Called to Love: An Adoption Podcast for Christian Parents - Christian Adoption, Trauma and Healing, Foster Care, Parenting Adopted Children

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!  In this episode, I discuss what it means to trust God with what we cannot control when it comes to adoption and foster care. I am honest with you, sharing my personal journey through failed adoptions, especially my emotional struggles. I wrestled a lot but also learned about control, God's sovereignty, and the importance of relationship over results. Eve...

Welcome to the Called To Love Podcast.  In this powerful episode, I am fortunate enough to welcome back advocate, speaker, author, and foster mom Tori Hope Petersen. Drawing from her journey through foster homes, aging out of the system at 18, and overcoming labels like "self-sabotager," Tori shares how destructive patterns rooted in past trauma can be recognized and broken. This conversat...

Welcome to the Called To Love Podcast.  In this powerful and heartfelt episode, I get to dive into a topic of deep significance: the sanctity of life and the journey of redemption after abortion. I am joined by Robin Gerblick who is the founder of the Exodus Women’s Retreat, author of Giving Up Grace , and an adoptive mom.  Robin candidly shares her journey from a point of crisis, navigating feeli...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast.  In this powerful episode, I had the opportunity to sit down with Bradley Pierce, attorney and co-founder of Abolish Abortion Texas, to discuss the church’s role in addressing the issue of abortion. We explore the challenges faced by pro-life advocates, the importance of equal protection legislation, and how the body of Christ can truly step up to make a diff...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast.  In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Nicole Wilke, author and director at the Christian Alliance for Orphans Center on Applied Research for Vulnerable Children and Families. Nicole helps to explore the powerful intersection of scripture and science in building resilience in children and families. Her passion for helping vulnerable children and connecting rese...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. As 2024 comes to a close, Somer wants to highlight one of the best episodes from this year -- in case you missed it! Often people think infertility leads to adoption. It isn't always the case, but it can be for some. Joined with Somer on the podcast are authors  Jenn Hesse  and  Kelley Ramsey  who were connected from miles apart thanks to social media. Th...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. As 2024 comes to a close, Somer wants to share the best from this year. This episode is a 2024 highlight, to make sure you didn't miss it! The conversation is about how hard isn't the same as bad, and we all know how hard adoption and foster care is. Joined with Somer on this insightful conversation is the author "M is for Mama" Abbie Halberst...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. This is a special episode where Somer shares clips from the five most downloaded, most popular episodes from Called to Love thus far: Reframing Your Mindset As A Christian Adoptive Parent: Reflect on Your Calling Lessons Learned in Our Adoption Journey with Somer & Corey Everything You Need to Know from an Adoption Attorney (featuring Lucrece Bundy) Liste...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am focused on talking about our neurodivergent kiddos, whether they're our biological ones, adopted, or being fostered. "Neurodivergent" has been a popular term in the past few years but what does it mean? And how do we love our kids well when we struggle to understand them? I explore all of this and other ways to regulate the b...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am focused on talking about how to help our kids with holiday anxiety. Christmas is quickly approaching and maybe you've already experienced some the holiday stress with this past Thanksgiving. There is so much overstimulating our kids, from school activities, sugary sweets, family and friends gathering, and so much more... and with all...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. Christmas is quickly coming around the corner which is why I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk with Donna Amidon about the connection between Jesus and the Old Testament, how God is the same through all the ages and the promise of Jesus is woven throughout scripture. As foster and adoptive parents, the holidays can be challenging and one thing...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. This is such an important episode because there is such a stigma around adopting older children. Joined with me on this important conversation of breaking-down, understanding, and destigmatizing the need for older child adoption is an amazing expert from the field, Dr. Kimberly Offutt. Dr. Kimberly Offutt is an adopted mom herself who's first adopted chil...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am joined with Brandie Thomas who shares her incredible story about the unique relationship her family has with her adopted son's bio mother. Adoption is an inherently painful and beautiful process; beautiful in how we are able to give a child a loving home and painful in the separation of a child from their biological family. Brandie t...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am joined with two amazing guests who are on the other side of their adoption journeys: Jodi Jackson Tucker & Lisa Qualls. They each share their stories and how they ended up adopting and all the ups and downs along the way, and they emphasize the need for healing when it comes to this calling. No matter which way you look at it, adopti...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am joined with Rachel Wojo for this discussion on the desperate prayers we have as adoptive parents. Rachel's story is full of grief, trauma, love, loss, and Christ holding her together tenderly. In this conversation, Rachel shares her story and how we can pray when we don't even have the words... You can buy her book "Desperate...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am joined by Cynthia Baker. Cynthia is life-coach, speaker, and author, and sparks today's conversation on being a helipad parent as opposed to a helicopter parent. You're probably familiar with the term "helicopter parent." A parent that is always "hovering" over their child, anxiously trying to control everything a...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am joined by Brandon Stiver . Brandon has worn many hats but has one vocation: to see God’s Kingdom come to Earth through proclamation and demonstration. A respected leader in the field of global care for children, Brandon is a professor, a podcaster and has led in nonprofits based in the US and in Tanzania. A community builder at heart, he...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am joined by Sally Clarkson. Sally has written several books and her most recent release is titled, "Well Lived: Shaping a Legacy of Gratitude and Grace" which sparks today's conversation on how to live well as adoptive and foster parents. Let's be real... this calling is a hard one, there are tons of challenges, stressors,...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am joined by Billie Jauss who sparks today's conversation with the release of her new book: "Baseball Family: The 9 Core Qualities for Developing Healthy Relationships." Billie shares her story of raising her three boys in a busy season of being married to a professional baseball coach and on top of it all -- fostering! Billie h...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am joined by Courtney Seibring who sparks today's conversation with the release of her new book, "Every Body Wonderfully Made: God's Good Plan for Boys and Girls." Together, Courtney and I talk about how our adopted kids may recognize how different they look from the rest of the family and we need to remind them of how wonde...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am joined by Amanda Erickson. Amanda and her husband Dr. David Erickson are the founders of Flourishing Homes & Families. They equip and empower Christian parents to lead their families with grace and gentleness through parenting principles that are rooted in the teaching of Jesus and backed by modern neuroscience. Along the way, they h...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, I am sharing what I have learned and experienced with blocked care. Blocked care is a physical reaction our body undergoes when it is enduring too much stress. It's something God has designed in us as a self-protective measure. But when we are in the adoption and foster care journey, we are often over-taxed and stressed... so how do we co...

Jep and Jessica Robertson, most well-known for being part of the Duck Dynasty Robertson Family, have joined me on this episode to share their adoption journey. Like many beginnings to the adoption process, it was the wife's idea. Jessica wanted to adopt but Jep was hesitant, and Jessica thought it made sense. They already have four biological children, were super busy in the successful busines...

Joining me on this episode is author, podcaster, and foster-mom: Bethany Adkins. In this two-part series, Bethany shares part of her story with foster care and the heartache that comes with it... but also the incredible God-filled joy. They also discuss the need for not just people who "love you" but people who "get you" and what the difference is. They also the discuss the refinin...

Joining me on this episode is author, podcaster, and foster-mom: Bethany Adkins. In this two-part series, Bethany shares part of her story with fostercare and the heartache that comes with it... but also the incredible God-filled joy. They also discuss the need for not just people who "love you" but people who "get you" and what the difference is. They also the discuss the refining...