Episode 60: Garbage bag suitcases

06/01/19 • 27 min

This is the last episode of Season 3!

We do a brief book review on 'Garbage Bag Suitcase' by Shenandoah Chefalo. It's a memoir of Shenandoah's life - filled with difficult years with her mother and a man she thought was her father, and difficult years in foster care, and aging out of the system. This book is Heavy, and made Jihae feel a bit depressed for a day or two. BUT, it's not all depressing.

Shenandoah shares her thoughts on how to improve the lives of kids in care, and they include boarding schools (like the Milton Hershey School and The Crossnore School), and fostering the whole family - mostly moms who are losing their kids to the system.

Another highlight of reading this memoir was seeing a successful woman who overcame the odds. The children in care are not doomed to be like their parents. Mental illness is not a definitive life sentence for the next generation, neither is drug addiction, or abuse, or any of the things that we are afraid that kids are 'definitely' going to be like.

Chris mentioned this teen, Hunter Beaton, from Texas who has started this company that provides great bags for children in foster care.

There are so many companies that you can support if you google 'garbage bags for foster kids' or look on social media.

The (Good) Word of the Day

Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

Proverbs 16:24

Shenandoah had SO FEW people who spoke any words of hope or love to her in her first 20 years of life. We all need to speak words of kindness and hope to those around us - whether they are adults or children, whether they are foster kids, or kids you have borne.

Lightbulb moments:

Yay for the Toronto Raptors making it to the NBA Finals for the first time in history!

Foster care and adoption are HARD! Waiting, not knowing, caring, saying bye - IT'S ALL HARD! But it's all worth it! So, keep on keeping on fellow foster and adoptive friends.

Thanks SO MUCH for your support this season, friends! We will be back at the end of July with season 4!

If you want to connect on Social Media:

Jihae Watson on Facebook

Chris Watson on Facebook

Fostering Voices on Instagram

Jihae Watson on Instagram

AND we would LOVE it if you would leave us a review on iTunes! This helps others to find our podcast so we can share these voices from the foster care and adoption community with more people!

This is the last episode of Season 3!

Chris mentioned this teen, Hunter Beaton, from Texas who has started this company that provides great bags for children in foster care.

There are so many companies that you can support if you google 'garbage bags for foster kids' or look on social media.

The (Good) Word of the Day

Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

Proverbs 16:24

Lightbulb moments:

Yay for the Toronto Raptors making it to the NBA Finals for the first time in history!

Foster care and adoption are HARD! Waiting, not knowing, caring, saying bye - IT'S ALL HARD! But it's all worth it! So, keep on keeping on fellow foster and adoptive friends.

Thanks SO MUCH for your support this season, friends! We will be back at the end of July with season 4!

If you want to connect on Social Media:

Jihae Watson on Facebook

Chris Watson on Facebook

Fostering Voices on Instagram

Jihae Watson on Instagram

AND we would LOVE it if you would leave us a review on iTunes! This helps others to find our podcast so we can share these voices from the foster care and adoption community with more people!

Previous Episode

Episode 59: Recruiting, Developing, and Sustaining Foster Families

This week we have a great interview with the lovely Lindsey Stamm, the Operations manager at Arizona127.

What is Arizona127?

This is an AMAZING organization that exists to recruit, develop, and sustain foster family through training and events. They want to help foster children, and support the families who foster them.

Follow them on Instagram to stay up to date on their trainings and events! (Lindsey manages this account and she does an amazing job!)

For those who choose not to be a foster family, they recommend checking out these important ways of getting involved:

becoming a CASA (court appointed special advocate) which requires you to take a polygraph test and training. But well worth the time as you get to spend time with children in care, and be a voice for them in their case!

becoming a Mentor through Arizonans for Children, which requires 2 hours a week of your time. They also have tutoring and craft volunteer options available!

The (Good) Word of the Day

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73: 25-26

What a great and encouraging word! We talked about how broken this world is, and the foster care system especially. But, when God is our hope and our portion - we can take heart and have peace.

Lightbulb Moments:

At a TBRI training, Lindsey learned, and then reminded us that Hydration and Glucose levels are of the utmost importance and can greatly affect your child's (and your) attitude and disposition. Check your child's urine color to see if they are hydrated enough!

Sesame Street introduced a new muppet who is in Foster Care! And just in time for Foster Care Awareness month! It is so important for people to see others who represent them well in media. Last year, when Crazy Rich Asians came out, the Asian community was elated to see a full cast of people who looked just like them. There is a slew of movies and tv shows out there that have foster children in them, and we are so thankful that Instant Family is one of them, and now Sesame Street is too!

Make sure to check if you are at an Urgent Care or an Emergency Room. The difference is significant in terms of co-pay, and someone who hosts this podcast may have accidentally gone to an emergency room this week, only to be told he was constipated.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of our podcast!

If you want to connect on Social Media:

Jihae Watson on Facebook

Chris Watson on Facebook

Fostering Voices on Instagram

Jihae Watson on Instagram

AND we would LOVE it if you would leave us a review on iTunes! This helps others to find our podcast so we can share these voices from the foster care and adoption community with more people!

Next Episode

Episode 61: How To Rest Between Foster Placements

Season 4 is here, and we are so excited to bring you 20 brand new episodes!

This week we talk about what our insane summer looked like, as we took 8 weeks off of the podcast.

It started with a marriage retreat with Don and Renee Worcester, who we have mentioned before. They are an amazing couple who really connect with people, and can encourage them in such a profound way. You can learn more about them on their website. We will share more about what we learned in an episode dedicated to the retreat!

Then we went to Thailand! But before that, we had to get new passports for 2 of our kids, because we lost their old ones (as in the new passports we renewed last year!) After countless phone calls to the national passport office, we went down to Tucson to visit the Western Passport Center, and you can go there too, to find out if you are eligible to get your passports made THAT DAY. You have to make an appointment and have all the correct documents. But these fine folks, who have my heart forever, were able to get us new passports - 12 hours before we left for Thailand!

Chris got upset with me during this episode for calling people 'incompetent', and now I owe him $1 for not speaking 'Words of Life' in our home. That's a new thing we started in our home, to help combat negative self talk, as well as negative talk and thinking about others as well.

After Thailand, Chris and I went to Cabo, Mexico for a work retreat with Showit. Basically, Showit is the BEST website platform for photographers, creative entrepreneurs, small businesses, people who need websites. We are SO thankful to be a part of the Showit team, and so thankful that our team building exercises happened at an all-inclusive resort.

Then I just got back from Minnesota this week (the day we recorded this podcast) after a work trip. We sponsored an event that was put on by Honeybook and the Rising Tide Society, and it was absolutely amazing. If you are a creative entrepreneur, you need to know about these two companies as well!

We are officially back on the list, and we have placement for two sisters! Exactly what we asked for! BUT there was an issue with our license, and so we will probably get to meet them next week. Oh red tape in foster care! It happens though, and you have to make the best of it. So right now, we are resting, and doing whatever we can to prepare for their arrival!

We ended up buying a 15 passenger van (kinda by accident). This is one way that we are preparing for life with 9 people in the house, though I have no intentions of filling it...

The (Good) Word of the Day:

"And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." - Hebrews 13:16

This season, we are doing something new: we will talk about how we served or were served Because God loves to see sacrifice and service. Hopefully this will encourage all of us to find different ways to serve others around us, because that is the best form of self care out there! Serving others!

We hope you enjoy this episode, and we are so very thankful for all of you listeners! Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions, or if you need people in your village to support you through prayer and encouragement! We are here for YOU!

If you want to connect on Social Media:

Jihae Watson on Facebook

Chris Watson on Facebook

Fostering Voices on Instagram

Jihae Watson on Instagram

You can also email us at [email protected]

AND we would LOVE it if you would SUBSCRIBE and leave us a review on iTunes! This helps others to find our podcast so we can share these voices from the foster care and adoption community with more people!