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    One Woman's Choice
    One Woman's Choice
    One Woman's Choice
    Ebook103 pages1 hour

    One Woman's Choice

    By Karen Whitaker

    ()

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    About this ebook

    One Woman's Choice depicts a heartfelt and emotional story about a young woman who faced difficult decisions: abortion, single parenting, and adoption. Lingering in sorrow and guilt can be destructive. Examining the past and reanalyzing life and previous choices can help one to cope with emotional pain. Karen Whitaker delves deep within her past and shares her own story to help other women overcome fear and helplessness. Facing the realities of abortion and adoption can empower women and establish a voice of strength that heals the heart and restores faith. One Woman's Choice is a story about faith and the undying will to persevere and survive, no matter the obstacle. This is not a debate over Pro-choice or Pro-life, but an inspiring example of how one woman overcame the odds.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateNov 13, 2012
    ISBN9781475952162
    One Woman's Choice
    Author

    Karen Whitaker

    Karen Whitaker always had the passion for philanthropy, and has volunteered for non-profits such as Family Gateway, Meals on Wheels, Challenge Air, Unity Church of Dallas, and her local school districts. She enjoys helping others and reading inspiring stories. She is a single mom to her teenage son. They currently live in north Texas.

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      Book preview

      One Woman's Choice - Karen Whitaker

      One Woman’s Choice

      A memoir

      Karen Whitaker

      iUniverse, Inc.

      Bloomington

      One Woman’s Choice

      Copyright © 2012 by Karen Whitaker.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

      iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      iUniverse

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.iuniverse.com

      1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4759-5215-5 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4759-5216-2 (ebk)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2012917894

      iUniverse rev. date: 11/09/2012

      Contents

      Foreword

      Acknowledgments

      Born of Choice

      Perception

      My First Choice

      A Child Is Born

      Single Parent

      The Gift

      Choice and Compromise

      God Shows the Way

      A Gift of Love

      Freedom of Choice

      This book is dedicated to Jaren and Noah. May you always find blessings in your trials and love in your triumphs.

      My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.

      —Proverbs 1:8

      Preface

      Life is about choices. Have you ever thought about how many times in your life you have had the opportunity to make a choice? How much thought do we really put into our decision making when we make a choice? Do we consider the outcome, the consequence? Often, our life can be incredibly altered by one choice. Many times life can begin or end with just one choice.

      Our choice is synonymous with our God-given will: it means that we have a say in what happens to our future and that we are capable of making decisions. However, God also gave us our conscience to guide us with our decisions so that we may consider the consequences of our choices. All choices have some kind of consequence. Some may refer to choices as mistakes. I don’t agree with this hypothesis. A mistake is an unintentional action or calculation. A mistake is something you can prove wrong with facts (i.e., to mistake someone’s name or age). A mistake is also something that can be erased or corrected. Choices have nothing to do with mistakes. A choice is the act or the power of choosing. Whether or not the consequence was satisfactory or what you anticipated, it still does not make it a mistake. And, most certainly, a child is never a mistake because God creates children, and God does not make mistakes.

      Here within is a story of pain, sorrow, and fears, and in between the pages you will also find faith, forgiveness, and love.

      Foreword

      We face choices almost every moment of every day. As women, it sometimes feels as though we encounter even more layers of nuance: social expectations, familial pressure, and self-judgment. All of which must be navigated, often without the resources or help that would make our path less treacherous. Yet, in her compelling story, Karen Whitaker brings us into her journey and we experience with her the triumph of remaining true to oneself, regardless of any outside influence.

      She meets friends along the way who, like anyone else, have their failings. She overcomes resistance within her family, retains her dignity with her children’s father, forms a relationship with the adopting family, and not only gains everyone else’s respect but captures her own. One Woman’s Choice is a story not only of survival, but thriving, as Karen shares her fears, tears, desires, and ultimately the deepening of her faith in God as her one true source of strength.

      I truly hope you feel inspired and encouraged by her words—I know I was!

      Love & Blessings,

      Rev. Karen Epps

      Unity Global Heart Ministry

      Acknowledgments

      Thank you, God, for your guidance. You are the one truth, all loving, all forgiving, and all accepting of the human spirit.

      To my family and friends for your love, friendship, and support.

      To Dr. Fran, my OB-GYN, for knowing when to be a doctor and when to be a friend.

      To Sissy, Patty, Chrissy, Sheila, and Karen, for sharing the births of my children. You all are an example of sisterhood.

      To Noah’s mom, dad, and older brother, for an open adoption, an open mind, and an open heart.

      To my sons, for your precious love. Life sure got more interesting and sweeter from the moment you both arrived.

      I appreciate you all dearly!

      Thank you, Esther!

      Born of Choice

      black.jpg

      And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me; to give every man according as his work shall be. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

      —Revelation 22:12-13

      L oretta, a single mother of two children, stood about five foot two and had a small waist, curvy hips, ginger hair, fair skin, and freckles, which came from her Irish father’s genes. She was outgoing, friendly, witty, and talkative. Loretta had good taste in men when it came to looks, and with her beauty and charm, she could easily capture a roaming heart. She married her first husband right out of high school; he was an Elvis kind of handsome and actually resembled the famous singer.

      At twenty-one years of age, separated from her husband, Loretta supported her family as a waitress in her uncle’s restaurant. Mario, who was a traveling stranger, stopped in to get a bite to eat. Mario, an Italian American, had a finely chiseled physique, coarse and wavy black hair, and dark olive skin. He was a hopeless romantic. He was divorced and living in his parents’ home in an Italian neighborhood in South Philadelphia along with his thirteen-year-old daughter, Diane, and his eleven-year-old son, Perry, both from his first marriage. Mario was an older man by twelve years, but he and Loretta seemed to have an immediate attraction to one another. Mario often dated younger women, but to be fair, the years had treated him well, and he looked ten to fifteen years younger than most men his age. Months later, they shared their passion and love for each other, and I was conceived out of wedlock the very first time my parents made love. Some might call that a mistake—I call that my destiny.

      As the weeks went by, Loretta discovered she was pregnant. This was the early 1960s, and it was not a fashionable time to be pregnant out of wedlock. Society was quick to place judgment and make unfavorable comments about the mother and the illegitimate child. Abortions were not legalized until 1973. Unless she wanted to try to get an illegal abortion, she basically had two choices: raise me with her two children, Keith and Colleen, or place me up for adoption. Loretta asked her mother for advice. Her mother told her, If you feel you cannot raise this child, then I will. I often wondered what my life would have been like if my grandmother had raised me, but she didn’t. My mother decided to keep me and raise me. My father chose the same.

      My parents, never marrying, lived together, sometimes in South Jersey and sometimes in South Philly. Diane and Perry primarily lived with our grandparents in Philadelphia, although they stayed for short periods of time with us in New Jersey. Mario and Loretta split when I was about two years old, and Loretta was on her own once again with three small children. Life then for Mommy must have had its challenges because women in the workplace during the 1960s were not well respected, and countless were not well

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