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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:
How to Live Less Triggered As Adoptive and Foster Families →
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!
In this episode, I was joined by Dr. Kelly Flanagan. Dr. Kelly Flanagan is an award-winning author, international speaker, personal and relationship coach, and licensed clinical psychologist with two decades of expertise in interpersonal relationships. His thought leadership has been featured in The 5 Love Languages, the TODAY Show, Readers Digest, HuffPost, and Success Magazine. Kellys two non-fiction books, Loveable and True Companions.
He has recently released The Road Less Triggered which is the topic of our discussion as foster and adoptive parents. Dr. Kelly discusses what it means to be triggered in the clinical sense and how we as parents can experience it and our children - biological, adoptive or foster. He also shares his own personal journey and how he overcame his own triggers which were causing destruction in his relationships. This is a great and practical conversation to help us in any stage of this calling.
Key topics in this episode:
- Understanding the clinical and broad definition of triggers
- Physiological signs of being triggered and interoception
- Balancing regulation and recognition in emotional responses
- Empathy and boundaries in trauma-informed care
- Practical steps for owning moments and teaching children
Connect more with Dr. Kelly on his website.
And check out his book, The Road Less Triggered.
To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I would love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
Christian Parenting resource for you: Morning Minute
Subscribe now at MorningMinute.org to receive each weekday morning a verse to strengthen your spirit, one parenting insight grounded in Christ-like wisdom, one short action item to guide your heart and your kids and one resource to help you go deeper.
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
You're Not Ruining Your Kids →
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!
In this episode, I chat with the amazing Abbey Wedgeworth and through our conversation we promise you: you are not ruining your kids!
Abbey is a wife, mother, bible teacher, and writer. She's the author of the Training Young Hearts children's book series, Held, a resource for women who have lost life in the womb, and most recently Help! Im Ruining My Kids: A Gospel Guide for the Mom Whos Desperate for Change. Abbey and her husband, David, live on the South Carolina coast, where she homeschools their three boys.
In our conversation today, we unpack some of the ideas in her latest book. Abby drops some amazing truthbombs for us as adoptive and foster moms. Sometimes we feel the pressure to do it all and forget that God is in control and sovereign. With this unnecessary pressure, we can feel like were failing and ruining our kids. Abby reminds us that human limitations are not sin. While our role as parent is a large one in our childs life, it is not equal to or as big as Gods role. We are imperfect people trying to raise these broken kids and God knows exactly what Hes doing when He pairs us with them. It will not be perfect and thats where He shows up. Abby says if our kids share their testimony and they share something we did wrong, then praise the Lord because it is part of their testimony!
Connect more with Abby on her website and Instagram.
Christian Parenting resource for you: Morning Minute
Subscribe now at MorningMinute.org to receive each weekday morning a verse to strengthen your spirit, one parenting insight grounded in Christ-like wisdom, one short action item to guide your heart and your kids and one resource to help you go deeper.
To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I would love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
How to Equip Our Kids to Manage Worry and Anxiety →
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!
In this episode, I was joined by the amazing author, mother, and ministry warrior Blair Linne. Blair recently wrote a childrens book called, Yara the Brave and the Swirling Worry and any time we have a resource for our adopted and foster kiddos, I want to talk about it! This childrens book is all about anxiety which sparks my conversation with Blair - what is anxiety, how does it manifest physically in us or our kids, what are some techniques to cope or calm down? Those are just a few of the things we cover and all from a Biblical perspective.
Connect more with Blair online and Instagram!
Christian Parenting resource for you: Morning Minute
Subscribe now at MorningMinute.org to receive each weekday morning a verse to strengthen your spirit, one parenting insight grounded in Christ-like wisdom, one short action item to guide your heart and your kids and one resource to help you go deeper.
To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I would love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
Learning How to Pray as Foster and Adoptive Mother →
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!
In this episode, my special guest is so full of energy and passion for uplighting you as a prayer warrior: Shellie Rushing Tomlinson! Shellie is a multi-published author, speaker, and farmers wife known for saying Life can be hard when its good, but its always better when youre laughing. She joins me today for a conversation about prayer, and specifically Shellie says, Dont pray like her! It is easy to compare ourselves to others at church, in bible studies and such, thinking Oh, shes got it all together, her prayers are so nice and she knows what shes doing but Shellie reminds us that no one can pray like we can to our Father in Heaven!
Shellie encourages us to embrace what makes us unique and our season of life. Instead of obsessing over quiet time, just pray right then and there when you feel led to do it. Dont wait for an opportunity to pray - just talk to God! Shellie also gets into other practical tips and advice she has learned over the years on her walk with God and hopes you feel empowered to pray. It is especially important as foster and adoptive parents in this calling to be rooted in God as we face so many challenges.
Connect more with Shellie on her website, Instagram, and Facebook.
Christian Parenting resource for you: Morning Minute
Subscribe now at MorningMinute.org to receive each weekday morning a verse to strengthen your spirit, one parenting insight grounded in Christ-like wisdom, one short action item to guide your heart and your kids and one resource to help you go deeper.
To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I would love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
Overcoming Lies with Truth for Our Kids and Ourselves →
Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!
In this episode, my special guest is a children's book author, public speaker, and a busy biological, adoptive and foster mom: Beth Guckenberger. Beth is someone I have seen speak in sessions at Christian conferences and my daughter loves her latest book! I am so grateful she is my guest today to speak into the lies our kids believe and even ourselves, and how we can combat this with Gods truth to build emotionally stable homes.
Deception, manipulation, triangulation, aggression, even violence, these are just some of the challenging and problematic behaviors we may experience with our foster and adoptive kiddos but what if I told you these were symptoms? These behaviors come from a childs fear and insecurity, and not knowing how to deal with it in a healthy way. Often these kids have needs which are unmet, and when you grow up not having your needs met by parental figures, it develops these unhealthy coping mechanisms or methods of getting what you want. While this is frustrating for us as the parents trying to love our kids (and then to feel like theyre angry at us or lying to us all the time) it is important to remember this is coming from a place of fear, insecurity, and not knowing any difference. This is the key to breakthroughs - addressing the roots and not the symptoms: overcoming lies with truth.
Here are a few key takeaways:
- Understanding childrens emotions and thoughts
- How challenging and problematic behaviors are often symptoms to a childs inner identity and thought-process, and thats the root which should be addressed.
- Identifying lies and intrusive thoughts
- Recognizing behavioral signs of struggle
- Creating emotional safety in chaotic environments
- Marriage as the concrete foundation for the home and how to protect it
- Balance between childs needs and parents needs
- Understanding spiritual warfare in your home
- Empowering children with tools against the lies of the enemy
Connect more with Beth on her website and Instagram!
Check out her childrens book series, StrongHeart Series:
The BRAND NEW addition to the series, The Heart Who Wanted to Lasso Thoughts (A story about turning bad thoughts to good with prayers of gratitude)
The Heart Who Wanted to Be Free (A story about finding freedom through admitting our wrongs)
The Heart Who Wanted to Find a Way (A story about calming anxiety through resting in God)
The Heart Who Wanted to Be Whole (A story about healing from negative talk through God's truth)
Christian Parenting resource for you: Morning Minute
Subscribe now at MorningMinute.org to receive each weekday morning a verse to strengthen your spirit, one parenting insight grounded in Christ-like wisdom, one short action item to guide your heart and your kids and one resource to help you go deeper.
To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!
You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at [email protected].
I would love to connect with you on Instagram or send you my monthly newsletter with free resources and first access to episodes and more!
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