A Tribute to Mothers

They are women who have known conflict as well as the comfort of a voice calling them "Mom."

They are the ones who have known heartbreak and hardship but who have also persevered.

They are women with uplifting stories of courage.

They are your sisters and neighbors.

They are women for whom Mother's Day is a true celebration.

inCalifornia Want to adopt? Pregnant? click here

They are moms, and today we honor them with five mothers' stories.

Amy Bruhl was standing in line at Jamba Juice at 8 on a Saturday morning in January, buying smoothies before her daughter's soccer game, when her cell phone rang.

Norsala Schlaht, a 31-year-old woman from Kansas was calling. The name meant nothing to Bruhl. But the next sentence stuck in her head:

"I think I'm your birth sister," the voice on the other end said.

Bruhl's knees buckled. Her husband hoisted her up. The rest of the day was a buzz.

Amy Bruhl, born on Valentine's Day of 1964 in San Francisco and given up for adoption by an unprepared 19-year-old mom, had been found.

Dyann Hill had been keeping her a secret for nearly 38 years. That lonely teenager had gone on to marry Bruhl's birth father and have three more children. She just never told the other children about the one she gave up - until one of her daughters decided to adopt a baby herself.

"I saw the other side of adoption, that it wasn't a deep, dark secret," said Hill, who confessed to her kids and began the search for Bruhl. "It was a happy event. It was a good event. I was ready for that empty spot to be filled, or to honor that empty spot."

Bruhl thought of herself as whole already. She'd had a loving adoptive family growing up in northern California. Her adoptive mother died when she was 17. Bruhl married her college sweetheart and ended up in Hawai'i. She had four children herself, but her first daughter died of a rare disease. She knew what an empty space felt like.

It took Bruhl's birth sister six weeks to find her through records and the Internet. At first, Bruhl felt that her privacy had been invaded that Saturday morning in the smoothie shop. Eventually, however, after she met members of her birth family, she felt connections she couldn't ignore.

She saw herself in their mannerisms. She learned she had named her daughter who had died the same middle name as her birth mother, who lives in Ottawa, Kan. And her birth mother, who coincidentally raised her other children on Kaua'i and still considers that island her home, returned to Hawai'i last week and invited Bruhl to call her "mom."

The two are thinking about writing a book about their experience and say they want others to see the positive side of adoption. They invite readers to e-mail them at kailuabruhls@hawaii.rr.com or dyvitsol@yahoo.com.

"I would like any birth mother in my position not to be afraid to look for their child," said Hill, who for years didn't think she had that right.

Now she can't imagine what her life would be like without knowing Bruhl.