Waiting and hoping seem to go hand-in-hand, don't they? I think there are many types of mamas who know this better than most. If you've chosen to foster or adopt, you know that you may have to wait with expectation and then possibly have your world turned upside down in an instant. There are a lot of unknowns when you've chosen this path, but what an admirable path it is. 

There may be others of you who find that the term "motherhood" brings grief, shame, or other kinds of deep wounds. Maybe you've lost a child or have been told that you will never have one biologically. You, too, have had to live into the realities of waiting and hoping, sometimes with good results and other times with bad ones. 

No matter how you've come to the table of motherhood, I want you to know that there is always a seat for you - you are every bit a mother as any other woman who has carried her children in her womb. You are raising, molding, nurturing, and loving sweet little (or big) ones that call you "mom" and depend on you for so many things. You're on a difficult path, one that most don't dare to tread, and I want you to feel empowered by that fact. 

Press on, mama - press on through the waiting, the hoping, the uncertainty, the pain, the joy, the beautiful mess that motherhood is. And remember, you are strong, capable, brave, determined, loved, and full of value.

                                                                                    -from one mom to another