[msbrenna]

hi gang! i promised i'd share some of the letters i've recieved in reply to the newspaper article that was published last sunday! sooo...here's some of them....

this is the very first letter i recieved:

I read the article this morning in the Ventura County Star and just wanted to send you a quick note.

I am a birthmother who gave her daughter up for adoption in 1965. She found me in 1992 and after a few years of constant contact, she has returned to her difficult path through drugs and alcohol. She will be 39 years old this year, and her AMother and I continue to be the best of friends. We prayed together last night on the phone that "our daughter" will turn her life around and become the woman we both know she is capable of becoming. Meanwhile, she has to do it herself, just as you have done.

What I wanted to say to you Brenda, is that the word "abandoned" come up alot in the article. Sweetheart, you were not abandoned. The woman who gave birth to you "handed you over for safekeeping" because she loved you so much. The heartbreak of giving up a child is only second to losing a child to death, and please, please know, that every birthday, every Christmas, all throughout your teenage years, that woman, no matter where she was, or how difficult her circumstances may have been, prayed for you and your safety and most especially, your happiness.

My Bdaughter's adopted sister (adopted two years after my Bdaughter was adopted) found her birthmother in the early 1990, who said to her, "You belong with that other woman (her adoptive Mother) " and wanted no further contact. It was heartbreaking for her, and although I cannot understand what her birthmother was thinking, but I want you to be prepared for anything.

If your "other Mother with your history" doesn't contact you, I volunteer to be your "other birthmother". You can call or write or come by anytime. How Blessed you have been! Please give your AMom a big hug and tell her Happy Mother's Day from someone grateful for her special love.

Most Sincerely,

Diane

...makes ya cry doesn't it?? everyone who's read it around here bawled their eyes out! i'll send some more later...i've got to go study for a final i have today....

xxoo's!
brenna