🎉 BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION × ADOPTION AWARENESS MONTH

"I Spent 52 Years Trying to Be Adoptable. This Year, I'm Choosing Myself."

Hi, I'm Anna Jinja. I was adopted as an infant and grew up in the Heartland—I grew up feeling that "good enough" meant being grateful, likeable, and always hiding the parts of yourself that might make people leave.

Here's the thing: I was never quiet. I couldn't be even if I tried, lol! 

But for five decades, I carried an invisible weight: Am I adoptable? What if they see the real me? What if I'm too much—or not enough?

I performed. I people-pleased. I tried to tuck away every "unlikeable" characteristic, terrified that if anyone saw the full picture, they'd reject me. Again.

This November, as I turn 53, I'm done hiding. I'm done curating myself for approval. I'm choosing myself—and I want you to do the same!

Whether you're adopted, an adoptive parent, or someone who's ever felt like you had to hide who you really are to be loved, this month is for us.

🎁 My Birthday Gift to You: Permission to Stop Hiding

For the entire month of November, my gift to you is the Adopting Grace Book Club Kit—completely free.

I wrote Adopting Grace because I couldn't find my story anywhere else. Now I'm handing you the tools to find your story. 

100% FREE | November Only | No Strings Attached

The Truth About Turning 53 (That No One Tells You)

Here's what I'm learning: Worthiness isn't something you achieve. It's something you choose.

For years, I thought if I was likeable enough, helpful enough, perfect enough—I'd finally feel secure. I believed that being adopted meant I had to earn my place every single day. That if I slipped up, if I showed the parts of me that weren't easy or convenient, I'd be rejected all over again.

So I hid. I performed. I made myself smaller in all the ways that mattered, even while being loud in all the ways that didn't.

But the permission I was waiting for? The safety to be fully myself? It was never coming from anyone else.

This November—National Adoption Awareness Month—I'm not just celebrating another birthday. I'm celebrating the radical act of choosing myself. All of me. Even the "unlikeable" parts. And I'm inviting you to do the same.

Three Ways to Celebrate with Me (And Choose Yourself Too)

🎧 Listen to The Anna Jinja Show

Real conversations with adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive families who are done pretending everything is perfect. We talk about the messy, beautiful, complicated truth of adoption—the fear of rejection, the weight of gratitude, the exhaustion of performing.

What makes it different? I ask the questions I needed someone to ask me 30 years ago. And I answer them honestly—even when it's uncomfortable.

📖 Read Adopting Grace

Grace is 39, Korean-American, juggling two daughters, a small business, and a nightmare bridal client. Oh, and her husband just had an affair with his high school sweetheart.

Her therapist thinks it's about her adoption—being taken from South Korea as an infant and raised by a Norwegian family in Iowa. Grace thinks her therapist is reaching. After all, isn't she just stressed like any other working mom?

But as Grace's carefully constructed life unravels, she's forced to confront the question she's been avoiding her whole life: What does it really mean to belong to a family?

This is the novel I wish I'd had growing up—a story that doesn't tie adoption up in a neat bow. It's messy. It's complicated. And it's painfully, beautifully real.

Reader testimonial: "Finally, a book that doesn't make adoption feel like a fairy tale. This felt like coming home."

💬 Start the Conversation (With the Free Book Club Kit)

Use my gift to bring your book club, family, or community together. These discussion questions don't just analyze a novel—they open doors to healing, understanding, and truth-telling about what it really means to feel "adoptable."

Why This November Is Different

Every November, we talk about adoption awareness. But here's what I want to make people aware of:

Adoption isn't just a happy ending. It's a lifelong journey of identity, belonging, and learning that you don't have to hide to be loved.

And for those of us who were adopted? We're often told to be grateful, to not complicate things, to be easy. We spend our lives trying to be adoptable—hiding our rough edges, our difficult feelings, our authentic selves—because somewhere deep down, we're terrified of being left again.

But at 53, I'm here to say: You don't have to hide to be worthy of love. You deserve love—all of you—simply because you exist.

This November, I'm not asking you to be aware of adoption. I'm asking you to be aware of your own worthiness—even the parts you've been taught to hide.

And if my story—my show, my book, my birthday gift—can help you find yours? Then this is the best birthday I could ask for.

Your Next Step (Choose One—Or All Three)

 Download the FREE Book Club Kit and start a conversation that matters
Subscribe to The Anna Jinja Show and hear stories that sound like yours
Read Adopting Grace and see yourself in the pages

Most importantly: Stop hiding. Stop performing. Start choosing yourself.

Because you deserve to be here—exactly as you are. Full stop.

P.S. If you've ever felt like you had to hide the "real you" to keep people from leaving—whether through adoption or any other reason—this month is for you. Let's stop hiding together. Let's choose ourselves together. Let's build a community where worthiness isn't earned through performance, it's inherent in who we are.

Happy November. Happy Birthday to me. And happy choosing yourself to you.