Raising Grace

Simon was adopted at 5 weeks old and told so young he didn't ever remember not knowing. All went well until he found out that his teddy bear was a gift from his birth mother when he was 40. That unleashed an eruption of anger, feeling rejected and unloved. That led to a quest to heal, healing and a desire to help others. 15 years later he works with others who want to support adoptees through my p...

My sons bike go stolen last week and I've been processing a lot of feelings as well as figuring out how to help him through his own feelings. I hate feelings. Feelings are something I've tried avoiding most of my life - but avoiding feelings has left me in many many therapy sessions. So how can I help my kids confront their feelings - especially those of anger and loss? This may be a dumb old bike...

Brenda Herbrand is a dear friend, teacher, and dedicated and very intentional single mother through domestic infant adoption. Brenda talks about what it took for her to adopt as a single woman and the difficulties she faced during the adoption process. She talks about her deep love for her childs birth mother. She has built a community around her to support everything she needs to be the best moth...

Why is it so hard to make friends as adults? Why do I even need friends as an adult? This episode is about how I have connected with people in every avenue of life. We don’t have to go through life alone. While it is so easy to check out of personal relationships these days by just logging on to the computer, we have got to be strong enough to take a look outside our screens and see the human bein...

Beth Schaffer, a friend, a teacher, singer, dancer, single mother and birth mother.  Beth has a lot to share about living as a single mother to her 11 year old daughter as well as her experience as a biological mother to a child she placed for adoption over 25 years ago.  You can find more information including the show notes at my website www.sheilakchester.com Please follow me on social media. F...

What is Grace? Is it a religious term? And why are we raising grace? What does any of this mean? Here I give you a bit of back story - what my current life looks like and why I think we need to work together as parents to raise our kids with grace and give ourselves a little grace. My less serious introduction to this podcast and to who I am. It's funny, it's serious, its short.  I think I say the...

Sheila Chester is a mother of three children. Two of which came through adoption and one through IVF - fertility treatments. Her 11 year struggle to build her dream of becoming a mother is what is driving her to learn more about other parents. What makes us parents so unique? It seems like we are doing this job of raising kids alone, but there are many who experience similar struggles and joys. Le...