An Open Letter to the Other Woman

To My Daughter's Other Mother,

What I want you to know on this day that our baby girl was born is that she is loved...deeply loved and cherished as all children should be with the To the Moon and Back Thank You Jesus For This Precious Child I Would Lay Down My Life For Her kind of love. She has brought so much laughter and love into our family. She is nothing short of an answered prayer and a blessing from the Lord.

What I also want you to know is that I love you. I love you more than I could ever adequately express. My constant prayer for you is that you know real joy, that you have a saving relationship with Christ, that you find yourself in a healthy place in life, that you are not haunted by your decision to place our daughter for adoption, and that thoughts of this day overwhelm your heart with love and peace. I often imagine that maybe one day you and I could meet and over a cup of tea, we could share our love for Vivie. Maybe you would tell me about the day she was born. Maybe you would laugh to know how Vivie scaled the refrigerator to get to the Halloween candy or how she shimmied up the downspout of the rain gutter to pet a green anole. Maybe you could tell me if her asthma is genetic or if those brown eyes are like yours. I could tell you how Vivie and I often include you in her bedtime prayers...how we tell Vivie how much you must love her to make such a difficult choice knowing it was all for her. Maybe we could be friends and our daughter would see a little bit of herself in both of us. Maybe she could love us both and you would see that God had a plan for her all along. Maybe.

Until that time comes, I just hope you know that not a day goes by that I don't realize and appreciate the gift you allowed God to give our family. Thank you. Thank you for choosing life when our throw away society makes it so easy to choose otherwise. Thank you for loving our baby enough to recognize she needed more than you had to give at the time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. No matter how many times I say it, it will never be enough but here's to hoping that maybe one day you will get the chance to hear it.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
With much love and deepest gratitude,
Vivie's Other Mother