Called to Love Podcast
May 21 • 40:08
Loving Adopted Children Well
Episode:

Loving Adopted Children Well

May 21, 2024 • 40:08 • Somer Colbert

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast.

This week, I am joined with author, professor, speaker, and mother of three precious adopted children: Dr. Laurel Shaler. Laurel has co-written a book with Dr. Gary Chapman titled "Loving Adopted Children Well: A 5 Love Languages Approach" which has sparked today's conversation.

Laurel and I discuss some of her unique background with adoption which includes a snowflake adoption (where the adoptee mom carries an unwanted embryo to birth herself). We also discuss the ways to love our children when adoption comes inherently with loss and pain.

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!

Whether you seek to add to your family through foster care, private domestic adoption or you are called to travel internationally, every adoption story is uniquely beautiful. Yet, each shares a common language of calling, loss, and hardship. As Christian parents we have a deep desire to love and shepherd our children well, but it can be challenging to navigate loss, trauma and how to best love and guide our adopted children. One thing is for sure, adoption is more than a process, it is an invitation to go on a holy journey with the Lord and with your family. Like any journey, there will be valleys along with mountain tops and battles along with the beauty. The good news is, what the Lord calls you to, He will equip you for. Wherever you are in your journey, Called to Love is here to bring you a weekly dose of encouragement from the practical, clinical, and Biblical perspective along with personal stories from adoptive parents, adult adoptees and advice from various experts to help your family thrive in your journey and continue to say "yes " to your own call to love.
All Episodes:
Dec 3 • 51:34
Helping Our Kids With Holiday Anxiety

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 this stress, anxiety and overstimulation can come the fights, tantrums, and big feelings that can even cause us to burst out in anger. So, how do we manage all of this? In this episode, I offer my recommendations from my personal experience and research. I hope you greatly benefit from what I have to share!

And please reach out to me with your questions, comments, and especially your "lies" that you've experienced as an adoptive or foster parent, for a series I am doing in the New Year.

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!

Nov 26 • 30:02
Tracing HIS Promise with Donna Amidon

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 that can be stabilizing is having some family traditions. One thing that Donna talks about is the Jesse Tree, something she didn't realize was having an impact on her daughter. We can plant seeds in our kids and not see the fruit till years later which is why it is so important to persevere and keep planting!

Here's a link to Donna's book: Tracing His Promise: Understanding the Bigger Story of Jesus and What That Means for Us

Here's where you can learn more about Donna: her website, click here!

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!

Nov 19 • 33:28
Understanding & Destigmatizing the Need for Older Child Adoption

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 child was eight years old, and has welcomed more children since then. She has been a part of Bethany.org for years and shares her experiences with the organization along with her personal stories. Here's the truth: adoption will break you, but it's also a sanctifying process where God refines you. It is hard and that is why it is so important to be aligned with your spouse and surrounded by a support system.

Dr. Kimberly Offutt's resource: Bethany.org

The book she continued referencing in the episode, "The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog"

The podcast episode Somer references: "Safeguarding What is Sacred: Keeping Your Marriage Strong as Foster and Adoptive Parents"

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!

Nov 12 • 56:57
The Unexpected Blessing of Relationship with Your Child's Bio Family

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 talks honestly about this pain and what she would have done differently in another open adoption and shares a lot about her experience in this process.

You can follow Brandie on Instagram, check out her website, or the new book she's a part of, "Restore My Soul: Stories of Redemption, Deliverance, and Hope."

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!

Nov 5 • 38:15
Healing for Every Heart in Adoption with Jodi Jackson Tucker and Lisa Qualls

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, adoption is traumatic. While it is beautiful and sanctifying to open up your home and heart to a child in need, it doesn't mean there isn't heartbreak in the fact the child could not be with their biological parents. As Christian adoptive parents and foster parents, we especially need to acknowledge this heartache which can help us better understand what our child is experiencing. There is also so much healing, redemptive, and sanctifying power that comes with this calling... but it's also hard and we need Jesus every step of the way!

To learn more about Jodi Jackson Tucker, click here!

To learn more about Lisa Qualls, click here!

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Adoption Wise ministry, including free Blocked Care Webinar:

Second Mothers ministry with bookshelf of resources:

Pre-Order/Order: Healing for Every Heart in Adoption

Buy the book now!

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!

About the Host

Somer Colbert

Somer Colbert is a writer, speaker and host of the Love Where You Are podcast. She is the Director of Adoption and Foster Care Ministry at Crosschurch and Connected Champion with the Arkansas Baptist Children and Family Ministries where she creates support, awareness and advocacy for families seeking to serve in the areas of adoption and foster care. She creates weekly podcast episodes and resources to equip and empower Christian families to identify their influence for the gospel in every season, live life on mission and share Jesus right where they are.  Somer is passionate about equipping spiritually healthy families and seeing a movement of God's people step into confidence in their ability to change the world around them through the way they love! 

She resides in Arkansas with her husband, three kids and three dogs. She's obsessed with British docudramas and cooking shows and can always be found with a cup of hot tea in hand. Her life has been forever changed by the love of Jesus, marriage to her favorite person, parenting her crazy crew and walking multiple adoption journeys. 

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