Custom Made Kid

When Kendra Golden and her family embarked on their foster care journey, little did they know the Lord was going to call them to far more than they had planned for or expected.  He used a season as foster parents to open their eyes to the immense need for foster families and set them on a path to try to make positive changes in a system that wasn't working as well as it should.  Slowly, surely the Lord used their ordinary, every day life as foster parents to open the hearts of those around them to the Call to serve in this area.  Not only that, He was quietly moving in the hearts of the leadership of their church and others in their community.  Through that initial "yes" (and in God's timing), Kendra was able to watch God do a miraculous work in the foster care community and utilized Kendra's own church and pastoral team to do it.   Kendra's family is proof that just one, simple "Yes, Lord" can be like a rock thrown into a body of water.  Upon impact, the surface of the water cannot remain unchanged.  It has Ripple Effect.   To connect with Kendra, you can find her on Instagram @kendrag.  If you are interested in hearing the sermon (How to Neighbor: Part 2 "Orphans Embraced") by Craig Groeschel, Senior Pastor of Life.Church, you can find it here.  Also, if you'd like to learn more about 111Project, click here. *** Get in touch: connect {at} custommadekid.com or engage using the hashtag #custommadekidpodcast on instagram Learn more: www.custommadekid.com Support: Text 77977 with the subject CMK Give. Music : Game On by Boskco | Self Lit by Shane Becker | Licensed through Soundstripe All rights reserved | Custom Made Kid™ Foundation | www.custommadekid.com

Bethany Moore is an educator in Jacksonville, Florida who also happens to be a single, adoptive and foster mom to three young children. Bethany has a popular Instagram account (@bethanyanne42) that allows her followers to take a glimpse into her foster and adoption journey. Her life gracefully proves that life NOT working out "according to the plan" can be a huge blessing in disguise. To connect with Bethany, you can find her on Instagram @bethanyanne42. *** Get in touch: connect {at} custommadekid.com or engage using the hashtag #custommadekidpodcast Learn more: www.custommadekid.com Music : Bali Bash by PALA | Happy Together by Caleb Etheridge | Licensed through Soundstripe All rights reserved | Custom Made Kid™ Foundation | www.custommadekid.com

In today's mini-episode, the founder of the Custom Made Kid™ Foundation, Amy Metz Williams, tells you exactly what a Custom Made Kid™ is (and what it's not!) and gives you a brief glimpse into the heartbeat behind the podcast and the organization. *** Get in touch: connect {at} custommadekid.com or engage using the hashtag #custommadekidpodcast Learn more: www.custommadekid.com Music : Happy Together by Caleb Etheridge | Licensed through Soundstripe All rights reserved | Custom Made Kid™ Foundation | www.custommadekid.com

One of the most important things about the adoption process, where reasonable or possible, is doing a good job of loving the birth mother well. The adoption process isn’t just about “getting a baby”. That is such an unhealthy way of thinking. There is another person involved in the adoption dynamic that should never be overlooked or forgotten. The birth mother. What may be seen as the adoptive parent blessing, no matter what, came at the disruption of the child or children’s biological family. It also cost that birth mother something to choose to carry a baby for 9+ months and then entrust it to someone else, whatever the reason. That birth mother’s heart can’t be ignored. In today's episode of the Custom Made Kid™ podcast, Stephie Predmore shares how she and her husband have walked through two adoptions that, for one reason or another, didn't work out.  Even still, they both believe their family will grow through adoption when the time is right.  What Stephie couldn't have ever expected was that her second disrupted adoption wouldn't result in her having just one person to love...but two. Stephie's story is a challenging and powerful example of what it looks like to love a birth / biological mother well. To connect with Stephie, you can find her on Instagram @stephiecooks.  *** Get in touch: connect {at} custommadekid.com or engage using the hashtag #custommadekidpodcast Learn more: www.custommadekid.com Music : Bali Bash by PALA | Licensed through Soundstripe All rights reserved | Custom Made Kid™ Foundation | www.custommadekid.com

In today's episode, Love is a Sacrifice, Laura Butler talks about her family's experience with adopting from Haiti and how that experience shaped a desire to help other families going through the process as well. The Anna Cheri Foundation, named after their Haitian baby girl, was founded to help families manage the cost(s) of adoption. Laura and I also talk about her initial struggles to connect and discuss her experience with some unexpected, post adoption baby blues. Not everyone will struggle with feelings like this but, if you have or if you do, you are not alone. To connect with Laura or to learn more about the Anna Cheri Foundation, you can visit their website at www.inspiringorphancare.org. You can also visit them on Facebook or Instagram. *** Get in touch: connect {at} custommadekid.com or engage using the hashtag #custommadekidpodcast Learn more: www.custommadekid.com Music : Fresh for the Summer by PALA | Happy Together by Caleb Etheridge | Licensed through Soundstripe All rights reserved | Custom Made Kid™ Foundation | www.custommadekid.com

When Abbie was a little girl, she thought that one day she would grow up and be in the mission field working with children in some way. Little did she know that one day that mission field would actually be her own backyard. As a young woman, Abbie's path crossed with a special family who had answered the call to foster in their own lives. That relationship ignited a desire in Abbie to also foster one day, she just didn't expect that she would feel the nudge from the Lord to do it while she was still single. But God rarely works the way we expect and Abbie found herself the foster mom of a sibling group of three. Eventually, when restoration of the biological parent relationship proved impossible, the three girls became available for adoption and Abbie proceeded to become their forever Mom. In episode 3, Abbie and Amy discuss more about Abbie's foster journey, talk about post-adoptive depression, and discuss the things she gets asked most (and the things she wishes she didn't get asked at all)! As you'll see, Abbie's quiet confidence in the Lord shines through in the discussion and is a challenge to all who will listen to follow His call with nothing less than Brave Obedience. To get in touch with Abbie or follow her story, you can find her on Instagram at www.instagram.com/dearlittleducklings and check out Abbie's article about her adoption journey published on Love What Matters by clicking here. *** Get in touch: connect {at} custommadekid.com or engage using the hashtag #custommadekidpodcast Learn more: www.custommadekid.com Read Amy's blog about this episode by clicking here. Music : Fresh for the Summer by PALA | Licensed through Soundstripe All rights reserved | Custom Made Kid™ Foundation | www.custommadekid.com

It's been 11 years since Kailey and her husband, Dru, married and quickly began the process of trying to grow their family. But as friends and family around them saw their dreams of children becoming a reality, Dru and Kailey did not. Infertility reared its ugly head and the couple found themselves going down the rabbit hole of unsuccessful infertility treatments. Exhausted and longing to be parents, Dru and Kailey decided together that biology wasn't what was important, God's plan was. They began to consider and pray about the adoption process, ultimately deciding it was the right direction for them. After about a year of working with an agency and not being selected, through a friend of a friend, Dru and Kailey ended up being introduced to a birth mother. The adoption of their daughter, Evie Rose, revolutionized their family and, more importantly, increased their faith in God's perfect plan. As Kailey would be the first to tell you, she would do it all again to have what they have now. "Cheers to Plan A!" she says. "That was always His plan A for us." In today's episode, we hit on a lot of things! Kailey talks about their journey through infertility to adoption, her belief that biology is going to be a part of their story, too, and we discuss how sometimes when God seems to be ignoring our heart's desires, He is at work doing something much bigger. To connect with Kailey, you can find her on instagram @kbirkeland. You can also hear Dru's vocals on a powerful worship song, Jesus You Alone, by Highlands Worship. (https://music.apple.com/us/album/jesus-you-alone/1451973701?i=1451974192) Get in touch: connect {at} custommadekid.com or engage using the hashtag #custommadekidpodcast Learn more: www.custommadekid.com Music : Fresh for the Summer by PALA | Licensed through Soundstripe All rights reserved | Custom Made Kid™ Foundation | www.custommadekid.com

At six weeks old, Kristi Bush was adopted out of the foster care system but it wasn't until she reached the age of eight that she was told she was adopted. This life-altering information was delivered as casually as someone saying, "Will you pass the ketchup, please?". It instantly threw Kristi into the throes of an identity crisis that would last throughout her childhood and into adulthood. Since one of the main focuses of the Custom Made Kid™ podcast is adoption, it made sense to begin this podcast journey by seeing adoption through the eyes of an adoptee. In this episode, Kristi talks about her own adoption journey and offers encouragement to parents wondering how to tell their kids they are adopted. She also challenges those in an adoptive situation to create a safe and loving environment for kids to be curious and to ask questions about who they are and where they came from. If you'd like to get in touch with Kristi, you can visit her website at www.knbcommunications.com, find her on facebook at www.facebook.com/KNBcommunications, or email her at knbcommuncations at yahoo dot com. She also runs a page called Crack the Code, which provides parents information on the dangers of social media as well as offers solid advice on how to best protect our children. Get in touch: connect {at} custommadekid.com Engage using the hashtag #custommadekidpodcast Learn more: www.custommadekid.com Music : Fresh for the Summer by PALA | Licensed through Soundstripe All rights reserved | Custom Made Kid™ Foundation | www.custommadekid.com