Kristin Hill Taylor

Seeking God as the Author of Every Story

Fourteen

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Happy birthday, Cate! 

You’re the one who made me a mom. I was reflecting on your life this morning when I woke up too early and remembered how perfect it is to have your birthday sandwiched between my birthday and Mother’s Day. Your life has been a gift to mine since you came into this world three days after I turned 28. 

We spent my first Mother’s Day in a hotel waiting for clearance to come home from Indiana as part of the interstate adoption process. Of course, I’m forever grateful to your courageous birth mom who chose life for you and chose us to be your parents. Your life is a reminder of God’s faithfulness and provision. 

Now you’re 14. 

You love to play basketball, listen to Florida Georgia Line, and read (and re-read) fantasy and dystopian books. I still don’t understand your love of Crocs and distressed jeans, but you don’t understand why I love the 90s songs that I introduce you to. Even so, I loved shopping with you and our best friends last weekend. 

You’ve got a great group of friends from school, have become a leader on the basketball court and in the classroom, and enjoy the church move we recently made. You started wearing glasses in March, not long after you were the sole case COVID in our household. It’s been a weird year, but you’ve worn when your mask when necessary and navigated life with such grace. I loved sitting with you at St. Pete Beach for Spring Break and just chit-chatting about life. 

Cate, I’m proud of the confidence you’ve developed in who God created you to be. You’re smart, funny, and responsible. I am thankful for the ways you help around the house and set an example for your younger brother and sister. I love sharing this birthday week with you (and Dozer) and, more importantly, all the days our lives. What a joy it is to be your mom. 

Happy birthday, Catherine Anna! Your life is truly a gift. 

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Cate through the years on her birthday:  One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Baptism. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Of course, you can read more about her birth, adoption story, and early life in my book, “Peace in the Process: How Adoption Built My Faith & My Family” too.

Sharing lives & gifts

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November is National Adoption Awareness so I wanted to combine my loves of adoption and hospitality in today’s post. Truly, adoption taught me much about hospitality as we navigated three similar but different open adoptions, accidentally built a community of other adoptive & foster moms, and continue to teach our kids about the value of sharing our lives.

This is a fun post! I’ve got an edited excerpt from “Bringing Home More Than Groceries: Stories of Gathering & Nourishing People” to share with you. And then I have THREE GIVEAWAYS (!!!) of my books plus so many goodies from other mommas in my adoption community.

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Some of the friends I see the most in this parenting season are other parents from my big kids’ school. We chat at pickups, sit next to each other at games, carpool to field trips, and bring treats to the same classroom parties. We invest in our kids’ lives but come away with a deeper community too. So then we also make plans to see each other in the summer when our lives aren’t revolving around the school calendar, celebrating birthdays together and confiding in one another when we’re having hard days. Of course, all this looks different these days, thanks to COVID-19.

Investing in friendships with like-minded moms has helped me navigate motherhood. Sometimes this is a weary job! But raising kids is a worthwhile investment that takes time over the course of lots of seasons. Galatians 6:9 is a good reminder for me: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

I’ve heard this before, but it struck me in a new way when I was stretched among three parenting seasons. These words reminded me that with each conversation, boundary, ride home from school, and correction, I’m investing in my kids and the life we’re building together for God’s glory. Having friends in similar parenting seasons, as well as ones a few steps ahead of me, reminds me all the mental energy we’re investing is worth it.

More recently, parenting has involved conversations about cell phones, sleepovers, and vacations; discipline regarding grades and attitudes; and training and establishing habits. Yes, you can play basketball; no, you can’t have a cell phone. Yes, you can go over to her house after school, but you can’t spend the night.

I’ve talked with like-minded friends, many of whose kids are my kids’ classmates, and discussed with my husband, who thankfully lives on the same page with these things. Articles have affirmed why my kids won’t have cell phones anytime soon and why we don’t do sleepovers, but they’ve also reminded me living counter-culturally is hard but not beyond where God has called us, especially if we bring others with us.

My others have come as I befriended my kids’ friends’ parents, but also through engaging in shared activities with others. I have a group of fellow writer friends who first gathered online and then at my lake house for a retreat. We talk and text on Voxer almost every day. We came together initially to share each other’s writing and products, but we ended up praying together through lots of hard situations, discussing various parenting seasons, sifting through theological questions we didn’t always agree upon, and sharing details of our daily lives. We still root each other on in our craft, but we also consider each other dear friends.

I also have a group of Bible study girls. We sat down at the same table as part of a larger group, but as we studied scripture together, we shared pieces of our lives. We’ve had playdates at the park with our young kids and gathered at my pool when Bible study is on summer break. A few of those girls were among the first people with whom I shared my complicated grief when my dad died. Delana could be our mom and loves to cook for us. We sent gift cards to Leslie when she miscarried a baby and to Tara when she was sick. We prayed for kids and decisions and families. We recommend books to each other and check in on each other when we’ve gone too many days without touching base.

These groups of friends began on specific common ground and have continued to be a foundation in my life because we went beyond that initial reason for gathering. Maybe it’s not writing or studying the Bible. It could be any hobby or interest that brings you together with others you may not have otherwise known.

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Now for the THREE GIVEAWAYS! I asked in my Adoption Together group about possible gifts to share with y’all and so many people responded that we’re going to have two giveaways for people who live in the Murray, KY area and another for someone who lives elsewhere:

GIVEAWAY ONE!

GIVEAWAY TWO!

GIVEAWAY THREE!

Use the Rafflecopter widget below before Friday, Nov. 13 to enter to win one of these packs of goodies! The first two prize packages are for folks in the Murray, KY area and the third is for any U.S. resident.

Enter giveaway here!

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This is the second in a monthly series about why hospitality matters in every season. Be sure to download the free printable with ideas about how to welcome others into your home and your life regardless of the season.

The Edge of Belonging

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I kept this book in my bag so I could read it when I had a few minutes at the soccer fields, waiting in the school parking lot, or at a table while I ate lunch.

I finally put off enough chores to sit on my porch and finish “The Edge of Belonging,” the debut novel by Amanda Cox. This book has so many of my favorite themes: faithful friends who are family, adoption, and a homecoming story. It’s a slow-moving story that spans two generations, but the story is woven together beautifully as loss becomes hope and strangers become family. Truth of God’s redemptive plan for us is sprinkled throughout the relationships in this fiction book.

Perhaps my favorite line is from a minor character encouraging the main character: “God puts people in our lives to have and to hold. To give this existence richer meaning. I don’t think we were ever meant to fight life’s battles alone.”

Amen. Here’s to Ivy and Harvey and all the real-life people God uses to write our stories.

About the book

When Ivy Rose returns to her hometown to oversee an estate sale, she soon discovers that her grandmother left behind more than trinkets and photo frames. She provided a path to the truth behind Ivy’s adoption. Shocked, Ivy seeks clues to her past, but a key piece to the mystery is missing.

Twenty-four years earlier, Harvey James finds an abandoned newborn who gives him a sense of human connection for the first time in his life. His desire to care for the baby runs up against the stark fact that he is homeless. When he becomes entwined with two people seeking to help him find his way, Harvey knows he must keep the baby a secret or risk losing the only person he’s ever loved.

In this dual-time story, the truth – both the search for it and the desire to keep it from others – takes center stage as Ivy and Harvey grapple with love, loss, and letting go.

“The Edge of Belonging” is a 400-page paperback book is published by Revell (Sept. 8, 2020). It’s also available in hardback and electronic versions.

About the author

Amanda Cox is a blogger and a curriculum developer for a national nonprofit youth leadership organization, but her first love is communicating through story. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Bible and theology and a master’s degree in professional counseling. Her studies and her interactions with hurting families over a decade have allowed her to create multidimensional characters that connect emotionally with readers. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with her husband and their three children.

Before becoming a stay-at-home parent, she spent her time counseling children, families, and individuals through life’s challenging moments. Now she uses those same skills to develop layered characters and stories, bringing them on a journey of hope and healing. A journey she hopes her readers experience in their own lives as they read.

A few of her favorite things are the sanctuary of the great outdoors, the feeling of pen on paper, the sound of her children’s laughter, and exploring new places with her husband of 15 years. (Oh, let’s not forget good fiction and good coffee. She’s addicted to both.) You can stay connected with her latest writing updates at www.amandacoxwrites.com.

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Revell gave me a free copy of this book in exchange for a review, but I truly loved it and have recommended it to my community of readers and adoptive moms. Of course, I also added it to my list of recommended reads.