When I was growing up, the dream in my heart was simple: I wanted to be a wife and a mother.
But life doesn’t always unfold the way we imagine when we’re young. In my early twenties, I was diagnosed with PCOS, and after trying fertility treatments, it became clear that having biological children might not be part of my story.
Around that same time, I watched a program about foster care and adoption. I remember thinking something very simple, but very clear in my heart:
I can love somebody else’s child.
So in my early twenties, I became a foster parent. Over the years, I welcomed many children into my home. Some stayed for a short season, others longer—but every one of them mattered.
Later, life surprised me again when I married my husband and became a stepmom to three children. I didn’t grow them in my body, but I grew to love them deeply.
Years later, our home opened again to foster care, and two little girls came into our lives. After two years with our family, they became available for adoption—and we said yes.
Today, I am the mother of five.
Three came into my life through marriage.
Two came into my life through adoption.
I never carried a child in my body, but I have carried many in my heart.
And there are also relationships in my life that may not fit neatly into a category, but have still shaped my heart in a mothering way.
Somewhere along the way, I learned that motherhood isn’t measured by biology—but by love.
Motherhood didn’t come to me in the way I once imagined when I was a little girl. But looking back now, I see that my dream was still fulfilled—just in a way I never could have planned.
To my five children, who each came into my life in their own unique way:
You made me a mother.
And loving you has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.
Sometimes the dreams we carry in our hearts don’t come true in the way we imagined. But sometimes, they come true in ways that are even more beautiful.
The Mother I Became
When I was growing up, the dream in my heart was simple: I wanted to be a wife and a mother.But life doesn’t always unfold the way we imagine when…