Infertility and Adoption: Does One Lead to the Other?
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast.
Often people think infertility leads to adoption. It isn't always the case, but it can be for some. Joined with me on the podcast are authors Jenn Hesse and Kelley Ramsey who were connected from miles apart thanks to social media. They both share similar infertility stories which is what dawned their friendship and eventually collaborating on this book, "Waiting in Hope: 31 Reflections for Walking with God Through Infertility"
In today's conversation, we tackle the emotional rollercoaster that is infertility. There is hope and there is pain, and it can be isolating. Kelley and Jenn remind us how important marriage is, community, and leaning into God who has the plan we may not understand.
Something beautiful can come from this grief, and something beautiful can also be different from what we expect.
So glad you're here to join us!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I'd love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
Parenting Foster, Adopted and Bio Siblings Together
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast.
It's been a while since it's just been you and me on the podcast. We've had a lot of incredible guests over the past several weeks and I just wanted to take a moment to pause and get into a common struggle with adoption and foster care, and that's how to raise all the siblings together.
I offer you some practical advice, my own rough experience, and hopefully some information with strengthens and encourages you in this calling!
So glad you're here to join us!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I'd love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
Unlimited Motherhood: When You Don't Feel Like You Have Much to Give
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. I think as parents, we can feel like we're not enough and we're limited by so many things: time, money, energy, etc. And it's true. We are limited, but it is in those limits that God makes up the difference. It is through God's unlimitedness, that we are able to overcome those challenges in parenthood.
In this episode, I am joined with pastor, author, and busy mama to five: Jessica Hurlbut. Her new book is, "Unlimited Motherhood: Overcome 12 Limits that Overwhelm and Conflict Our Hearts"
Jessica and her husband Greg are herald as adoption advocates across New York State. After adopting a sibling group of two from foster care in 2015, they discovered the massive need for foster and adoptive parents.
They founded All 4 One Adoption Awareness, an organization focused on highlighting the 110,000 children in foster care who are freed to be adopted and need a forever family. For three years straight, Jessica has promoted and organized a 110 mile run across St. Lawrence County which is held on National Adoption Day to raise awareness for this need.
In today's conversation, we talk about the challenges of motherhood, caring for special needs children, foster-care, adoption--all of the things! Jessica helps us realize the beauty in those hardships and gives us some practical ways to counteract the Enemy's methods of attacking us in these challenges: he isolates us, gets us to resent our spouse, and try to "fix" our kids.
So glad you're here to join us!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I'd love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
Not What I Signed Up For
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. Joined with me this topic which resonates so deeply with foster and adoptive parents is Nicole Unice.
Nicole Unice is a bivocational leader, serving both in the ministry and in the marketplace. As a pastor and community leader, Nicole is the author of several books on healthy faith, honing in on the connection between our emotional and spiritual life. She’s the host of How to Study the Bible, a popular weekly podcast that reaches people in 188 different countries in the last year alone, and preaches frequently for conferences and churches.
Her recent book is the catalyst for this conversation, "Not What I Signed Up For." Together, Somer and Nicole discuss the very real and hard feelings you go through in this journey but also the incredible transformation and beauty along with it.
Nicole says when the calling is loud, it's almost always a hard one--just part of how God seems to work! And this calling is hard but it is so powerful, and if we're honest... if you knew how hard it would be, would you have been brave enough to accept the challenge? It's almost a blessing in that way to be ignorant of the storms to come and just trust God will get you through it.
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I'd love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
Teaching Our Kids Biblical Sexuality
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. Joined with me on this very important episode is Hillary Morgan Ferrer of the Mama Bear Apologetics.
Hillary is the founder and President of Mama Bear Apologetics. She feels a burden for providing accessible apologetics resources for busy moms. She is the chief author and editor of the bestselling books Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies, Mama Bear Apologetics Guide to Sexuality: Empowering Your Kids to Understand and Live Out God’s Design, and the soon to be released Honest Prayers for Mama Bears. Hillary has her master’s degree in biology and loves helping moms to discern truths and lies in both science and culture. She and her husband, John, have been married for 16 years and minister together as an apologetics team. She can never sneak up on anybody because of her chronic hiccups, which you can hear occasionally on the podcast and in interviews.
Somer asks Hillary "Where do we start?" when it comes to talking about healthy, God-created sexuality with our children and there is so much to unpack. They discuss the many categories we can use to approach addressing sex with our kids, they discuss the importance of naming body parts and not being ashamed to have honest conversations, and they discuss the current climate with sexuality and gender issues.
This topic is so important and as we open up our homes to foster kids or adopting kids, it can be so hard to address but let's talk about it. Thank you so much for being here!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I'd love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
A Safe Media Option to Eliminate Power Struggles
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. Joined with me on this episode is Brent Dusing, creator of TruPlay which sparks today's conversation about screentime for our kids.
On average, children spend 52 hours per week on a screen, and approximately 30% of kids in the U.S. today are believers... those are staggering statistics and the harsh reality is kids are being exposed to poison from the big media outlets or from predators online.
If you're welcoming a new child into your home, you may have no idea what they've been exposed to or what their norms are with screen time. As Brent says, it's no different than if a kid comes into your home who had candy bars for breakfast every morning, but laced with arsenic. Screentime isn't just addictive, which science proves, but it is filled with toxicity.
But Brent also cautions us that this doesn't mean we throw all the screens out the window. Kids still need to engage in our world, but in a safe and healthy way. That's why he and his team created TruPlay.
Thank you so much for listening!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I'd love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
The Gift of Limitations
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast.
Joined with me today is the author and mom of both adopted and bio kids: Sara Hagerty. Sara recently published a book titled "The Gift of Limitations" which sparked this raw conversation about dealing with disappointment in this season of motherhood, naming our emotions, and working through grief.
One thing that resonates is how we can't skip steps to reach contentment. Being content with where we are means truly reckoning with the discomfort and heartache of where we are.
Another powerful reminder is that Jesus was never in a hurry. Jesus was on mission but he also rested. He became flesh here on earth and limited His own power. With limitations, He saved the world...
And finally....Friend, you don't have to be everything. There is so much hope we can find as we surrender all our grief to Him.
Thank you so much for listening!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I'd love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
Becoming A Screen-Savvy Family
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. Joined with me on this episode is Adam Holz from Focus on the Family's Plugged In where he oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. Here we discuss the need as parents to be screen-savvy!
We talk about establishing healthy boundaries as partners with our spouse, to be united on this front. We discuss the need for these boundaries for our kids to be not just protected but to prepared for when certain things come up. Additionally, its critical for our kids to become critical thinkers! "Uncomfortable" conversations are a must, and sometimes those talks happen in the car rides, which could be great opportunities.
When you're watching a movie or TV show as a family, ask those critical-thinking questions... which character did you identify with and why? Did they do the right thing? What did you like in this story? And more...
Thank you so much for listening!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I'd love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
Listener Q & A: Am I Really Called to Adopt or Foster?
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast. This is a new series I'm titling Listener Q & A, where I respond to a question or comment from a listener sharing a piece of their story that may be super relatable to this calling... and super relevant to you listening at home!
This question is a big one: Am I really called to adopt or foster? It is such a big commitment and there's a lot we can dive into, from the family aspect, spouses being on board, and finances...
And if I am being honest, it's a bit hard to talk about because on the one hand I don't want to scare you away from this calling but I also want to be honest about the reality of challenges you will face when you do answer the call. I am reminded of the story of Moses and how he responded to his calling and now we see him as one of the fathers of the faith. His story is super encouraging and applicable I think to what we face when we may hear God's voice beckoning us to this journey.
Not only do I offer you some encouragement, but in this episode I offer some practical information on the different types of adoption and ways to help finance the process, and how seeking God's wisdom is the most important part.
Thank you so much for listening!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I'd love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!