Before You Were Mine: Discovering Your Adopted Child's Lifestory

by Susan TeBos, Carissa Woodwyk, Sherrie Eldridge (Foreword by)

Overview

Written by an adoptive mother and an adoptee daughter, Before You Were Mine offers a unique Christian perspective on creating a Lifebook that commemorates your child’s birth story. Complete with worksheets and advice from adoptive families, you’ll find that remembering and celebrating your child’s history can be fun, rewarding, and even redemptive.You’ll discover how to ucover and organize details of their birth story, make the story both truthful and positive, and use the Lifebook to trace God’s faithfulness.This powerful concept takes the guesswork out of how and when you’ll talk about your adopted child’s beginnings—and offers him or her a lasting memento that helps them overcome uncertainty and fear to rest in Christ’s unconditional love.How will you embrace your child’s birth story as part of God’s plan?Before You Were Mine will help you relax and rejoice in the beautiful story God is writing for your child.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310416494
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	10/25/2011
Sold by:	Zondervan Publishing
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Susan TeBos (M.A., Western Michigan University) is the mother of three adopted children from Siberia. She has led many workshops for adoptive organizations and for adoptive ministries in churches. She and her husband, Michael, and their children live in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Carissa Woodwyk is a Korean adoptee. She holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology and is a licensed counselor and marriage and family therapist. She enjoys speaking on relationships, marriage, personal growth, identity, and adoption. She and her husband have two children and live in Hudsonville, Michigan.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     x
Foreword     xi
Introduction     1
Overview     3
The Difference Adoptive Parents Need to Know     11
What a Lifebook Is and Is Not     13
Becoming the Storyteller     25
Avoiding Information Overload     39
A Lifebook and Prayer     51
Discovering My Child's Story     61
Where Do We Begin?     63
Imagine     73
Truth     97
Honor     115
Explore     133
Piecing It All Together     155
Visible Proof     157
Sample Pages     161
Afterword     169
Small Group Experience Information     171
Resources     172
Notes     173
Practice Writing     177
About the Authors     180