Blossoms in the Dust Show - Fort Worth, TX

Last year my birth daughter who I placed for adoption through The Gladney Center for Adoption in 2000 participated in their annual fashion show for the first time and absolutely loved it.

So much so that she wants to be in it again this year.

A woman I know has a grandson who is a Gladney baby.

"I am grateful especially for Aidan, our precious Gladney grandson," she says. "He truly is the light of my life. I am so thankful to his birth mom for allowing us to be blessed with him."

Gladney recently recognized Council for Life for donating $50,000 from the 2nd Annual 5K Take Steps for Life Family Fun Run to Gladney's Next Steps Program. More than 300 Council members gathered at the home of Dallas board member Terry Rowling to present $25,000 from the nonprofit's run to Gladney a few months ago. The run was held in October in Dallas at Reverchon Park and Recreation Center.

It's hard to believe that as recently as 20 years ago birth mothers assumed fictitious names at Gladney.

When I saw my birth daughter, McKenna at our visit in December, she was so fun and funny as usual. We exchanged gifts and took pictures and her adoptive brother, also a Gladney adoptee, came along, too. It's hard to believe that when I met him he was two years old, sucking on a bottle in a car seat, and now he's 12.

Most people are unaware of what the birth mom goes through or why she makes the decision she does. There are birth moms that are around the age I was when I placed, like Renee Siegfort, 37, of Marengo, IL who placed her baby for adoption a week after giving birth in December 2008, according to a story in USA Today last year. (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-18-mother_N.htm).

Gladney will have their annual Blossoms in the Dust Luncheon and Style Show at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel in downtown Fort Worth, Texas in the ballroom April 15 at 9:30 a.m.

For more information, call The Development Department at 817-922-6074 or call 817-917-3402, email Megan Roland at carlnmegan@charter.net, or Laura Rattikin at lmrattikin@att.net.

Recently I got an email from someone in Germany who is an adult adoptee struggling with whether to look for her birth mom who placed her through Gladney. The adoptee was afraid she might be rejected if she found her birth mom. We talked back and forth though we did not know each other and I shared my experiences as a birth mom, answering some of her questions and trying to encourage her.

In other Gladney news, the annual Skittle fundraiser will be held April 29 at Six Flags Over Texas from 5-10 p.m.

I have a fond memory of attending the event when I was living in the dorm at Gladney in 2000, having the park open just for prospective and adoptive parents, birth moms, and adoptees and feeling the specialness of it all.

For details on the fundraiser, access adoptionsbygladney.com and click on "Gladney Events."