There's More Than One Way to Be a Mom

When it comes sex, marriage, and babies I have done everything the traditional way.

My husband and I waited for our wedding night to have sex. Then a few months later we went on our honeymoon to Scotland and came back really liking one another.

The baby that was conceived from our post-honeymoon fondness was Peter Mark. He was my first baby and though he was only alive for a couple of months and only in my womb, he is the one who made me a mother.

Since I lost Peter in May of 2007 I have since had five more babies. L and Ben and JF and Resa and JP

If Peter made me a mother then these five have made me a better mother, pushing and challenging and loving me more than I ever knew was possible.

A lot of women have similar stories to mine. We got married, got pregnant, and had our babies. But I know there's many mothers in the world who have very different stories about how they became moms. This week, as we look forward to Mother's Day, I want to acknowledge those mothers and their stories and journeys.

This week I am honored to have several friends guest post, talking about how they became moms for the fist time - sometimes through very difficult circumstances. My hope is that we can celebrate all women who have brought life into the world - that we can celebrate all mothers.

The rest of the posts are:
- Sarah's story on adoption through foster care.
- Melissa's story on being a birth mom who placed her son with an adoptive family.
- A woman's story of being a teenage mother.