The Revelation Project - Episodes Tagged with “Adoption”

Episode 141: SUMMER SERIES: Liz August and Emma: Inconceivable: The Miracle of Embryo Adoption

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Ok, Listeners. Oh, my heart!

This story is going to blow you away. Be prepared to have your mind and heart blown wide open and keep the tissues nearby, just in case.

What happens when a couple goes from infertility to the conception of multiple eggs, has their own healthy baby, and then decides to donate the rest of their fertilized eggs so that they can be adopted by another family who is having trouble conceiving?

Well, you are about to bear witness to the incredible story of two remarkable women who each gave birth independently to biological siblings. Discover the bonds these two families have built in solidarity for what’s possible when you want to conceive something you might not have ever believed you could.

In this episode, you’ll meet Liz and Emma, both incredible, fun, articulate, and endearing. You’ll hear about their incredible individual stories and then how their lives were brought together through the miracle of social media. You’ll also hear the powerful love between two mothers who both hold a new vision for what it means to invite the village to raise and even help you conceive your children.

Seriously, this story is just too incredible even to try to find the words for. Just listen!

In this episode, Emma and Liz will share:

What embryo adoption is and isn’t.
How parenthood doesn’t begin just when the baby ends up in your arms - it starts when you make the decision to become a parent.
How the infertility journey and the "new mom" journey undo and then reshape us.
The bizarre and magical way Liz and Emma (and their families) became connected through embryo adoption
If Liz ever questioned her decision to donate her embryos and why she chose to donate vs. discard or donate to science.
Why Liz chose an open adoption vs. closed.
How family and friends regard Liz's decision to donate.
What are Liz's hopes for Blake, Edgar, and the other possible babies that may come in the future.
How Emma discovered embryo adoption as an option.
What helped move Emma through her infertility journey.
How embryo adoption is similar and different than how Liz and Emma initially envisioned them to be.
What people need to know about embryo adoption.
The current struggles, conflicts, or shadow sides to embryo adoption.
Emma shares what it’s like to be an embryo adoption mom.
Emma shares what it was like seeing Liz and Peter’s profile for the first time and knowing they had picked her and her sweetheart as the babies' family.
How tarot fits into Emma’s journey.
How embryo adoption led Emma into creating tarot and oracle card art.

Liz August is a Business & Tech Strategist who leads a virtual support team for entrepreneurs who hate figuring out all the technology and strategy it takes to have a successful online business. She does everything from website design to social media scheduling to online course creation. While Liz’s business is truly one of my saving graces, today, we are seeing the personal side of Liz as she talks to us about something very near and dear to her heart. Liz lives in Worcester, Massachusetts with her husband Peter, their four-year-old daughter, Blake, and their dog Porter. When she’s not being a tech goddess, she’s running Netflix marathons while guzzling Diet Cokes.

p.s. Liz is also MY Business Manager and helps me produce this podcast. She handles various other tasks in my online business, and she’s amazing!!! I’ve been dying to have her tell this story on the podcast with Emma!

Emma is a former social worker who’s taking time to live the mom adventure. She’s a runner, tarot reader, and budding artist. She’s in a fever of adding flowers, gold glitter, and moon imagery to any photo she finds. You can find her artwork and musings @unmadetarot on the Instagrams and the Pinterests. She lives in Pennsylvania with her sweetheart Vince, the adorable baby Edgar, the incorrigible Murphy Beagle, and the cuddly Minerva Cat.

Episode 111: Liz August and Emma: Inconceivable: The Miracle of Embryo Adoption

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 00:15:00 -0500

Ok, Listeners. Oh, my heart!

This story is going to blow you away. Be prepared to have your mind and heart blown wide open and keep the tissues nearby, just in case.

Seriously, this story is just too incredible even to try to find the words for. Just listen!

In this episode, Emma and Liz will share:

What embryo adoption is and isn’t.
How parenthood doesn’t begin just when the baby ends up in your arms - it starts when you make the decision to become a parent.
How the infertility journey and the "new mom" journey undo and then reshape us.
The bizarre and magical way Liz and Emma (and their families) became connected through embryo adoption
If Liz ever questioned her decision to donate her embryos and why she chose to donate vs. discard or donate to science.
Why Liz chose an open adoption vs. closed.
How family and friends regard Liz's decision to donate.
What are Liz's hopes for Blake, Edgar, and the other possible babies that may come in the future.
How Emma discovered embryo adoption as an option.
What helped move Emma through her infertility journey.
How embryo adoption is similar and different than how Liz and Emma initially envisioned them to be.
What people need to know about embryo adoption.
The current struggles, conflicts, or shadow sides to embryo adoption.
Emma shares what it’s like to be an embryo adoption mom.
Emma shares what it was like seeing Liz and Peter’s profile for the first time and knowing they had picked her and her sweetheart as the babies' family.
How tarot fits into Emma’s journey.
How embryo adoption led Emma into creating tarot and oracle card art.

Links:

Episode 57: Rebecca Gold - Yogic Writing

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0500

Rebecca Lyn Gold has been writing since the age of 6 when she found a floral cloth covered 5-year diary (with a lock and key) in her Christmas stocking.

She is now an author, editor, writing coach and the founder of Yogic Writing-- a practice that utilizes the philosophies and disciplines of yoga, meditation and journaling for writers of all levels to break through resistance, uncover memories, and find story nuggets buried within.

Her books include: "Till There Was You: An Adoption Expectancy Journal," "A Wizard Called Woz: a biography of Stephen Wozniak," "That's Why We're Here: Stories from passionate James Taylor fans," "How To Write It Funny" with author/humorist Amy Koko, and "A Friend Named Sunny Skies: A Memoir of Trauma, Healing, and the Music of James Taylor."

She is currently writing: "From Your Mat to Your Memoir: Creating a yogic writing practice to find and write your life stories."

Rebecca believes that writing is a spiritual practice, much like yoga or meditation. It takes courage to forge ahead, even when you have no idea where you are going.

You step on the mat, you greet the page, you meet your resistance, and then you Let. It. Go.

Rebecca has 3 children (who live in 3 different states-- although she tries not to take that personally), three grandchildren, and a 4th on the way. She lives with her husband Osvaldo and their dog Brownie in Providence, Rhode Island (for now).

She leads workshops, retreats and online programs using Yogic Writing as a tool for women to find and write their life stories.

Rebecca has a deep connection to the music of James Taylor due to a healing she experienced through his music, and would turn to music and storytelling as a way to comfort and connect to herself when she felt depressed or lonely.
Rebecca was 13 when she experienced a traumatic event that forced her to keep secrets. it’s also when she discovered journaling as a tool to access her deeper feelings process her emotions, and taking back her power.
Rebecca teaches her Yogic Writing Method that allows women to first connect to their body to access its deeper wisdom, and then to write from that deeper place.
If 100 Women were surveyed and asked if their lives dream were to write a book that at least 85% would share the desire to tell their story through a book.
Every woman has a story to tell, they just need to believe that their story is worth telling.
Initially Rebecca was doing a lot of surface level writing until she discovered yoga and began combining the practices of Yoga and Writing, and what she found is that the two were beautifully suited to one another.
Yogic writing helps women to break through to deeper levels of story-telling, and to stand in the center of their story as survivors and thrivers, vs, victims.
Breath practices, prompts, and yoga poses are all part of her writing retreats given throughout her programs.
Women who have experienced trauma ( and many of us have) are able to use this method because it’s gentle and self-guided, but also very effective at moving the stuck or trapped emotion through and helps women tap into deeper insights that come through in their writing.
When the pandemic started, Rebecca and many others found solace and comfort when she created a group called “The Corona Chronicles” on facebook and each day she would write a prompt and the group members could share what they had written.
From your mat to your memoir is a workshop Rebecca offers a few times a year, and she keeps it to a small and intimate group so that they can share their writings with each other and get the individualized attention to their writing.

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Episode 25: Vanessa Ryerse - In the flow

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 27 May 2020 03:00:00 -0400

Meet my dear friend Vanessa Ryerse. She is an entrepreneur, an ordained pastor a working artist, and a mother. I first learned of Vanessa when I heard her on Rob Bell’s Podcast The Robcast a couple of years ago and I knew I had to reach out and know her more deeply.

It turns out, she’s my people, and our initial conversation actually sparked a desire in me to begin my own podcast. Vanessa helped me realize that I wanted to give women who are doing powerful work in the world a bigger platform to share their ideas, revelations and work. She’s talented, open-hearted, rebellious, and thinks about things deeply - with her heart.

When Vanessa talks you want to lean in and listen real close so you don’t miss something magical. She’s always making beautiful things and she’s always integrating and building bridges for herself and for others between the human and the divine.

Vanessa pastors at her start up: Vintage Fellowship in Fayetteville with her husband Rob. They have four children, biological and adopted, ranging from college to preschool. She sells in two Etsy shops: one for vintage home decor and clothing, The Classic Butterfly, and another featuring her broken china mosaic art, The Mosaic Butterfly.

Listen in as we talk about her new sermon series, her own understanding of Patriarchy, her religious trauma, how she’s shifting the narrative of gender hierarchy with progressive theology and so much more.

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