AMANDA: ON FOSTERING TEENS + TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION IN A SMALL TOWN + JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
Amanda Creamer is a foster and adoptive mom who can check all. the. boxes. International adoption. Private domestic adoption. Foster adoption. Transracial Adoption. Open Adoption. Foster Care. Teenagers. She's got four adopted kiddos and one foster on the way to adoption. This week we talk a whole lotta teens: jumping into fostering a teenager (when that was never the plan), why a foster teen may not want to be adopted, parenting a teenager for the first time, changing how a foster teen sees herself. We talk all sorts of adoption: open, transracial, private. Things go south (or north, depending on how you look at it) when the conversation turns to The Bachelor and Justin Timberlake. This is a fun one.
• The intro song, The Source, is brought to you by one of the best new worship bands out there, The Evidence. Yes, the frontman is my (talented, brilliant, adorable, Jesus-loving) cousin. No, that's not why I love them.
• Amanda works for Child Bridge. Every state should have an organization like Child Bridge. They work to find homes for waiting children, recruit foster parents, equip and support foster parents, and more. Their work is beautiful and important.
• Swipe Right: The Life-and-Death Power of Sex and Romance by Levi Lusko. {Sounds like it's for everyone, every situation, but I especially love the idea of reading it with your teen.}
• I refuse to link to The Bachelor, for the record.
• Fresh Life is the church where Amanda's husband serves as Operations Pastor. Check out their worship album.
• I've been listening to Hillsong on repeat for way too long (remember my "Oceans" problem?), time for me to check out Passion's new album "Whole Heart."
• And, you know, we both love us some Justin Timberlake.
