[Jody M]

"Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous- and how well I know it" Psalms 139:14 (New Living Translation)

Bellybuttons are funny! Everyone owns one and just like fingerprints, no two are alike. Children typically are fascinated with these peculiar holes in their tummy and love to intently study them . Giggles typically come when a baby's bellybutton is gently poked in fun! No one seems to take bellybuttons seriously for they just seem to sit on our middles and do nothing worthwhile. No wonder they make us laugh! They seem so silly! But at one time, when we were created in the wombs of our mothers, they played a lifesaving role.
Our bellybutton (navel) or tummy-button as it's sometimes called is a sign that we once were anatomically attached to our mothers. An umbilical cord, beautifully designed by God, was our dependent lifeline needed to carry all the nourishment from our mother's body to ours while we were developing. When we were born and left the womb to breathe on our own, this precious cord was cut, severed and we became independent little persons.
Adoptee Joy Budensiek, who wrote the book "Reconnected to my Bellybutton" regarding her search and reunion with her birth mother, chose a clever title to name her quest. The reality of the presence of the bellybutton reminds adoptees that they once had a precious connection with their birth mother who they were separated from and likely never knew. Bellybutton's are the first scar that needed healing from the point of the severing. Though this bodily wound heals soon after birth with a scar, adoptees carry an additional emotional wound from the complete separation from their mothers through adoption. This too requires a process of healing. Regardless of whether an adoptee has embraced a positive adoption experience or not the significant loss of the birth mother needs to be grieved. The grieving process can begin anytime an adoptee cognitively awakens to their adoptee status. Then they can begin to comprehend their original loss and in time hopefully give themselves permission to grieve the separation. And as Christians we grieve, but not as those who have no hope. Our hope rests in God, our Maker.
Ah, bellybuttons! Silly to behold, wonderfully unique as fingerprints and bittersweet scars of rememberance. May they ever remind us of the awesome gift of life we've been given by our heavenly Father through the sacrificial love of our first mothers.

God our Creator, Maker of our awesome bodies and even our bellybuttons! We thank and praise you for the beauty of your design. As we navigate the mixed emotions of our adoption journeys, we ask that you would be our tender Shepherd . Hold us as we grieve our losses and embrace our adoption and the life you planned for us for your glory and your honor. In Jesus name we pray, Amen

By Jody Moreen, Copyright 2006. Permission needed to reprint in any form or media.

See other adoptee devotions on my Blog
Adoptees Cafe
www.adopteescafe.blogspot.com

[longingtomeetyou]

wow..... to birthmoms everywhere...

if it wasnt for us ....that precious life wouldnt be born.....

tks for the article......


saddens me though ..... thats why the bond is so strong between child and birthmom.....

[Jody M]

Longing to meet you - thanks for your response to the Adoptees Bellybutton devotion I felt compelled to write. The bellybutton is the sacred scar that was the connection between mother and child. So it is neat to honor our moms as we ponder this!
Blessings to you! My birth mother was deceased by the time I found my birth family- 3 sisters. It was sad not to have known her or been able to thank and embrace her for her gift of life to me and placing me in a loving family. I have embraced many birth moms in my adoption support group ministry over the years- Many of us who search for birth family do not end the search journey with a "honeymoon" reunion but then we find beautiful persons also searching and make new friendships! Some of my best friends are adoptees and birth mothers!

Blessings, Jody Moreen, adoptee

[Jody M]

Has anyone else read Joy Budensiek's book, Reconnected to My Bellybutton? It is a great read and I believe it is available from online bookstores. I have been in touch with her by e-mail so if anyone can't find the book and wants to read it- let me know and I can find where to get a copy! I LOVE the title- very clever, speaks to adoptees in search for birth family!
Blessings to all adoptees, birth parents in search and reunion! Jody, reunited adoptee