[Jody M]

In the 1700's England a British pastor, John Newton (hymn writer of the famous hymn, "Amazing Grace" and his wife Polly could not have children and adopted their 2 orphaned nieces who were school-aged children at the time of adoptions. The nieces were cousins and their parents all died of diseases, common in that era.
"Letters and Reflections to My Adopted Daughters" (2005, Pleasantword.com, a division of Wine Press Publishing)
Newton penned 21 letters to his adopted daughter Elizabeth Catlett sharing his affection as father, his feelings about God bringing her to their family, fatherly advice and counsel, and sharing his love for God.
The 2nd half of the book shares Newtons reflections and memoirs of his other daughter Eliza Cunningham and her strong faith and courage observed the last 3 weeks of her life, she died of tuberculosis at age 14th. A beautiful memoir written by a loving dad.
Words to Amazing Grace are printed at the end of the book.
The book is available at adoptionshop.com, amazon and other online book stores or the publisher. One can also check if their library has a copy, or can obtain a copy for loan through libraries inter library loan programs- often the book is free to loan if from instate and a small fee out of state- Check with Reference Librarian or also you can see if your library has a book suggestion form- and suggest the book- when the book comes in often the one recommending the book is contacted to check it out first!

Great thing to do suggest Adoption book titles to your local libraries this month, November in honor of Adoption Awareness Month!

Jody, adoption@wideopenwest.com, adoptee and facilitator of Adoptees, Birth Parents & Adoptive Parents Together, a Chicagoland western suburbs monthly support group.