When you become a foster or adoptive family, you are often bombarded with personal questions about your child’s background. How can we answer respectfully, without oversharing and giving “spoilers” of our child’s story? Their story is theirs, and they should be the first to know. Learn from my mistakes, and have some practical responses in your pocket to shut down spoilers.

Mother’s Day and I had a complicated relationship for a few years. Building my family through adoption made me realize the complexities that this day can hold for so many. From deflecting, to trying to escape it altogether, I have since learned to make peace with it. It doesn’t have to be either/or, we can hold both the beauty and the ashes together. Learn a brief history of mother’s day, explore your own, and get back to the heart of this day.

2020 made me reevaluate not only the amount of time I spent on social media, but also the type and amount of daily content I was consuming. In a world where social media isn’t going away, we also can’t deny the effects it has on our own mental health and relationships. Explore some questions to ask yourself, and 5 tips for creating some boundaries within social media.

There is no easy path in adoption or foster care. While research shows that open adoptions are best for members of the adoption triad, it isn’t always possible. However, you can still be open and honest, walking with your child through their closed adoption journey. In this conversation with hosts, Macie & Amy, I share some practical ways to do this, along with the complexities that come with a closed adoption.

On this episode of Adoption Hacks, I chat with host, Kandice, about my workbook Before You Adopt: A Guide To The Questions You Should Be Asking. I share my heart behind creating this resource, why it was written, how it is to be used, and the impact I hope this has for anyone considering or preparing to grow their family through adoption or foster care.

We all have a relationship with food, but for some, it is more complicated. We all need food to survive, but in situations of abuse, neglect, or poverty, it has been used as a weapon, withheld, or was simply insufficient. Navigating food trauma and food insecurity with our kids in foster care or post-adoption can be a puzzle, but it is possible to heal. In this episode, I share my experience walking this road with our son, signs to look for, and practical ways to pave the path for healing.

In this episode, I sit down with Faith Mamas hosts and talk about some of the experiences in my memoir, Moving Mountains. From marriage, financial trouble, adoption, and finding community among other moms, there were many times it felt like a giant mountain was in my way. This is the story of my faith, and the God who moves mountains.

What is Sensory Processing Disorder? How do I know whether or not my child is struggling with this? In this epsiode, I chronicle our journey uncovering and understanding what Sensory Processing Disorder is, the signs we saw in our son, and the point we knew we needed to reach out for help. This is a 2 part episode, so be sure to listen to the next one!

In this second part episode, I talk more about our journey from where we started, to where we are now. I encourage other foster and adoptive parents who may be wondering, “Is this behavior, or is it something else?” Understanding triggers, practical things at home, and knowing this is not the end!