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For our finale, I really wanted to sum up everything we’ve been talking about this season. In addition to going through all 9 numbers, finishing up with Jeanette Tapley last week on Enneagram 9s, we have spoken to experts like Suzanne Stabile on how we can treat our stress numbers since we as adoptive moms are often dealing with tough situations and trying to handle them with grace and love. We’ve talked to Beth McCord about how God has gifted each of us with an attribute of His own to reflect Him to the world. We talked to Joey Schewee on how we can look at our kids and families through the lens of the Enneagram, and we are wrapping it all up by chatting all about rest and how we can truly refill and recharge and get ready to go back out there and be the Warrior Moms that we are. 

I’ve been able to ask just about every guest this season how they find true rest, and I always include the caveat that I don’t mean surface-level rest and self-care, but real-deal rest.

Here to chat with us all about this for each number is the incredible Ryan Mayfield. Ryan sat down to tell us our core longing based on our number and how we can overcome this longing through Jesus and find that true rest that we crave...https://theadoptivemompodcast.com/blog/ryanmayfield

I am so excited to re-introduce you guys to Jeanette Tapley. She’s going to talk to us all about being an Enneagram 9 on this adoption journey! She told us her entire adoption story back in season 3, so you can listen in on that if you haven’t already and then hop on this week’s episode to hear all about Enneagram 9s and adoption!... https://theadoptivemompodcast.com/blog/jeanettetapley2

8s are the highest energy number on the Enneagram, and they get much of this energy from confrontation. They are quick-thinking and take a direct approach to everything, and they REALLY appreciate it when others take a direct approach with them as well. They are less relational and more resourceful than other numbers on the Enneagram, which gives them a unique perspective of seeing things logically AND being motivated to do something about it.

All of this is why they make amazing adoptive moms! They protect their people with fierce loyalty and they seek to keep the world a safe place for those in their care. Adopted kids need this kind of protection and safety in their lives! 

Here to chat with us all about being an adoptive mom and Enneagram 8 is is the one and only Olympic gold medalist, Wheaties box alumni, and incredibly awesome human being all around, Laura Wilkinson! If you want to listen to Laura’s complete adoption story, you can check out episode 67, but today, we’re talking all about being an Enneagram 8 on this crazy adoption ride we’re on as adoptive moms.... https://theadoptivemompodcast.com/blog/laurawilkinson2

On top of all that, society has trained them not to have feelings or emotions or safe places to talk about the hard stuff and get support. Men are set up for success in so many ways in this world, but dealing with the pain of being on the front lines of trauma is not one of them.

That’s why we started the Dudes Who Adopt series, to give men a voice and representation that this is tough and they are not alone in it.

This is still the Enneagram season though, so yes, while our dude representatives talk about…well, dude stuff, they also talk about their specific personalities and the nuances that come with being a 3 (Bryan) and an 8 (Ryan) in the adoption world. 

They are marked by a distinct desire to bring beauty and creativity to the world around them, which benefits everyone they love as well, including their adopted kids. They are more comfortable than most with darkness and hard times and struggles, so they are amazing at walking others through their pain without being pulled down in the process. This makes them amazing listeners who aren’t afraid to sit with their people in the face of trauma...https://theadoptivemompodcast.com/blog/shannonguerra

Kara-Kae James and I are chatting all about it this week. We are also of course talking about how our 1-ness influenced our adoption processes and how it impacts our lives now as adoptive moms...https://theadoptivemompodcast.com/blog/karakaejames2

SO usually I bring you a guest for the season premiere that is a bit more known, so why am I introducing you to someone new for this one? Because she and I have partnered up to bring to fruition something that encapsulates the entire point of the Enneagram: to understand ourselves and others better to build community and connection....

Let me tell you what you can expect from this season, cause y’all know I have almost all of the episodes already recorded and on deck for you. This season, we are going to be chatting with bloggers and influencers, authors, CEOs, social workers, birth moms, counselors, and, maybe a celebrity or two! Not to mention lots and lots of adoptive mamas doing the very best Kingdom work by saying yes to Jesus, standing in the gap for the least of these, and raising the actual future of this world. It’s jam packed with goodness and I can’t wait to get it to your ears starting when was that again? Oh yeah! Next week! 

So let me tell you guys about some updates happening over here.

First off, let’s talk about Patreon. Now I know, this is a fancy word that you may have never heard of, but it is actually spelled phonetically and way less scary and intimidating than it sounds. Patreon is simply a service that allows me, the creator to get premium content to you, the listener in an easy-for-everyone way. So when I first launched, I did what a lot of creators do with patreon and I threw a bunch of stuff out there and saw what stuck. I had multiple tiers, or levels of support, different types of content, etc. But, over the break, I took a survey, evaluated the situation, and made some changes, so here is a quick explanation of the new patreon:

First, there is the $5 per month level: This will get you a 5-day Bible study guide each and every week, even in between seasons of the main show. It also gets you a special bonus episode that I record each and every week to follow up on the topic from the main show.

Next, there is the $7 per month level. This gets you the Bible Study, the bonus show, PLUS: a monthly Q&A with me and a guest, fun and hilarious bonus interviews with every guest from the main show, you’ll get the Monday episodes in your feed a week early, and you will get a whole brand new show called America’s Mom! What is America’s Mom, you ask? Well let me and America’s Mom herself tell you about it!

AMERICA’S MOM TRAILER

So obviously I am super psyched about that, and if you are already a $7 supporter, or AMP Best Friend, you already have the first two episodes of America’s Mom in your Patreon feed! So head to Patreon.com/theadoptivemom and sign up to gecho premium content now.

Before I sign off for today, I want to mention something that’s going to be coming up later this year with The Adoptive Mom, and that is a Small Group initiative. If you follow me or the podcast on social media, you have probably seen me posting about AMP Groups in specific areas of the country. That is because we are testing the group structure in just a few locations for season 6 and getting ready to launch it to the masses, that’s you! In the summer. I will have more information to come later in the season, but if you’ve been wanting more adoption community and support not just in audio form, but also in-person, I’m going want to talk to you about AMP Groups!

Ok guys, I am so excited to connect with you over the next season of the podcast and to share with y’all about everything going on with The Adoptive Mom as a company, and I will talk to you next week!

Today’s episode features Charlie Loften, an adoptive dad and adoption advocate in Northwest Arkansas. He and his wife Heidi have two biological daughters and one adopted daughter. They obviously have a lot of fun together.

Charlie is also a pastor who makes it his mission to break down stereotypes of what pastors can do and say and fight for. He and Bryan talked about how to forge community among adoptive dads and make it genuine and real and not just a place where guys feel like they have to be buttoned-up and only share the good things or their wive’s struggles.

I hope y’all love these dads episode and that they are great to share with your guys and for you to gain insight on the guys’ side of this adoption thing!

In this AMP Plus episode, we’re deep-diving on the topic of fear and how it affects us as the adoption community. When you glance over what we do every day, fear makes total sense, right? I mean, we do really hard things day-in and day-out. It’s what we signed up for, but that doesn’t mean it’s not scary as crap. We invite evil itself into our homes in the form of brokenness and pain and destruction. We ask for hard times and hard questions and hard circumstances. That’s so scary, you guys. There are ALL THE WHAT-IFS wrapped up in that.

So how do we keep from allowing that fear to cripple us? Let’s find out together!

Y’all, I don’t know about you but it has been so good for my heart to talk to professionals about the things our kids go through, learn that we’re not alone, and get tips and tricks for walking alongside them as they go through these hard struggles.

This week, we’re getting to hear from Megan Taylor about Oppositional Defiance Disorder.

ODD is something that I do not personally deal with in my home, but I know a lot of listeners who do, so I am so excited to hear what you guys gain from this episode!

As for my amazing guest:

Megan has worked as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Marriage and Family Therapist for several years.  Her experience includes time in ministry, various roles in the non-profit sector, the local education system, and private counseling practice. Megan has a heart for “kids from hard places” and is trained as a designated TBRI (Trust-Based Relational Intervention) Educator, focusing much of her counseling practice walking alongside foster and adoptive families as well as those recovering from the impact of trauma. 

She has also served as a volunteer trainer for the CALL and also has experience training various sectors of the community both domestically and internationally with trauma-informed models of care that seek to mitigate the effects of pain, stress, and trauma that often threaten our ability to thrive personally and professionally.  She also currently serves as a member of the advisory board for the Children’s Advocacy Center of Benton County. 

Our girl has been married to her husband, Nic, for 11 years and has 2 boys- Jack (6) and Chase (3).  She loves new adventures and spending time outside with her kiddos, running, mountain biking, and travel. 

Chuck and Bryan chat about manhood and fatherhood and what those roles mean for this incredibly hard calling to which we’ve all said yes. They also answered some listener questions crowdsourced from social media, and, bonus, they’re both hilarious.
I have to tell you about my husband Bryan really quickly too. He is just my favorite person on earth (Shocker, right?). He is so smart and business-savvy, but he’s also cool and trendy and funny. He has his own podcast on photography and also owns and manages Go Rogue, a digital marketing consulting and production company. I’m pretty proud of this guy if you couldn’t tell.

I hope you love listening to these two chat about what it means to be a adoptive dad.

I am so excited that I got to sit down with Missy Worley. Missy is an adoptive mama through foster care and also, of course, by adopting her oldest daughter who is actually her biological niece. The kicker is, Missy and her husband took placement of their now daughter while they were still engaged. So crazy, right? 

Missy was able to share with us what their story has looked like for her personally, for their marriage, and for her relationships with her biological family members who have feelings and opinions about their adoption journey.

I am in love with their story and faithfulness to God’s calling on their life and their marriage and am so thankful for all of her amazing wisdom that she was able to share in her episode.