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!

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast.

In this episode, I am joined with Rachel Wojo for this discussion on the desperate prayers we have as adoptive parents. Rachel's story is full of grief, trauma, love, loss, and Christ holding her together tenderly. In this conversation, Rachel shares her story and how we can pray when we don't even have the words...

You can buy her book "Desperate Prayers: Embracing the Power of Prayer in Life's Darkest Moments" by clicking this link.

You can learn more about Rachel from her website!

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 by Cynthia Baker. Cynthia is life-coach, speaker, and author, and sparks today's conversation on being a helipad parent as opposed to a helicopter parent.

You're probably familiar with the term "helicopter parent." A parent that is always "hovering" over their child, anxiously trying to control everything around them so nothing "bad" happens. But the truth is bad stuff is going to happen to them, the question is are they prepared to handle it? Being a helipad means being there for them when they need it.

When it comes to fostering and adopting kids, they especially need us to be safe spaces that let them feel all the feelings (good and bad). Cynthia shares her insight as both a life-coach but also someone in a unique situation raising a child that isn't hers biologically.

You can learn more about Cynthia from her website!

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 by Brandon Stiver. Brandon has worn many hats but has one vocation: to see God’s Kingdom come to Earth through proclamation and demonstration. A respected leader in the field of global care for children, Brandon is a professor, a podcaster and has led in nonprofits based in the US and in Tanzania. A community builder at heart, he has collaborated with organizations from Central America to Southeast Asia.

Together, we unpack some of the ways people can get involved with foster and adoption without necessarily adopting or fostering. We are all called to love the widows and the orphans, but there are different ways God can use us to do that work. Also, Brandon tells us about the struggles of international adoption and what is the definition of an orphan.

You can connect to Brandon on LinkedIn and learn more about him here!

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 by Sally Clarkson. Sally has written several books and her most recent release is titled, "Well Lived: Shaping a Legacy of Gratitude and Grace" which sparks today's conversation on how to live well as adoptive and foster parents.

Let's be real... this calling is a hard one, there are tons of challenges, stressors, and things which make us feel defeated and deflated. How do we live well in this calling? Sally shares some of her story and experience with living well while caring for her children with special needs. She encourages us with knowing there is so much love and grace from the Father and it's okay to be human...

Click here to learn more about Sally from her website!

Click here to follow her on Instagram!

Click here to buy her new book!

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 by Billie Jauss who sparks today's conversation with the release of her new book: "Baseball Family: The 9 Core Qualities for Developing Healthy Relationships." Billie shares her story of raising her three boys in a busy season of being married to a professional baseball coach and on top of it all -- fostering! Billie has a lot of stories and experiences that she shares in this episode along with those nine core qualities for developing healthy relationships.

Click here to check out her book!

Click here to follow her on Instagram!

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!