I'm skipping my regular scheduled book review to post this.

Last week Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman lost a daughter (Maria) in a home accident. I’ve never lost a child in such a way, but I can only imagine its must be a profound lost.

But that is not what I want to talk about. At the risk of sounding completely insensitive I’m going to approach a subject, that few even recognize.

Chapman’s daughter was adopted from China. She had another family, but I didn’t run across one story that even mentioned that lost. In other words, there is another mother and possible father, grieving a lost.

Very few Americans recognize this loss because we have never look at the bigger picture when it comes to international adoption. We see happy families and there is nothing wrong with that.

But what we don’t see is the grieving Chinese mother, wondering how her daughter is fairing in this world.

Now, before you say, “The Chinese mother as no right to mourn or be recognized she abandoned her daughter,” please take a second and consider the culture this mother lives in.

In China there is a one child policy and many poor families need a son to take care of them. A lot of time mothers, of no choice of their own, are forced to abandon their newborn girls. Ever wonder why so many of these little girls are found in places where someone is likely to find them quickly. Another thing is a lot of these little girls were never abandoned but where stolen and sold to orphanages. There are people making money off these little girls.

Back to Maria’s Chinese mother. I’ve decided to recognize her and the loss she felt in the hope of educating some of my fellow Americans.

Dear Marie’s original mother,

Last week, you suffered a loss that you may never know about and I’m so sorry for that. I will keep you in my prayers as you navigate gate through life without the child you labored to bring in this world. I know you have lost and suffered a pain, that is deep, and soul crushing and one that I have learned never goes away. But I can’t imagine what this new loss will be like.

Did a rush a pain wash over you as her soul left this earthly home? Did all your mother instincts kick in, making you want to find and protect your little bundle of pure beauty until you realized you wouldn’t be able to find her?

I bet you dream of her. Wondering, what she is up to. Does she have your mother’s eyes or your husband’s smile? I bet you hope she is getting a good education in America and that she will fall in love with a boy of her own choosing. I bet you pray that she never has to lose a little soul she has nourished with her own body that way you lost her.

Do you ever hear about the stories of children from Vietnam and China coming back to their native countries to try and find their original families? Does your heart spark with hope? Hoping that someday your child will come to find you. But she won’t. She is no more. I think the saddest thing is, if you do by some miracle find a way to search for her, you won’t find a smiling face with wide opened arms, you will find a grave and the pain you felt that day your baby was no longer in your arms will rush all over you again.

I’m sorry Maria’s original mother. I pray that God gives you peace, and the ability to make it through this world that doesn’t support the bond of a mother and child.

Readers as you pray for Chapman’s family loss, please also pray for the family in china. Or if you don't believe in pray as some of my friends do then please keep both families in mind.

Take care