Hope Along the Journey
Recently, one of our supported moms shared on social media her experience with New Mercies and the family that hosted her children. What an incredible testimony to the power of friendship, vulnerability, and radical hospitality:
"There was a time when I couldn’t care for my babies. So much I’ve never said out loud because I was ashamed of my thoughts. I saw a video of a lady adopting a baby and having an open adoption with the birth mother so that she could still have a relationship with her baby, and it made me think of Rochelle Metz because she is one of the reasons I was able to continue on being a mother. Not very many people know that she took the twins in for a short while so I could figure out my life.
I was having what people would call a midlife crisis at just 24 years old. I was so terrified letting [the twins] leave with a complete stranger [to be hosted], and I remember talking to them on the phone that same night thinking to myself...they sound so different, and that’s because I had never heard their voice through a phone and my heart fell out of my body! I immediately started sobbing, and Rochelle took the phone and just hearing her voice calmed all of my nerves. She knew exactly what to say, and I just knew they were safe.
“I just knew they were safe.”
I was considering adoption because I felt like I could not possibly love them enough, I could not keep them safe, I was too worried about paying the bills and not completely going crazy at work because it was so stressful. I just knew I’d be working for the rest of my life, missing all the best moments of their life, and I knew they needed a family that could give them what I couldn’t. So, I started meeting couples with this adoption agency...the last couple I met was just the sweetest couple and I knew I found the twins a home.
After a few days, the lady called me, and we met up again and she was confused. She and her family were talking about how someone like me, that seemed to have all the right kind of love and concerns, would want to give her children up because I was a great mother. With an honest heart, I couldn’t explain why. After talking to Rochelle about what I wanted to do, I couldn’t go through with the adoption. She made sure that I knew her and her family would always be there for the twins, for us—and they have.
I always thought I had it hard being a new mom of twins doing it alone, but talking to someone that knew what it was like really helped. I appreciate everything you and your family have done for us! We love you #Twinmom”*
*Content edited for length and clarity