Fostering Voices Podcast

Welcome back to our podcast, friends! We took a few weeks off, and are so excited to be back with you all.  Over the last few weeks, we have: - Gone to San Diego for 48 hours (we live 6 hours away via car) and jammed 13 people into a 3 bedroom Air BnB. - Gone golfing 3 times! Two times it was 109 degrees, and therefore much more affordable, but also kind of miserable. - Did a 36 hour staycation wh...

 EPISODE 100!!!! We made it! And we are so thankful to be able to bring you an absolutely incredible interview with our friend - Wendy Nguyen, of Wendy's Lookbook! Wendy has been a fashion blogger for about 10 years now, and maybe you know her because you are one of her 1.1 million followers on Instagram . But Wendy is so very much more than a pretty face, with incredible fashion sense. Wendy foun...

If you want to start a podcast, this is the episode for you! We sat down for over an hour with Davey Jones, of Davey and Krista , The Brands that Book Podcast , and the Till Agency .  As you can see, we are on Episode 99, and the Brands that Book Podcast is at 96 episodes at the time of this episode going live. So, we definitely know a thing or two about starting a podcast, and maintaining it. The...

We are so thankful to be able to welcome Dr. Ray Branton back to the podcast this week. If you missed it - we talked about marriage and relationships in Episode 97. You are definitely going to want to listen to that one as well! This week we are talking about ANXIETY. Does that give you anxiety to just see the word? Well, something that you need to know is that anxiety is NORMAL. And it's benefici...

This week we are so thankful to be able to welcome our friend, Ray Branton to the podcast! He shares practical ways to have successful, and meaningful relationships - with your friends, but especially with your spouse! Things that are important to remember in relationship is to empathize and listen. Feel what the other is feeling, and hear their hearts. Another major key is to remember that you ar...

This is one of our shortest episodes - clocking in at just under 20 minutes! We wanted to do a nice light episode where our listeners could get to know us a bit better, without having to hear us retell our life stories. Which come up here and there over the last 95 episodes. So, we answer these 3 questions, which are really great conversation starters. Use them as an ice breaker next time you are...

In Arizona, foster parents need to complete 12 hours of training every year in order to keep their license open. Chris and I managed to get 9 in, and had to take 3 hours online. And when I say we did '3 hours', the trainings we picked gave us '3 hours', but it took us less than 1 hour to read through a long article, take a 20 question multiple choice test, and we were done. And by the way - Chris...

This week's episode is all about how to get licensed for foster care right now. We are still in the middle of a global pandemic, and so it is actually easier to get licensed right now, than ever before. Because all of the classes, and most of the requirements can be done online! And it's also easier - cause you have no where to go! No sports, or dinner commitments, or even work functions to go to....

A few years ago, I read this book called 'Giftology' by John Ruhlin . John is the #1 Cutco salesman in the history of the company. He prides himself on getting to this position thanks to his ability to make a lasting impression, and understanding the fine art of giving gifts.  With Mother's Day around the corner - and even if you don't listen to this right when we release these episodes, there are...

A few years ago, I read this book called 'Giftology' by John Ruhlin . John is the #1 Cutco salesman in the history of the company. He prides himself on getting to this position thanks to his ability to make a lasting impression, and understanding the fine art of giving gifts.  With Mother's Day around the corner - and even if you don't listen to this right when we release these episodes, there are...

How are you holding up friends? This week's  episode starts off with us talking about a rough day in the Watson household. Is it because of quarantine? Or PMS? Or just parenting? Maybe all of the above. Then we get into the meat of the episode - which is about a great book we read - "Safe House" by Dr. Josh Straub. In this book, they talk about how EMOTIONAL SAFETY, more than any other factor is s...

How are you holding up friends? This week's  episode starts off with us talking about a rough day in the Watson household. Is it because of quarantine? Or PMS? Or just parenting? Maybe all of the above. Then we get into the meat of the episode - which is about a great book we read - "Safe House" by Dr. Josh Straub. In this book, they talk about how EMOTIONAL SAFETY, more than any other factor is s...

This week's episode features an interview with our son, Topher! He is 12 years old, and direct and brief with his answers! Which is why you get to enjoy a nice, short episode this week! In this episode we talked about: Baking! We made bagels from scratch and they were great! You can check out this recipe we used . But just a side note - she says to make 8 bagels - and I think we made about 12.  Fo...

This week's episode features an interview with our son, Topher! He is 12 years old, and direct and brief with his answers! Which is why you get to enjoy a nice, short episode this week! In this episode we talked about: Baking! We made bagels from scratch and they were great! You can check out this recipe we used . But just a side note - she says to make 8 bagels - and I think we made about 12.  Fo...

This week we discuss the books that we have read for Quarter 1! Most of them came strongly recommended to us, and we enjoyed them - so we hope you enjoy them as well! The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure By Johnathan Haidt, Greg Lukianoff . Fantastic read of where we are in society with the children that we are raising, and wh...

This week we discuss the books that we have read for Quarter 1! Most of them came strongly recommended to us, and we enjoyed them - so we hope you enjoy them as well! The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure By Johnathan Haidt, Greg Lukianoff . Fantastic read of where we are in society with the children that we are raising, and wh...

This week we have a wonderful episode with our sweet friends - Brett and Jennifer Humphrey! They adopted their sweet daughter from China many years ago, and they share the beautiful ways that God was at work in their journey. It's amazing, and you are definitely going to want to hear all about it! And Brett recently released his first two books of the Dragonborn series! We have been reading these...

What is the kind of success you are looking for, for your family, and for yourself? Our last 2 episodes with Gaelin Elmore really helped us to see what it looks like to walk alongside kids, and have them choose a different path then the one we had planned for them to be on. But is it a worse path?  We have talked before about how we once proclaimed we didn't want our kids to be 'punks/a-holes', an...

Last week we had Gaelin Elmore share the first part of his life's story with us. If you haven't heard it yet - go listen here ! In this episode, Gaelin tells us about high school life, his dad being imprisoned, and how he made it to the University of Minnesota (go Golden Gophers!), and East Carolina (go Pirates!) on football scholarships. And then he made it to the NFL, being contracted with the C...

Gaelin Elmore is a young man who grew up in Illinois and Wisconsin, went to the University of Minnesota, and then signed with the Cincinnati Bengals. But in the midst of all that, were abusive years in foster care, and struggling with his family.  Tune in to hear all about Gaelin's journey. Special shout out to Ms Karen, and Ms Barbara, and the janitors, and other fantastic educators and workers a...

Arizona Association for Foster and Adoptive Parents (aka AZAFFAP) is a fantastic organization here in Arizona, that stands to create a community of support for foster and adoptive parents. They are for families, by families!  This interview is with the wonderful Kristi Sharp, the office administrator at AZAFFAP, and she is also a former foster parent. If you join AZAFFAP, Kristi will be your point...

This episode features an interview with JT and Ashley Pals, new parents to their precious son, Case. Case is also on the podcast, which is why there are baby noises every now and again. He is a bit more vocal in the beginning, but keep on listening as he is enthralled with his own story for most of the rest of the podcast! We like to give voice to all members of the family, whenever possible. :) S...

Have you ever been under investigation as a foster family? We have! And we are here to share about it. Not the details of our investigation per se, but definitely what happened when we found out, and how it panned out. Listen to the episode to hear alllllll about it! So, we have been a foster family for over 5 years now. And we made the decision to only foster babies for several reasons. A big rea...

Have you ever been under investigation as a foster family? We have! And we are here to share about it. Not the details of our investigation per se, but definitely what happened when we found out, and how it panned out. Listen to the episode to hear alllllll about it! So, we have been a foster family for over 5 years now. And we made the decision to only foster babies for several reasons. A big rea...

Jacob's Hope is an organization here in Arizona, that seeks to provide care, support, and education for newborns who have been substance exposed. It started from the hearts of Jo and Brian Jones, who adopted their son, Jacob, who was substance exposed. This week we had the pleasure of interviewing Jo, the president and co-founder of Jacob's Hope, as well as Syria Watson, the community relations li...