To get “the call”, instead of a positive pregnancy test was what life was all about, almost 6 years ago. I knew that somewhere there was a beautiful soul that was carrying my daughter inside of her.
Some of us were meant to be ‘heart mamas’, some ‘tummy mamas’ and some blessed to be both.
The day I met our daughter was the day my life changed forever. I guess all parents felt the same when they met their babies for the first time, but we took home a precious gift that had to be cherished forever. We didn’t know what lay ahead of us, and we sometimes still don’t, but we take it day by day.
As the days pass we see so much of ourselves in our beautiful daughter, the way she treats people, her sense of humour and her love for her brother.
Many questions are being asked every day, “Do you know my tummy mummy’s name?” “What did she look like?” “Will I meet her one day?” We answer what we can, to the best of our ability. We might not have all the answers, but we try our best to let her grow up in a diverse community and school. We make sure she is taught an African language; we embrace role models of different cultures, toys, books, friends etc. These are some of the small things that we do to make our daughter belong and feel important.
As a young girl, dreaming of having babies, I never thought I would spent time in a hair salon watching my daughter getting her dreadlocks maintained or putting on a satin bonnet to go to sleep with, but these are the things I wouldn’t change for the world.
She was put in my arms so that I could be her mama, to fight for her, to cherish her, but most of all, to love her.
Adoption is a long and hard journey and not all adoption stories have happy endings, but our story is our story and it is a happy one.
Author: Fleur Scholtz
