You’re Forgiven and Loved

Holt adoptee Max Douglas, 21, shares a poem he wrote about — and for – his birth mother, who he has never met but hopes to some day when he returns to Thailand. “I have a really good connection with how it feels to be adopted,” Max says. “Originally, I was just going to make a regular poem. As you can see, I repeated a sentence throughout the whole poem. This sentence was not put in the same place every time — it’s to help bring emotion to the poem. This is based off the song ‘Everything to Me’ by Mark Schultz. In the song, he conveys intense emotions about how his birth mother gave everything to him.”

Born in Bangkok, Thailand
September 5th of ’94
Time difference is tough
on the unsuspecting
Never met birth mother
Put me up for adoption
New family from start
You’re forgiven and loved.

Left hospital as a foster child
In a shoulder pack going home
Going through the market
You’re forgiven and loved
The noise like all
Hell broke loose.

On 2nd floor in a house
Five days old
Possible families
You’re forgiven and loved
Came to see if I was
A good fit for them.

Ten months old
Like any other day
Put in a taxi as usual
Went to the same hotel
You’re forgiven and loved
This time I saw a piece
Of Heaven.

The second that you saw me
Thinking
Bright-eyed, Curious, Energetic, and a really smart 10-month-old
You’re forgiven and loved
Family I’m going home with
Left Thailand
15 months old.

17 years old
Have my food handler’s card
For Multnomah County
Have a dog
Name is Donut
3 cats
You’re forgiven and loved
Oldest is Bing Mew
Than Elvis
Than Mittens (Mitto)
Live in Gresham, Oregon
The dog loves to follow
Me around.

18 years old
Got my driver’s license for the
state of Oregon
You’re forgiven and loved
2 weeks later got into
a single car accident
with a traffic pole,
no injuries
to speak of.

19 years old
Got my 4 wisdom
teeth pulled,
not much pain
in the days to come
You’re forgiven and loved
same day
got 2 Orange tabby
kittens, original names
long forgotten,
Scotty and
Darcy are
their names now.

Present Time,
gonna be 21
in under a month,
you’re forgiven and loved
hoping to enroll at the
Oregon Culinary Institute.

Dear birth mother
Thank you
Made the right choice
Have a good life, worship a great God
Really strong Christian
Go to Pathfinders
Enrolled in an awesome high school
Hope to see and talk to you
When I go back
I love you even though we have
Never met each other
Hope to see you in
Heaven
You’re forgiven and loved.

Max Douglas | Gresham, Oregon