Content Warning: This episode includes discussion of suicide, loss, grief, and the death of a child. Please listen with care and discernment.

In this episode of Restoried, we sit down with Joyce Anders, a foster and adoptive mom whose family’s journey into foster care began in the middle of one of the hardest seasons of their lives.

After losing their 14-year-old daughter, Samantha, Joyce and her husband walked through deep grief and eventually chose to say yes to foster care, welcoming three siblings into their home and eventually adopting them.

Joyce shares honestly about grief, exhaustion, obedience, and what it looks like to trust God when He calls us to do hard things. She also shares how God used her children to give her purpose in a season when she struggled to keep moving forward, and how years later, He began stirring her heart to become licensed again.

This conversation is a reminder that following Jesus isn't always comfortable, but God meets us in the hard places. Whether you're called to foster, pray, encourage, or support a foster family, there is a way to step toward the vulnerable and be part of showing a child the love of Jesus.

Episode Highlights:

• Foster Care
• Adoption
• Faith
• Grief
• Mental Health

Find More on Hope Bridge/Links from this Episode:

• Foster Care Info Lunch
• Visit Our Website
• Follow us on Instagram
• Follow us on Facebook

Learn more about Hope for the Journey TBRI Training

Learn more about Building Trauma-Informed Spaces with Kim Botto

What happens when you say yes to something God is calling you toward, even when it feels risky, inconvenient, or completely outside the life you imagined?

In this episode of Restoried, James Miller shares his family’s unexpected journey into foster care and adoption. After raising four biological sons, James and his wife began exploring foster care in their early 40s. What started with a desire to help children eventually led them to foster several children and adopt four siblings.

James speaks about both the joy and the heartache of foster care, the grief of reunification, the challenges of raising children with different needs, and the importance of finding community with other foster and adoptive families. He also shares how welcoming these children into their family changed his perspective on sacrifice and what truly matters in life.

Most importantly, James encourages anyone considering foster care not to count themselves out. You're never too old, and you don't have to become a foster parent to make a difference. From respite care and babysitting to volunteering, providing tangible support, or simply coming alongside a foster family, there is a place for everyone to get involved. James's story is a reminder that sometimes saying yes can change not only a child's story, but yours, too.

Episode Highlights:

• Foster Care
• Adoption
• The joys and challenges of foster care
• Finding community
• Learning selfless love
• Sacrifice with purpose
• You’re never too old
• Everyone can help

Find More on Hope Bridge/Links from this Episode:

• In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars
• GentleBrook
• Visit Our Website
• Follow us on Instagram
• Follow us on Facebook

Learn more about Hope for the Journey TBRI Training

Learn more about Building Trauma-Informed Spaces with Kim Botto

In this special mini episode, we share an important update about the future of Restoried. As Hope Bridge continues to grow, the team has been reflecting on how to ensure everything we do remains relational, intentional, missional, and prayerful. Those values have led to an important decision for the podcast.

Rather than focusing on producing more content, the goal is to create space for stories that truly point people to Jesus and help rewrite the narrative for vulnerable children and families. To do that well, Restoried will be taking the month of July off as a season of rest, reflection, and prayer.

The team hopes this break serves as an invitation for listeners as well—to slow down, spend time with the Lord, and evaluate the rhythms that shape daily life. Where might God be calling you to create more margin, listen more closely, and embrace intentionality this summer?

Restoried will return in August with one thoughtfully crafted episode each month through the end of the year. This change allows the team to focus on quality over quantity, ensuring every episode is purposeful, gospel-centered, and rooted in Hope Bridge's mission of bringing hope, restoration, and support to vulnerable children and families. Thank you for being part of this community and we'll see you back in August!

Find More on Hope Bridge:

• Visit Our Website
• Follow us on Instagram
• Follow us on Facebook

Learn more about Hope for the Journey TBRI Training

Learn more about Building Trauma-Informed Spaces with Kim Botto