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 somercolbert@gmail.com.

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!

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 somercolbert@gmail.com.

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!

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 somercolbert@gmail.com.

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!