Six years ago Joanna gave up her baby for adoption. Now it's Christmas 1975 and she longs to celebrate with her rural Kansas Mennonite family, but the relationships are tense as they struggle to understand:

• why, after having a baby out of wedlock, do you keep taking up with new men like you’re sampling chocolates?

• what will your worldly lifestyle cause people to think about our family?

• when are you going to have a personal relationship with Jesus?

Running from her shame and grief, Joanna launches a road trip to Mexico with her boyfriend and her dog. The dog is run over by a truck, her boyfriend leaves to go back to school, the van breaks down, and she disappears into the social chaos of Guatemala City after a 7.3 earthquake, taking up a temporary role as La Maestra with a street gang, embracing a dark and all-absorbing way of life.

A journal of her journey to wholeness, BIRTH MOTHER includes drawings and Mennonite and Guatemalan recipes. The book includes descriptions of the closed adoption process in Kansas in 1969, and Joanna’s experiences at the Salvation Army Home for Unwed Mothers in Wichita, Kansas.