Free Book Friday Giveaways for Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents , October 10, 2014

  It's time for our 2nd Friday Adoption Book Giveaways from Jody's Book Bag. We had a nice response for the 1st giveaway and still awaiting for a couple of the winners to contact me and send me their full name, address and zipcode-  Email me at : jodymoreen ( use the @ sign) gmail.com  Everyone who posted a comment for our 1st giveaway won and were awarded a book- because it was our 1st Giveaway and also because I owned 3 copies of the Book Three Names of Me which was requested by 3 persons.  So Congratulations to the winners and I hope these books encourage you and your families!
   If anyone has any new/like new books they would like to donate to this giveaway let me know- they are welcome and will bless someone else to read them. Please let others adult adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents or others touched by adoption know about this website and also the Friday Adoption Book Giveaway. I also want to share that I have another website Blog- Adoptees Anchored in Christ that shares faith stories of adult adoptees that give testimony to God's grace, hope and healing in their adoption journeys. http://adopteesanchoredinjesus.blogspot.com/
If you read any posts or stories on either of my sites, appreciate your leaving comments. I am available for phone mentoring for a reasonable fee ( not eligible for insurance reimbursement ) and I am knowledgeable on various adoption topics and issues. Feel free to inquire.  For Adult Adoptee women I have a private Facebook called:
Adoptees Anchor/Kindred Spirits so its open to adopted women and one must have a Facebook page to join. For anyone interested, send me an e-mail ( e-mail address above ).


To participate in the drawing- You must sign up to Follow this Blog, then just post a brief comment after this posting and include your name and how you are touched by adoption and the book you would most life if your name is picked as a winner in the drawings. If you don't see your Comment posted right away- don't worry- I have to approve them- so it will show up very soon! SHARE about this site and the Free Book Friday Giveaways for those touched by Adoption- thanks!
Hope you will participate! And good luck!  Just sharing the gifts I have been given- Blessed to be a Blessing!  Jody

1, Adoption Is For Always-  Picture story book for Children- NEW- paperback

2. Chicken Soup For The Adopted Soul-  Inspirational short stories from all sides of adoption.

3. Gathering The Missing Pieces of An Adopted Life- Christian perspective written by adoptee Kay Moore- She shares her own adoption story and reunion with her birth family. Then she writes on topics of adoption and at the end of each chapter she shares tips for adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents on the topic of that chapter.

4. Puppy Love- is a cute mini book with dustcover and a cute ribbon book mark with charm.

Adoptees, Beautiful Graftings of the Lord to Display His Splendor, A Devotion by Jody Moreen

Monday Meditation & Devotion by Jody

"To comfort all who mourn,

³  and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord

    for the display of his splendor.              

Isaiah 61: 2b-3 ( NIV )

   As adoptees there is a point in our lives when we awaken and begin to process what it means to have been adopted. We come to realize that though we were blessed to become a part of a new family we experienced being uprooted from our biological family tree of origin. There was a severing when our birth parents relinquished their rights to parent us. We were the branch cut off, separated from the parent tree. Ouch! That hurts! And surely a wound was created. Then through adoption we were grafted into a new family tree where we were replanted and allowed to grow.

   Horticulturalists say that a good grafting involves a successful union at the juncture of where the grafted branch is joined to the new parent tree. The parent tree must be bound and securely attached to the young shoot which will draw nutrients from the foreign root system. The goal in grafting is to take two living plants and join them so that the whole grows as one yet each part retains its own identity.

   Some of us were fortunate to be grafted into a nurturing and loving adoptive family. Others were replanted into families that may have been unprepared or unequipped emotionally to tend to our deepest needs. But regardless of whether we were raised in a nurturing family or not, many of us need encouragement and permission to tend to our original relinquishment wound and the loss it represented. It was always there, though buried deep within and often invisible to others, and sadly, even to some of us. This hidden wound needed to be recognized and validated. A safe place and safe people were needed to assist us in the process of grieving our early losses in order that healing could begin. For some of us that never happened.

But praise be to God our heavenly Father who truly understands the needs of His adopted children. He who has been with us from the beginning, from the womb and every step along the way. He embraces us as we grieve our original relinquishment and He reparents us and helps us heal from the emotional wounds that harbor our growth and ability to be fruitful. We draw "new life" and nourishment from being rooted and grounded in Him.

May we allow our God, the Master Gardener to touch us and shape us with his gardening tools so that we may become the beautiful tree He created us to be. Our original grafting scar will barely be visible in the shade of our strong healthy branches. Then we"will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor." Isaiah 61:3 NIV

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for loving me and allowing adoption to touch my life. I praise you for giving me the gift of life through my birth parents and providing a family through my adoptive parents. Though relinquishment may have left its mark of pain and loss on my heart, I know you long for my wholeness. Touch my life with your gardening tools that I might experience your healing grace and become stronger and fruitful for you. Through your grafting I pray that my branches might reach out in praise and give glory and honor to your holy name, Amen.

Copyright, Jody Moreen 2014. Permission is needed to reprint or repost this devotion in any printed media in print or online. 

Contact Jody at:  jodymoreen( the @ sign ) gmail.com

Share God's Fingerprints In Your Adoption, Adoptee Journey

TESTIMONY TUESDAYS:

It gives me great joy to hear others who embrace the Christian faith share their adoption testimonies. I am Jody, a reunited adoptee for close to 20 years with birth sisters. I have facilitated adoption triad support groups in the Midwest- ( IL and IN ) for 18 years. I was fortunate to be raised in a loving adoptive home and my adoptive mom became a Christian when I was 10 years old. She has been a beautiful mentor and encouraged me by her example of love, prayers and her servants heart for others. She is now almost 92 years old and I have had the privilege to move with my husband and son to her town in FL this past year. God’s Word has encouraged and sustained me through the questions, doubts and forging my dual identity as an adopted person with adoptive and birth families. There have been difficult emotional times- especially in times of great change, geographical moves and parenting my children, but God has been faithful and blessed me even through those rough passages. A beautiful verse of scripture that God gave to me in a quiet time decades ago was from the book of John in the Bible. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Navigating and finding my birth and adoption story, meeting birth family and gathering the missing pieces of my adopted life have filled in the blank chapters of my earliest days and heritage. And that experience has only strengthened my identity in God, the Lord Jesus Christ. God is my First Father and the only one who has been with me in my conception, my secret life in the womb, at the day of my birth, through my relinquishment to foster care and adoption, and been the sole person with me each and every day of my adoption journey. And His promises assure me that I will live forever with him in eternity- what a loving and faithful Father, Shepherd and Savior! I praise Him for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Praise His Name! Please share your experience, God’s Fingerprints in your journey or a favorite scripture that has resonated with you in your life as one touched by adoption. Blessings and hope to hear from some of you! Jody

Adoptee's Prayer for the Lifelong Journey

Heavenly Father,

As a new day is dawning I ask that you would go before me and light the pathway I should follow. As I have traveled this lifelong adoptee journey my well worn shoes have climbed many hills and valleys along the way. Navigating the roads of my birth and adoptive heritage has been exhilarating and confusing at the same time. I've encountered winding pathways, scenic side roads, lonesome highways, unexpected detours and even road blocks. With each step I have taken you have been with me even though I was not always fully aware of you. Your illuminating presence has lighted the road before me. Your shepherd's staff has guided me to safety and even terrain. Your strong arms have protected and sheltered me in every storm. Your quiet voice has calmed my heart, quieted my fears and dried my tears. At so many crossroads you have lovingly provided kindred spirits, fellow travelers to encourage me, to laugh and cry with me, and to cover me in prayer. As I have strived to merge the roads of my dual heritage you have reminded me that you alone have been my first Father, my perfect parent who has been with me everyday from the very beginning. You have lovingly watched over me from my conception, in the womb, at my birth, at my relinquishment, at my adoption and each and everyday forevermore. I praise you Father for your faithfulness and compassion to me on my daily journey. As I travel onward on this path lead and guide me until my identity finds complete peace and a resting place in you. Then my heart will overflow with gratitude and praise as I stand in awe and comprehend your amazing love. May I then rejoice and forever live to reflect your image and likeness and grace more and more each day. In your precious name I pray, Amen. 


( Copyright 2013 Jody Moreen- This prayer may not be copied or reprinted or used in any media form without permission of the author. Contact jodymoreen at gmail.com )