Author Archives: Danelle Henden & Stephanie Lundeen

For many years, my favorite book was Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, and its opening line–though now cliche–definitely describes our summer: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. We kicked off the summer with a three-generation family trip to France, where my dad performed with the Choral ArtsContinue reading “Back to school so soon?”

Written by Stephanie. I know I’m a couple weeks late with this, but I wanted to share the really sweet cards we received for Mother’s Day. This isn’t a holiday that we usually spend together, and we were right in the middle of celebrating two birthdays (May is a big birthday month around here). SoContinue reading “An amazing Mother’s Day”

Written by Stephanie. Danelle wasn’t the first person to say something about it–I honestly can’t remember who was. But “you and Ron need to get better at communicating” has been a fairly consistent observation (or criticism, ahem) over the past two decades, uttered by friends and family alike. Fortunately, Danelle is both keenly observant andContinue reading “Communicating”

Written by Danelle. In the words of the great Langston Hughes, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” I’ve always been a spiritual person. However, I thought God forgot about me at times. Being able to go see the twins every week or so was the thing I always thought of when I wasContinue reading “When Change Feels Like God Forgot You”

Written by Stephanie Dawn hates change. This has been a feature of her personality from the time she was little. Like on her 6th birthday, when she had a complete meltdown beecause we got her a bunkbed. It was all well and good–we had achieved buy-in, you might say–until we pulled her and Dani’s bedsContinue reading “And also resisting change”

Written by Stephanie Lundeen I want to kick off this new year by thanking you, our readers. I’ve heard from several of you in the past few weeks, and your encouragement and appreciation rekindled the flame that had nearly burned out. Something about 2021 was deeply exhausting, taking its toll in unexpected ways. Enter thatContinue reading “Adapting to change”

Mama’s baby, Daddy’s maybe — I grew up hearing this before I really knew where babies came from. It took me a long time to even try to write this post. I don’t really want to explore the circumstances of my pregnancy. It is one of the aspects of my adoption I still have someContinue reading “Mama’s baby, Daddy’s maybe”

By Stephanie. Yes, it’s been a while. Like, a long while. Partially, I’ve been so ridiculously busy that even showering has been a rare treat (which I’m only admitting because our relationship is entirely virtual). Also, wading into another weighty topic has required more strength than I’ve been able to muster: as I kept turningContinue reading ““We don’t have birthfathers.””

Written by Danelle Henden. Depression has been something I’ve struggled with since I was 5 years old. I don’t truly know if it was a chemical imbalance or the emotional and sexual trauma that I experienced from that age to my teen years. It can be hard to sit and write about things so hardContinue reading “Not Your Average Mother’s Day Poems”

In some ways, the year 2020 has been a long tutorial in grief, and that has helped me process so much of what I experienced during the adoption process. I now realize that, weird as it sounds, I grieved the loss of being pregnant. When Dawn was a baby, a friend joked that I’d gottenContinue reading “That uncomfortable feeling has a name”