Crisis pregnancy

Abundant Grace - a story of crisis pregnancy, adoption and parenting special needs

“A few months later, I found out I was pregnant. I was still a kid at 14 and very immature, naïve, and full of denial and unbelief. I can't remember telling anyone, even friends, that I was pregnant. At that time, I was part of a massive choir for healing services, and I prayed for a miracle that this pregnancy would go away. It didn't.

When I was 5 months along, my mother confronted me. I'm sure she had known for awhile. By this time my parents were close to 60 and didn't feel they could raise another child. I knew I could not raise a child on my own without an education, so before my daughter was born, I decided to place her for adoption…”

My Heart is Overflowing (Part 2) - an adoptee's adoption story

My heart is full to overflowing with the love I have for the people in my life that I call my family.

My story starts September 7, 1969.

I was born at Grace Hospital in Calgary, Alberta. When I was seven weeks old, I was adopted. From my earliest memories, I knew that I was deeply loved, cared for and wanted by my new family...

In 1999, my Dad Levi passed away from cancer, and in 2002 we lost my wonderful husband Pedro to cancer. As I grieved the loss of these wonderful men in my life, I also realized that each year that passed by, there was the possibility that one of my birth grandparents or one of my birth parents might pass away, forever closing the possibility of ever meeting...

I had tears in my eyes the first time my Mom got to meet my Dad, Bill. She hugged him and said, “thank you for my daughter,” and my Dad said, “thank you for raising my daughter”.

My Heart is Overflowing (Part 1) - an adoptive sister's adoption story

“I am so thankful for my sister Nancy Jane. She turned 50 this September. She has been my sister for all but 7 weeks of those years... I have no memories of being an only child. And no real memories of the day they brought Nancy home to live with us. It seems I have always had a sister to love, to fight with, to play with and to enjoy life together...”

Not the End of My Story — an abortion experience

“Following my first year of university, I accepted an offer to work at a fishing camp in northwest Ontario with another U of M student.The night before they were to leave the camp, one group of younger fisherman invited the two of us to come to a campfire they were having that night. We ignored the earlier warning from the camp owners not to socialize with that group and off we went. What could go wrong?”

Could We Love Her? — a story of Down syndrome

“After the doctor looked her over, he came to the bed and told us he was 99% sure she had Down syndrome. I remember thinking, how am I going to love this baby? How am I going to look at her and find her beautiful? We didn’t know anything about Down syndrome or special needs kids. I didn’t know how to interact or anything like that. It was so foreign, and I was scared to be her mom... I just saw a little girl with no future. That’s really what I saw…”