ABOVE: Kirstyn Wegner with the new book, So God Made a Mother, which features a personal essay written by her. The book will be available beginning April 18. Submitted photo.

WELLS– Kirstyn Wegner, a resident of Wells, was surprised to hear that out of hundreds of submissions, her personal essay will be featured in an upcoming book titled So God Made a Mother. In her essay, Wegner speaks about her experience as an adoptive mother.

Wegner grew up in the area and attended United South Central Schools. She attended a music school for awhile before deciding it wasn’t for her.

“I’ve always liked writing. I had looked at Iowa State… they have a really good journalism program there. I ended up transferring as a sophomore,” Wegner said.

She majored in English and after graduating, started working as an English teacher at Granada-Huntley-East Chain school. She worked there for seven years but left in 2014 because she lost her driver’s license due to being an epileptic. She stayed on as a long-term substitute for awhile but ultimately she couldn’t make the transportation work.

Now, Wegner continues to write, which is something she’s passionate about.

“When you teach, you don’t do much of it. It’s mostly reading. You’re reading other kids’ work,” Wegner explained.

She has her own blog, called The Frustrated Epileptic. Wegner said she intended to write all about her experience with epilepsy but now she said her voice has changed and she writes about other aspects of her life.

In addition to writing, Wegner is passionate about foster care.

“We found out we couldn’t have our own children and my husband thought foster care would be a good thing to try. We got our first placement actually a couple weeks after I left teaching and I don’t think we’ve been without a kid since that time in 2014,” said Wegner.

The couple typically fosters older children, ages 16 and up, and Wegner said they’ve seen four children go through graduation. However, Wegner said they took a placement for a seven-year-old girl and ended up adopting her.

“I saw her beautiful eyes and knew she needed a home,” Wegner said.

Despite adopting a child, Wegner and her husband continue to foster and currently have a 17-year-old who they will see through graduation.

Wegner has been able to bring together her two passions and write about her experience fostering and as an adoptive mother. She has submitted works to a blog called Her View From Home several times. The blog, which is owned by Leslie Means, is where Wegner found out about the call for personal essays to be featured in a book.

“Once you get accepted by the site, they keep you in the loop about things that are going on and they put out a call saying they’re planning a book. They asked for new essays not shared anywhere else,” Wegner said.

She was one of hundreds who submitted a personal essay and one of few who were selected. The entire book is about different aspects of motherhood.

Wegner’s piece is called Braiding My Own Umbilical Cord and details the process of earning the relationship with her adoptive daughter.

“Whenever you get a foster kid, they don’t want to be there. They want to go back to what they know and what’s familiar even if it’s dysfunctional. A lot of times they fight it and don’t want to be there,” Wegner said.

In her essay she talks about the process of enduring that time period and trusting that it will settle. She also shares about how in the end she and her daughter both chose each other.

Wegner said she believes the book will be relatable to a lot of people.

“If you can think of a topic on motherhood, I think it’s covered. There’s love, loss, grief, joy… it’s just all encompassing,” Wegner said.

The book officially comes out April 18 but it has already been named a best-seller and number one release on Amazon. The publisher has also already issued a second printing before the actual release date.

There is a launch party this weekend in Omaha, Nebraska, which is where Means lives. Wegner is attending it with her own mother and is looking forward to meeting with some of the other contributors to the book. She said the other writers are not just from all over the country, but all over the world.

She’s also excited to see and hear the feedback from those who read the book. It’s her first time having her work published in a book.

“It was an emotional piece to write for sure but it was also pretty exhilarating,” Wegner said.

So God Made a Mother will be available at bookstores, including Barnes and Noble, on April 18.