This week I’m hosting Dana Corbit with Finally a Mother (2 copies US and Canada) and starting Friday through the weekend I will be part of the Spring Scavenger Hunt with many giveaways and a grand prize. If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on your post with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (April 6th) evening.

Interview with the heroine: Shannon Lyndon from Finally a Mother by Dana Corbit

1.     (Heroine’s name here), tell me the most interesting thing about you.

The most interesting thing about me is a secret I’ve kept close to my heart for nearly fifteen years. Okay, here goes. I have a son! Oh, it feels so good to finally be able to say it. I was just sixteen when he was born.. I wanted to keep him, but my parents wouldn’t hear of it. They forced me to place him for adoption, even sending me away to keep my pregnancy a secret. I wanted to do the right thing for my child, so I agreed to it. But not for one moment did I ever forget about him, or move past my guilt over his adoption. And never did I stop dreaming about the day when I would see him again.  

2.  What do you do for fun?

I don’t have a lot of time for fun outside of work, but I have a great time with the girls of Hope Haven, the Christian home for teen moms where I’m employed as a social worker/housemother. I love planning events such as our annual Thanksgiving Celebration to give the girls something to look forward to during the difficult months of their pregnancies.

3.  What do you put off doing because you dread it?

I hate to admit it, but I might be putting off searching for my son. Blake. At least that’s what his adoptive parents said they planned to name him. Not that now would be a good time to begin a search anyway. He’s not even fifteen yet. It will be another three years before he can receive answers from one of those adoptive parent/adoptee web sites where I plan to register. I can’t wait to meet him. I’ve pictured that special day hundreds of times. But maybe I’m dreading it a little, too. What if he doesn’t want to meet me?

4.  What are you afraid of most in life?

I’m afraid that after all of these years of waiting and hoping and praying for the chance to meet Blake that he will take one look at me and turn away. How will I survive if my own son rejects me?

5.  What do you want out of life?

I want to make up for some of my mistakes through my work at Hope Haven. I want to be the type of support system for “my girls” that I never had during my own pregnancy. I want to give them the facts that will allow them to make an educated decision on whether to keep their babies or place them for adoption. But more importantly, I want to ensure that each girl gets the chance to make her own decision herself instead of being pressured the way I was.  

6.   What is the most important thing to you?

Nothing is more important to me than my son. The pain of childbirth was nothing compared to the agony I felt when the nurse pulled him from my arms and carried him out of that birthing room and out of my life.  A hole remains in my heart, one that can only be filled with the return of my beautiful boy.  

7.  Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?

Sure, I read when I get the chance. Mostly the Bible and nonfiction books. No fairytale endings for me. Happily ever after and real life don’t play well together, at least in my experience, and I don’t need any reminders of just how wide the chasm is between truth and fiction.  

8.     If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I would be more trusting of others, particularly men. Just because one guy betrayed me doesn’t mean that there can’t be good men in the world. Why is it so hard for me to believe that people could do good things just because they’re the right things to do? Why can’t I have a more generous heart?

9.     Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?

Since my regular address these days is a group home that I share with as many as a dozen pregnant teens at any given time, I have neither the space nor the time to take on a pet as well. But if I did have pet, it would be a huge lap cat that didn’t mind my need for frequent cuddles.  

10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?

I would go back nearly fifteen years ago to March 7, the day that Blake was born. And I would shout loud enough for the nurses, social workers, my parents and everyone else on that maternity ward to hear that I had changed my mind and I was keeping my son.