Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!

For this episode, I am joined by an incredible family – incredible because this open adoption led to a family growing in a unique way! The three voices joining me on this episode are adoptive parents, Nick and Kelsey Lebos, and the biological mother of their adopted son, Mikayla Little. The three of them bonded immediately when meeting during Mikayla’s pregnancy as she was pursuing the open adoption of her unborn son, Shepherd. God brought them together for a unique purpose and to grow their family in this unconventional way. Mikayla is not only a part of Shepherd’s life but she is also a part of the broader Lebos family. There is so much redemption found in her story because of their love, generosity, obedience to God, and intentionality to build this relationship.

In this two-part conversation, they share their story and I ask questions about navigating the hard parts of adoption. It is never easy for a mother to make this decision and it was something Mikayla did with a lot of prayer and preparation and love for her son. There are a lot of assumptions or misconceptions about biological mothers which is so disheartening because we have the opportunity as adoptive parents to love them both: child and mother. Not every open adoption is going to look like this – this is their story – but it is good to know what is possible thanks to our amazing God, and what happens when we are faithful in this calling.

Let’s dive in!

Key topics in this episode:

• The emotional journey of adoption: both joy and grief.
• The role of faith and prayer in family decisions
• The importance of openness and transparency in adoption
• The significance of intentional relationship-building in open adoptions and maintaining relationships
• The role of faith and prayer during emotional moments
• Building a family through love and intentionality
• The importance of community and extended family in adoption

To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!

You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at somercolbert@gmail.com.

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!

Called to Love is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To learn more, check out their other shows or resources, head to their website: https://www.christianparenting.org/

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!

For this episode, I am joined by the amazing Dr. David Thomas, co-author of the book, “Capable: How to Teach Your Kids the Strengths, Skills, and Strategies to Build Resilience” and I am so excited to learn with you from this wealth of knowledge! Dr. David and his co-author, Sissy Goff, are therapists at Daystar Counseling Ministries. Through their counseling, podcast, and books and speaking, they've made it their life’s work to offer practical help and hope to families through their resources and experience.

In our conversation today, Dr. David unpacks the anxiety crisis in our children across the country. Dr. David shares a brutal statistic that roughly 1 in 4 kids struggle with anxiety, but also 1 in 3 adults also struggle with anxiety as well! Dr. David and Sissy keep finding children in their counseling sessions saying they aren’t capable, but what’s worse is they actually don’t want to be. These kids are incredibly risk adverse, but healthy risk is a huge part of building that confidence and capability in life. Life is hard but it is also full of “good stories” as Dr. David puts it. Dr. David shares practical information to equip us as parents for not only how to better help our kids but to help ourselves too. We are capable of this calling God has given us!

Let’s dive in!

Key topics in this episode:

• The capability crisis among children and teens
• The impact of anxiety and trauma on resilience
• The importance of pacing in child development
• Building independence through chores and risk-taking
• The unique needs of foster and adoptive children
• The role of parental confidence and authority
• Practical tools for teaching emotional regulation
• The significance of experiential learning and hard things
• The influence of culture and technology on capability
• Resources for supporting resilient families

Learn more about Raising Boys and Girls on their website and purchase their new book and resource, “Capable: How to Teach Your Kids the Strengths, Skills, and Strategies to Build Resilience”

https://www.raisingboysandgirls.com/capablebook?srsltid=AfmBOoprP_aLWKPGFOynb8NdMiZ6wfHbAWaYy8tzk28GbW5HEEfWs6r4

To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!

You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at somercolbert@gmail.com.

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!

Called to Love is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To learn more, check out their other shows or resources, head to their website: https://www.christianparenting.org/

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!

For this episode, I am joined with the founder of Lily Pad: Jennifer Tice. Jennifer worked for fourteen years as a labor and delivery nurse and her husband worked for two decades in law enforcement. Together, they decided they would open their home to foster kids. It began with infants, since that was Jennifer’s background, but then they made the pivotal switch to teenagers… and it sparked Lily Pad. When they welcomed their first teenager, Jennifer and her husband realized these kids sleep in cubicles or cold office spaces while waiting for placement.

While we can’t change what has happened to these kids, we can try to minimize more harm by treating them with dignity, care, and providing comfort. That is how Lily Pad was born. Jennifer and her husband began creating spaces for these kids, a space that looks and feels like a home living room, so there’s just a little bit more comfort in these dark moments between the police station and DSS offices.

In our conversation today, Jennifer shares her story, the origins and mission of Lily Pad, but also how we as foster and adoptive parents can bring comfort and dignity to these kids coming from hard places.

Let’s dive in!

Key topics in this episode:

• The origin and mission of Lily Pad
• The impact of creating comfortable spaces for children in care
• The importance of dignity and love in foster care
• Stories of connection and healing in Lily Pad rooms
• Expanding support to law enforcement and beyond
• Practical advice for prospective foster families
• Ways you can make your own space at home filled with comfort and dignity

Lily Pad’s website: https://www.lilypadinc.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lily.pad.inc/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LilyPadInc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LilyPad.ASoftPlacetoLand

To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!

You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at somercolbert@gmail.com.

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!

Called to Love is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To learn more, check out their other shows or resources, head to their website: https://www.christianparenting.org/

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!

For this episode, I am joined by a father and daughter duo! Dr. Emerson Eggerichs and his daughter, Joy Eggerichs Reed, have written a book together called, “Beega Gets a Do-Over: A Gigglies Adventure About Communication.” Dr. Emerson is a bestselling author on the New York Times list and has a PhD in child and family ecology. The new book was inspired from a bedtime story Dr. Emerson told Joy as a child. Now, Joy is a mother of three, and together they brought this book to life to help kids communicate.

In the context of adoption and foster care, we as parents can struggle with helping our kiddos communicate. This fun, upbeat, imaginative story paints a picture for how kids can apologize by asking for a “do over.” In our conversation, Joy and Dr. Emerson share more practical information about forgiveness, relationship repair, emotional vocabulary, nonverbal cues, and teaching our kids empathy among all those other social skills.

Let’s dive in!

Key topics in this episode:

• The concept of 'do-over' as a tool for teaching forgiveness and repair
• The importance of emotional vocabulary and reading nonverbal cues
• Balancing consequences with repair in discipline
• Teaching empathy to children operating in survival mode
• The role of intentional questions in fostering curiosity and understanding



Learn more about the Land of Nuf on their website https://www.loveandrespectacademy.com/land-of-nuf

And pre-order the book, “Beega Gets a Do-Over: A Gigglies Adventure About Communication” https://www.amazon.com/Beega-Gets-Do-Over-Adventure-Communication/dp/1400257697

To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!

You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at somercolbert@gmail.com.

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!

Called to Love is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To learn more, check out their other shows or resources, head to their website: https://www.christianparenting.org/

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!

For this episode, I am joined by Sandra Flach. After adopting her youngest son in 2010, Sandra co-founded Justice For Orphans and started The Adoption & Foster Care Journey Podcast. She is dedicated to equipping foster and adoptive families. As a trauma-informed educator and certified FASCETS facilitator, she specializes in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), blending professional training with personal lived experience to provide practical, strength-based strategies for caregivers and churches.

Author of Orphans No More and Soul Care Saturday, she regularly speaks at national conferences and co-leads the Hope for the FASD Journey virtual support community. She lives in upstate New York with her husband of over 30 years, Wayne, with whom she has raised eight children—five through adoption—and remains passionate about ensuring caregivers never walk their journey alone.

In this conversation, Sandra shares her personal journey to adoption, the mistakes made along the way, and how she learned about FASD and became such an advocate. She provides valuable information – she is a wealth of knowledge! – and also provides so much hope for us.

Let’s dive in!

Key topics in this episode:

• What is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and its prevalence
• The impact of prenatal alcohol exposure on brain development
• Recognizing symptoms and behaviors associated with FASD
• The importance of connection and support in parenting FASD children
• Resources and training available for parents and professionals
• The role of diagnosis and how to pursue it
• Strategies for accommodations and loving support
• Hope and neuroplasticity in healing and growth

Learn more about Sandra with her website.

Check out her memoir, “Orphans No More: A Journey Back to the Father”

Check out her devotional, “Soul Care Saturday: 52 Devotions for Foster & Adoptive Moms”

To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!

You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at somercolbert@gmail.com.

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!

Called to Love is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To learn more, check out their other shows or resources, head to their website: https://www.christianparenting.org/

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!

For this episode, I am joined by a mom who is on fire for the Lord: Kat McBride. Kat is a podcaster, writer, speaker, and she passionate about celebrating the peace beyond the valleys, and Kat has walked through some valleys as a birthmother herself. Present day, Kat is married and has two young daughters, but when she was fifteen she found out she was pregnant while alone in a WalMart parking lot and overwhelmed with shame. God filled Kat with peace and the clarity to make the choice for life and adoption for her unborn child but even though this was the best option, it still came with sacrifice and heartache.

Kat shares her story and also provides incredible insight for us as the foster and adoptive parents for what the other side of this family looks like - the emotional rollercoaster, some practical advice for navigating open adoptions and boundaries, and how you need to be praying for the birth mother. I am so glad you’ve joined me for this episode. Let’s dive in!

Key topics in this episode:

• Kat’s story as a birth mom at sixteen years old
• The feelings of shame, anger, bitterness that can develop when giving up your child even if it was the right decision
• After maturing, Kat realized the adoptive parents of her child didn’t just save her daughter, but they saved 16 year old Kat as well. Two futures were changed by this choice. You, as the adoptive parent, are impacting more than just the child.
• A biological mother is looking for parents that love each other and have stability, not perfection.
• The biological mother, with this wound in her heart, could try to fill it with unhealthy things so pray that God fills it instead. Don’t stop praying for this mother.
• Open adoptions or relationships with biological parents can be great and look different over the years – careful discernment is needed and boundaries.

Learn more about Kat’s podcast by finding “Peace Beyond” wherever you listen to podcasts and follow her on Facebook!

To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!

You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at somercolbert@gmail.com.

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!

Called to Love is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To learn more, check out their other shows or resources, head to their website: https://www.christianparenting.org/

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!

For this episode, I am joined by Dr. Mary Ann McMillan. Mary Ann is a former foster youth and adoptee whose life has been shaped by family separation, identity, and the search for belonging. Guided by her Christian faith, she is a writer, professor, and global advocate working at the intersection of trauma, justice, and healing. She holds a doctorate and teaches international relations, human rights, and criminal justice. Her perspective bridges lived experience, scholarship, and global practice, with a focus on vulnerable children in the United States and globally.

In this conversation, Mary Ann shares some of her story and experiences as a former foster youth and adoptee who did have an open-adoption with her family, but still struggled immensely with her identity, a sense of belonging, and why she was even adopted. Mary Ann describes how things changed after coming to Christ and her identity was shaped by who God says she is, but she still needed to unpack more of who God created her to be. She encourages parents to invite a child’s heritage and culture into their life and reminds us that our child is from two worlds - their biological one and the adopted one - and they can’t choose either of them, they are a part of them both, so it is our job to bridge those gaps to help our child develop a healthy and positive self-identity.

I am so glad you’ve joined me for this episode. Let’s dive in!

Key topics in this episode:

• Questions around identity and belonging
• Making your child’s heritage and culture part of their life
• Have the hard conversations sooner rather than later
• Be open and always willing to learn
• Take care of yourself, as the adoptive parent

To learn more about Mary Ann McMillan check her out on Instagram or buy her new book, “Bridging Resilience: A Guide to Healing for Adoptees and Former Foster Youth, Families, and the Leaders Who Walk with Them”

To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!

You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at somercolbert@gmail.com.

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!

Called to Love is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To learn more, check out their other shows or resources, head to their website: https://www.christianparenting.org/

Welcome to the Called to Love Podcast!

For this episode, I am joined by Greg and Hannah East who are both bio parents and adopted a sibling set of three boys from foster care. Greg and Hannah’s story follows a lot of the similar experiences other foster-adoptive parents have: one parent is more interested than the other, the emotional ups and downs of fostering and saying goodbye, and having to navigate new life as a family with two kids to five! Greg and Hannah offer support, encouragement, and hope their story helps other parents see they don’t have to be superhuman to do this calling. God knows we are human and being human is okay!

I am so glad you’ve joined me for this episode. Let’s dive in!

Key topics in this episode:

• The family's background and motivation for foster care and adoption
• Overcoming fears and hesitations before saying “yes”
• The process of fostering and adopting sibling groups
• Dealing with grief and loss in foster care
• The importance of church and community support
• Balancing love and pain in foster and adoptive parenting
• God's faithfulness through challenging seasons
• Practical ways to support foster families

To submit your prayer requests, use this form by clicking here!

You can email me your questions about adoption and foster care at somercolbert@gmail.com.

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!

Called to Love is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To learn more, check out their other shows or resources, head to their website: https://www.christianparenting.org/