things had worked out equally well for her, but I had no verification whatsoever.
Then, out of nowhere, in 2010, my older brother found a file in our late father’s filing cabinet that held a lead: information that lit my 40-year old dormant flame to find her. This video tells you more about that. (5 min long, closed-captioning available)
The beginning of something really special!
That groundbreaking email that she sent on Oct 31st was read by me on November 1st, 2010. She was brave, AGAIN, and reached out to close the loop. So today is a very special day!!
I’m sharing all this because adoption is important. Adoption is beautiful. Adoption is such a gift. It’s essential to society world-wide!
I plan to share parts of my story all month long, and you know I’d love to hear from you, too! When I tell my story, it sparks deep, beautiful, and poignant conversations every time.
It’s just so important.
There are many, many children available for adoption. Here is a link to the current statistics of children in foster care. It hurts our hearts to read these statistics, but that’s how we spur action!!
All month long on my FB page and Instagram, we will highlight the Texas-based nonprofit Carrying Hope. What an amazing organization! Please like/follow their social channels.
Their mission is as follows:
Carrying Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit founded in Austin in 2016 by foster parents and advocates who were heartbroken watching children arrive on their doorsteps time and time again with nothing but the clothes on their backs. We knew they deserved better. So we came up with the idea for Hope Packs: backpacks filled with everything a child would need during his/her/their first 24-48 hours in a new home. Since our inception, we have distributed more than 15,000 Hope Packs to CPS and foster care agencies across the state.
We are better together!!
