Fostering Voices Podcast

This week's episode is not for little kids' ears! But it is one for husbands, wives, moms, dads, and teenagers. And is definitely a discussion topic for you and your pre-teens. It's a good reminder to also mention that this is not a topic solely for those in the foster/adoptive community. There are many children that come from hard places that have had egregious sins committed against them, but in...

This week's episode is a short one! We read somewhere that most people like to tune un for 20-30 minutes. So, we are giving it a shot! This can't be our norm, since we interview people, and we want to hear as much of their stories as possible. But when we can, we will try to keep the episodes between just Chris and I, less than 45 minutes? Ok? No promises though. We are Chatty Cathys. So the heart...

This week we have an amazing interview with Tia Thompson, an incredible woman, who has an incredible story. Or stories. There are so very many stories. But this week we are just focusing on a few of hers. But, before we jump into the interview, in the intro, we give one life hack, and that is to pursue your passions with all of your heart! Chris read "Crushing It" by Gary Vaynerchuck, and so he wa...

This week's episode deals with Life Hacks for your home, so that every person in your home can experience just a little more peace. Cause we all need more peace, right? Especially when you have 7 people living in that house.  So, Life Hack 1: Chores and Money. We recently read a blog article by our friend, Grant Botma, about what he does with his kids. He's a financial expert, so we knew it was go...

Today's episode features the voice of Donise, a 62 year old foster and adoptive mom. Her tale is a very unique, and absolutely amazing, with major hardships and tragedy mixed in for good measure. Donise has 5 grown daughters, and adopted 12 and 11 year olds, and 3 littles ages 2 and under. And they also happen to be medically fragile. This is why this episode is called 'Interview with Saint Donise...

In this week's episode, we talk about how the imprints of love that our parents and family that we grew up with, affect us in our adulthood. We talk about all of this through the lens of the book "How We Love" by Milan and Kay Yerkovich, which is EXCELLENT and we Highly recommend it. You can find it here . But if you aren't much of a book reader (and of course they have it on Audible.com, which is...

Episode 25 features an interview with Rilie Norton who is truly one of the sweetest and most gentle humans I have ever met! She is a bio mom to Ivy (9) and McCoy (3) and foster mom to two sweet kiddos (5 and 1). Rilie brings new elements to the podcast as she talks about her experience with ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act) kids, which is a first for us! Rilie shares that something she wishes she wa...

In our time as parents, we have 'raised' 0-4 year olds for the last 11 years. The full count would be 7 kids for 3 months or more. We've done the newborn thing six times, we've done the toddler thing five times, and we've also done the two toddlers who were 14 months apart or less - twice. Neither of those times were particularly pretty. But when we say we have some advice to give on surviving, An...

Catelin Dreibelbis is one of our favorite people. She is a determined, self-controlled, humble, and all around incredible human being. Her journey started when her mom dropped her off as a 2 year old, with her 3 siblings, to be babysat by her aunt and uncle. And her mom never came back. After that, it was a string of hardship, poverty, and moving around. But all of this happened while Catelin main...

Welcome to episode 22 which features an interview with 22 year old Parker Pearson. I couldn't have planned that out better if I had tried!!! Parker was born in South Korea, and has been with his adoptive family for 21.5 years. Check out this interview to see how Parker has managed to keep a positive outlook on life. In this episode, we discussed: Daycare costs. DCS does cover a lot of your daycare...

Welcome to Season 2 of the Fostering Voices Podcast! We had an amazing 5 weeks off (even though I foolishly thought we only needed 2 weeks off). We are back, totally refreshed and ready for a new season, new guests, new listeners, and new foster adoption topics! We are actually recording this episode in our car as we drive from California to Arizona. We went on a cruise with my work - Showit.co ....

Happy Father's Day weekend! And happy Episode 20! This episode is dedicated to Chris, the father of my children and the man of my dreams. You are such a great father, husband, and human, and I am very thankful for you! And to all the dads out there listening - thanks for all that you do, to raise this next generation to be full of awesome little humans. I believe the thing that sets great dads apa...

Today's episode is a special treat my friends! I am joined by Kim Vehon, a former foster mom, and current adoptive mom and bio mom to 7 kids. This woman is a serious piece of work who dreams big, but also is able to make those dreams into reality as well. She also happens to be the founder and CEO of Foster Arizona. Their mission statement is  educating, encouraging, and empowering Arizonans to ge...

Today's Show Notes are going to be very simple and straight forward. We answered the random question: "What was your favorite Saturday Morning Cartoon?" Jihae said "Bo Knows", which apparently was just a commercial. What she meant was "ProStars" with Bo Jackson, Wayne Gretzky, and Michael Jordan. Chris said Bugs Bunny, and Fraggle Rock, but his all time favorite show was "Saved By The Bell". And h...

This episode is choc full of talking. And laughing. And thinking. And movie talking. And being 48 minutes long, this is our longest episode to date, I believe. So today I will be with you as you finish any and every chore you possibly have to do! Our guest this week is Eric Epperson, who is a good friend and co-worker of our friends of our hearts - Mike and Cindy Branton. Eric is in the movie maki...

Today's episode is a different, and special one. You listeners are in for a treat - it's one where there is no Jihae. So that means no hyena, high pitched laughs. Life got in the way of the podcast, but fortunately, Chris is always up for a new challenge, so he took the reins as the host of this episode, and interviewed our good friend Marc Gagnon. Marc is a great friend of ours, and he is an awes...

It's Mother's Day weekend, so today's episode is devoted to our moms - Barb Osborne and Sylvia Ham! You can learn basic facts about them, as well as intricate details about their character, and how they have reacted to our being foster and adoptive parents. We are so very thankful for the incredible example that both of these women have set for us, as their kids; But also for their grandkids, and...

Episode 14 features Chris and our brand new foster babe! We became a family of 7 again this week, and on the episode we talk about what week 1 looks like if you are interested in fostering babies. Basically, you need to go to the doctor for a check up, get a newborn screen done during days 5-10, and hopefully head to your nearest WIC office so you can go get some formula. I was SO prepared for thi...

The foster adopt community is better because Nicole Marshall is in it. Today's episode features the magical Nicole, and her son Micah (for a total of about 2 seconds). Tune in to hear about Nicole's life as a wife, mom of 7 - 3 bio and 4 adopted, and founder of Advocacy 31nine. Some links for you: Connect with Nicole on Social Media! Facebook . Instagram . Find out more about Advocacy 31nine on th...

Some questions: I put out a question on my Instagram Stories asking what questions people had about foster care, or adoption, or about us, or our family. Here are the questions that I got: -"I have a question... how do you have such a big brain and such a hot bod at the same time? I always heard God blesses people with one or the other to keep the world balanced.. but dang girl, you smart AND fly....

Have we got an international adoption story for you my friend. Today we have Jen Walsh on the podcast, and she is a treat! I found her on Instagram, and you must follow her as well. Her handle is em_erge , which I completely forgot to ask her what the meaning behind the name is. Next time! But Jen makes the absolute most INCREDIBLE skirts, and they are made all the more fabulous because they have...

I am thrilled to have my licensing worker - Kelly Lewis, on the podcast with me today! A licensing worker is someone who helps you get your fostering license. Kelly has been with us for almost 4 years, and she has turned into a sweet friend who I truly cannot live without. Kelly has been working at Christian Family Care Agency for 21 years! So she has a lot of wisdom and knowledge to share about h...

Welcome back my friends! Today's episode is a fun, and not-fun one, as we dive into the good and bad, the hard and the happy, basically all the dichotomies involving foster care and adoption. Stay tuned til the end for a very brief interview with 3/4 of my kids! Wesley is not in it, because 1. He was asleep 2. It's hard to understand what he is saying cause he is two. 3. The world is not ready for...