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, we are unpacking a movement that is shaking up our nation: the deconstruction of faith. As foster or adoptive parents, we may have kids walking in our door who have never heard the true Gospel or have negative preconceived ideas of what Christianity looks like... And no matter if our kids are biological, adopted, fostered, all of them are bei...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, me and my special guest  Darby Strickland are navigating how to talk to your child about trauma. Darby is a counselor, speaker and author with a specialization in trauma and domestic violence. One of her recent books is called " Is It Abuse? A Biblical Guide to Identifying Domestic Abuse and Helping Victims ." Together, we talk about...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, me and my special guest  Nick Connolly encourage you not to give up just yet! Nick is the founding and lead pastor of Bright City Church, and he is the author of a book titled "Don't Give Up Just Yet" which sparks today's conversation. It feels like these days we're all struggling so hard to get through life. Add the calli...

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. In this episode, me and my special guest Cynthia Yanof are helping you unpack what it means to say "yes" to that God-sized calling. Cynthia is an author, podcaster, busy adoptive mom who raised kids in foster care after having her own kids and being a lawyer. Her new book is called, "Life is Messy, God is Good." Foster care changes you. It is...

Welcome to this fourth part in our mindful parenting series with our amazing guest:  Kelly Hamilton . Kelly  is the Founder and Executive Director of “The Connected Life.” She helps people build healthy connections to God, themselves, and others. She is a speaker, trauma-informed life coach, and podcaster. She and her husband serve foster and adoptive families in their home in Kentucky.  You can f...

In this second part of our conversation, Kelly Hamilton and I tackle the attachment styles. Being aware and mindful of our own attachment styles and the styles of our children make a big impact on that growing connection with our child, whether they're biological or adopted. Developing your relationship with your child is a lifelong commitment and there is so much hope for reconciliation and h...

In this second part of our conversation,   Kelly Hamilton and I are tackling the attachment styles. Being aware and mindful of our own attachment styles and the styles of our children make a big impact on that growing connection with our child, whether they're biological or adopted. Developing your relationship with your child is a lifelong commitment and there is so much hope for reconciliati...

Welcome to the second season of Called to Love, Episode One! I am kicking off this new year and new season with an amazing four-part series with a very special guest: Kelly Hamilton . Kelly is the Founder and Executive Director of "The Connected Life." She helps people build healthy connections to God, themselves, and others. She is a speaker, trauma-informed life coach, and podcaster. She...

This episode features a special guest: Nikki Hertzler .  Nikki is a teacher, foster mom, and author of the book "Help! I'm a Foster Parent!" Nikki and her husband decided to accept the call to foster after becoming empty nesters, and it has been a long, hard and beautiful journey to pour into these kids and lift them up to become healthy adults. Nikki and I talk about the reality of fo...

This episode features a special guest:  Tori Hope Petersen . Tori is the best selling author of "Fostered" and is a sought after public speaker and advocate for those whose stories need to be told, such as the survivors from human trafficking, kids in foster care, and others abused and needing hope. Tori shares her foster story with me, how she was removed from her mother not just once but...

This episode features a special guest: Laura Kuehn . Laura is founder and owner of Cornerstones for Parents, where she combines God’s word, writing, and supporting parents. She is a licensed therapist and author of  More Than a Conqueror: A Christian Kid’s Guide to Winning the War on Worry . Together, Laura and I discuss trauma behaviors and responses in children, the relationships between the bod...

Navigating the holidays can be overwhelming for foster and adoptive families. As parents we can feel pressure to curate magical experiences for our kids but those may not always be best. Depending on your child, many common expectations and events may be difficult for your family to take part in due to overstimulation and social anxiety. In today's episode I discuss how to navigate the holiday...

Welcome back to Called to Love! Closing out our highlight of Adoption Awareness for the month of November - let’s talk about 5 practical ways you can support those who are called to love in the areas of foster care and adoption. Whether you are waiting for your child or first foster placement or in over your head and have no idea how to answer when someone offers help - today’s episode is for you!...

Welcome back to Called to Love! Today we will conclude with part 2 of my conversation with adult adoptee, author, speaker and Women's Ministry Specialist, Andrea Lennon. I pray you have been encouraged and learned much through her perspective and experience. If you have questions or specific topics you'd like to hear covered on this show, SEND ME AN EMAIL - I'd love to hear from you! T...

Welcome back to Called to Love! Adoptive parents, through no fault of their own, only have one side of the story and experience. Oftentimes it can be difficult to understand the struggles our adopted children experience. Today we have the honor of hearing from Andrea Lennon. Andrea is an adult adoptee and as she will share in today’s conversation, her journey has not always been easy, but God has...

November is Adoption Awareness month and to celebrate and bring awareness, I am welcoming my husband Corey to the show to have a candid conversation about our 10 year adoption journey. We hold nothing back as we share honest and raw stories from the many experiences both beautiful and hard and offer insight into how God’s calling doesn't always turn out as we planned but it is always as He ord...

Welcome back friends - today I am talking about Parenting Your Foster and Adoptive Kids with Confidence Have you ever struggled with the feeling of not being qualified to parent your adopted or foster child?  Do you struggle with the fears that you are irrevocably messing up your child because there were and are things you simply didn’t know…until you learned them - sometimes through messy trial a...

On the last episode we talked about the reality of spiritual warfare as foster and adoptive parents. The reality is, when you said yes to this calling a war cry was issued against you by the enemy because you stepped into something he delighted to destroy - to take part in the ministry of reconciliation. Oftentimes the attack is aimed at your marriage because the enemy knows a husband and wife uni...

What do you think of when you hear the term spiritual warfare? When you said “yes” to foster care or adoption you agreed to step into something the enemy of our souls delighted to break and when you did,  the enemy said “this means war”  Where there is declaration of war, especially when it comes to our families, we have no choice but to stand up, armor up and fight - but how?  In today’s episode...

Did you feel like an expert when God called you to adopt or foster? I sure didn't. While we learn along the way, it's always helpful to have an experienced and expert voice to speak into tough topics like trauma, child development and mental health. In this episode I sat down with author and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Travis Thompson. Travis brings clinical expertise to today&...

Welcome back to Called to Love - today we are finishing out our intro series: Reframing Your Mindset as A Christian Adoptive Parent and I pray you have been encouraged so far -  As we consider everything we have discussed so far in this series, notice the action words…reflect, remember, establish, surrender. Saying yes to adoption or foster care requires intentional and ongoing action and for our...

Welcome back friends! Today on the podcast we are continuing on with Reframing Your Mindset as a Christian Adoption parent... Today’s topic is surrendering your fears - this is such a big one because, no matter where you are in your journey - there is always something you can choose to be fearful about. And usually our fears are expressed through the questions we ask. Adoption comes with countless...

Today on the podcast we are continuing on with Reframing Your Mindset as a Christian Adoption parent... Today’s topic is Establish Your Expectations. It is so easy to begin to craft our expectations for who our adopted child will be, how fast the process of completion will be and what family life will look like when your child comes home.  Without realizing it, many of the struggles adoptive paren...

Today’s topic is Remember Your Why. And this is an important one because, it can be really easy to get caught up in the emotions, the excitement and the overall Hallmark idea of it. But the truth behind adoption is there is loss, grief and sometimes trauma and we as parents need to balance our perspective between the beauty and the loss to help us discern how to best love and guide our children. T...

I am so excited the time has finally come and grateful to be with you as we kick off this brand new podcast highlighting what it means to be called to love as adoptive and foster parents and right from the beginning I want to establish the framework and the mindset through which we will discuss every topic….and trust me, we are going to dive into many different topics during our time together from...