Waiting For The Call: From Preacher's Daughter To Lesbian Mom From Preacher's Daughter To Lesbian Mom

"Well-written, absorbing, and a great pleasure to read . . . will appeal to Christians struggling to square their traditional beliefs with acceptance of homosexuality as well as to all those interested in adoption, lesbian marriage, and the changing shape of America's families." —Elizabeth C. Fine, Virginia Tech University Waiting for the Call takes readers from the foothills of the Appalachians—where Jacqueline Taylor was brought up in a strict evangelical household—to contemporary Chicago, where she and her lesbian partner are raising a family. In a voice by turns comic and loving, Taylor recounts the amazing journey that took her in profoundly different directions from those she or her parents could have ever envisioned. Taylor's father was a Southern Baptist preacher, and she struggled to deal with his strictures as well as her mother's manic-depressive episodes. After leaving for college, Taylor finds herself questioning her faith and identity, questions that continue to mount when—after two divorces, a doctoral degree, and her first kiss with a woman—she discovers her own lesbianism and begins a most untraditional family that grows to include two adopted children from Peru. Even as she celebrates and cherishes this new family, Taylor insists on the possibility of maintaining a loving connection to her religious roots. While she and her partner search for the best way to explain adoption to their children and answer the inevitable question, "Which one is your mom?" they also seek out a church that will unite their love of family and their faith. Told in the great storytelling tradition of the American South, full of deep feeling and wry humor, Waiting for the Call engagingly demonstrates how one woman bridged the gulf between faith and sexual identity without abandoning her principles. Growing Up, Jacqueline Taylor Was The Ideal Preacher's Daughter. In The Conservative Communities Of Pennsylvania And Kentucky Where She Lived, Taylor Never Questioned The Solid Pillars Of The Faith That Informed Her And Her Family's Entire Life. As She Matures, However, Taylor's Independent Spirit And Restless Intellect Begin To Unravel The Rigid Fabric Of Belief That Enfolds Her World. Hoping To Escape The Watchful Eyes Of Her Parents And Her Church, Taylor Leaves For College And Almost Immediately Marries. After That Relationship Fails - Much To Her Parents' Disappointment - She Finds Herself Married Again. Her World Is Further Shaken When Her Mother (normally A Typically Proper And Straight-laced Baptist Preacher's Wife) Experiences A Wildly Manic Episode That Shocks The Church Community And The Family's Very Foundations. Despite The Widening Gap Between Taylor And Her Parents, She Takes On The Role Of Caregiver To Her Mother. When Taylor Finally Realizes She Is Lesbian, She Breaks With Every Tradition She Has Ever Known And Embarks On A New Life, Finding Love With Another Woman And Eventually Adopting Two Peruvian Infants, Grace And Lucy. Through These Experiences Taylor Discovers Not Only A Way To Love And Be In The World That Allows Her At Last To Hear Her Call, But An Unexpected And Deeply Meaningful Path To Renewed Communication And Reconnection To Her Parents And Community. -- Publisher Description. Prologue: Tongues Of Fire -- The Call -- Mother's Daughter -- Cutting Loose -- Six-track Mind -- Why Don't You Just Meditate On Jesus? -- What'll I Do With All My Dreams Of You? -- Crashing Out -- Hand To Hand -- Marriage Of Addresses -- Expecting -- Are You Listening, God? -- Baby Can't Remember How To Sleep -- Some Glad Morning -- Destiny -- Which One Is Your Mom? -- We Went To Church On A Saturday -- Broken -- Sailing Through The Sky -- Afterword: The Voice In The Night. Jacqueline Taylor.