Good Things Do Come From This

Yesterday we had a new hire/intern orientation that equipped us with knowledge and joy to be a part of Gladney. During this day, however my Gladney story whispered in the halls. We took a beautiful tour of our museum in the visitor center, which I personally loved. It was beautiful to hear how historical adoption is and how many hearts fought to make it what it is today, a loving decision celebrated by many. At the end of this tour, we ended up in a place I have walked by many times in the past 6 years. I knew it was there, always praised the Lord when I saw that another family was created in that room, prayed for the women who left there without a piece of their heart, but never once did I think of going into the placement room. Yesterday I saw those four walls for the first time in 6 years and I was surprisingly emotional, but not for the obvious reasons one would assume. It was emotional because it reminded me why I love Gladney. Because it is my story, passion, and my heart is abundantly full of unconditional love for my Olivia and her parents.

About 7 years ago, I wandered into the halls of the Gladney dorm to be surrounded by women who were in the exact same place as me, vulnerability. I was adopted at two days old, as was my sister, so I grew up loving adoption, and had a deeper understanding of why my life was greater because of the hardest decision my birth mom ever had to make. Regardless of my perception of adoption, nothing can ever prepare you for ridding yourself of all selfish desires for a baby you haven’t even held yet. That’s the beauty of the dorm. We didn’t all like the same shows, we fought like typical teenagers full of estrogen, we cried A LOT, we yelled A LOT, but we all had one thing in common, we were sisters through our decision to prepare adoption plans. And let me tell you, we always found ways to bond regardless of our differences. One of my favorite memories of my time at the dorm still brings me to tearful laughter… think of a bunch of pregnant women “dancing” hip-hop to The Black Eyed Peas. Yes, we requested that we have a pregnant hip-hop class every week and don’t let anyone kid you; we were fantastic! When I wasn’t whipping and naenaeing, I was building forever friendships. I still keep up with 10-15 birth moms I met in my time at the dorm and I met my best friend in those walls as well. Gladney gave me forever sisters and became my home.

The staff that I met over the year of me living at my home away from home became my cheerleaders in life. When you hear staff say that Gladney cares about their clients, they probably don’t even know the impact they leave on so many lives. Throughout the past six years, I have been lifted up in prayer, cheered on with encouragement, and reassured when I felt like I lost my way. I have made a path for myself and my goals get checked off as I go. Gladney has cheered me on as I get my degree in business administration, and now they have blessed me with learning from such phenomenal people through an internship. It blows me away how much opportunity a birth mom has by walking through Gladney’s doors. I will forever be thankful and humbled by the people who have impacted my life in this building. Good things can come out of this, they sure did for me and I pray that they do for you too.

-Katie Reisor, Development Intern and Gladney Birth Mom