Once upon a Misfit Time… I was a counselor with a Pregnancy Care Center. In those years I had the privilege to sit down with hundreds of beautiful young women facing unplanned pregnancy and the uncertainty that goes with it.

Mostly I listened to them. Many trusted me enough to admit they could never choose adoption over abortion. Their reason always boiled down to the same thing: “I could never carry a baby for 9 months then just give it away, not knowing what would happen to it.”

And the thing is, I get what they’re saying. Though they missed the irony of their words, what they were revealing in essence is, that’s the heart of a mother, to protect her child.

And I think we all know, parent or not, that there are no guarantees in life.

I’m sure my daughter’s birth mother felt all of those same feelings. No guarantees. And despite all this, she listened to her mother’s heart and did the bravest thing she could do: She gave her daughter life.

And we are forever grateful and frankly, in awe.