Wandering Tree ®, LLC Podcast

Guest Amy shares how the longing to find and meet biological family did not manifest until later in life. Growing up she was surrounded by a loving and accepting adopted family; and she felt content with the situation. It was only later, and after having a family of her own, did Amy start to acknowledge the frustration she had felt for years in providing the standard answer to almost every question asked: I Am Adopted!  We listen as Amy talks about the her DNA testing experience, meeting her biological mother, how the relationship with her adopted mother is a bit different now and the realization her own perspective of adoption has morphed. 

Accepted by Biological Family
Get your box of Kleenex out for this episode! All I can say about this one is WOW! It is packed with so many amazing moments between Guests Emma Stevens and her cousin Stephanie. They speak on the impact of meeting, attending a showing of Reckoning with The Primal Wound together, sharing information on common family members, how to be the step in a missing ladder and lastly...acceptance. 

About Emma Stevens
Emma Stevens is a U.S. domestic adoptee from birth and has survived layers of trauma that have put her on multiple journeys. She developed the inner strength and courage to surmount the many struggles she faced. Her traumas were born from being an adoptee who struggled with being forced to wear an impossible mask of playing the part of the “good adopted child.”

The Gathering Place: An Adoptee’s Story was Emma Stevens’ first book. She recently released a new book, A Fire is Coming, a page-turning psychological nightmare. When Emma Stevens learned her new next-door neighbor was a psychologist, she innocently asked about how to find a therapist for her own issues. Dr. Carol Brenner decided to accept her as a patient. Against a backdrop of the Laguna Beach Fire, the insidious drama unfolds as Emma finds herself enmeshed in an unhealthy dependency on her therapist, who not only fostered this dependence but also used it to dominate and control her.

Emma has an undergraduate degree in journalism and has completed master’s level course work in psychology, specializing in Marriage, Family, and Child counseling. She has two adult children and two cat children who she adores.

More Emma Stevens

• Linktree: https://linktr.ee/Authoremmastevens
• Facebook & Instagram: @emmastevensthegatheringplace
• Twitter & TikTok: @emmastevensTGP
• Books: The Gathering Place: An Adoptee’s Story and her most recent release A Fire is Coming
  
  

Resources mentioned in the episode

https://familytreemagazine.com/birth-families/finding-birth-family-dna/ and 
https://ancestralfindings.com/cousin-relationships-the-easy-way/)
https://www.armswideadoption.org/blog/confessions-finding-your-biological-family/) 
The CeCe Moore Facebook Group - DNA Detectives  
Family Tree Magazine - Cousinhood Chart  
Family Tree Podcast - to better understand genealogy  
DNA Painter - Centimorgan Chart to understand DNA relationships 
The Leeds Method - DNA Color Clustering  

Find your people, cherish your people and love your people.

#adoptee #adoptees #adopteevoices #adopteestories #adopteestrong #adoptionreality #adopteejourney #adoption  #adopteesinreunion #wanderingtreeadoptee 

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 2. Let's keep moving forward adoptees, sharing our life experiences and bonding in community. The collective goal of our guests and host is to create a safe space and have key conversations regarding the adoption reunion experience with biological family members beyond the parents. 

Have you found your biological roots? Learned you have a sibling or two in the process of searching? Now what? What does a potential relationship look like for all the players? Today's guests Lorah and Banner share their experiences over the last three years of becoming connected as sisters. Join them as they dive deep into the reality of becoming someone's surprise and what it has taken for them to build a sibling relationship. These two fantastic women discuss their fears, emotions and dedication to learning together. Their two perspectives of the story lend some very valuable insight into the becoming connected experiences. As we listen to them share their hearts it becomes clear once again no two adoption reunion journeys are the same; and it is okay to to create a space of comfort and growth. Their encouragement is for adoptees and siblings to do what is best for them.

Lorah Gerald, The Adopted Chameleon, can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Pinterest. 

Find your people, cherish your people and love your people. 

#adoptee #adoptees #adopteevoices #adopteestories #adopteestrong #adoptionreality #adopteejourney #adoption #adoptionandsiblinings #adoptionreunion #wanderingtreeadoptee

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 1. We are glad to be back with everyone in 2023 and we are kicking this season off with a bang! 

Have you found your biological roots? Learned you have a sibling or two in the process of searching? Now what? What is the best method to approach them? Lacking a clue? So were guest Greg Gentry and Host Lisa Ann before they just jumped all in, hit a bump or two and then kept going. 

Join them as they dive deep into sibling relationships, tactics they tried to connect and things they might have done differently; if given a chance for a do over. Their very opposite experiences are a great indicator no two adoption journeys are the same; and it is okay to to create a space of comfort and growth. Their encouragement is for adoptees to do what is best for them.

Connect with Greg on IG @greggentry22
Contact us at: wanderingtreeadoptee.com 

Find your people, cherish your people and love your people.

#adoptee #adoptees #adopteevoices #adopteestories #adopteestrong #adoptionreality #adopteejourney #adoption #wanderingtreeadoptee

In today's conversation with host Adoptee Lisa Ann, our guests touch on the use of social media to connect to other adoptees. We tackle the benefits of using the various platforms such as Facebook pages, Facebook groups, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to create a thriving community. 

Please join us in this roundtable discussion, where Wandering Tree Podcast welcomes back to the show Emma Stevens and Lorah Gerald. Experience the fellowship of a simple a group of connected adoptees talking about the lived experience with socials.

Want to connect with the guests? 

Check them out using the following links:  

• Lorah Gerald, The Adopted Chameleon, can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Pinterest via her website https://lorahgerald.com/
• Merchandise available at her Adoptee Shop https://lorahgerald.com/shop
• #emmastevensthegatheringplace
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Emmastevens99
• IG: https://www.instagram.com/emmastevensthegatheringplace
• Message: @emmastevensthegatheringplace
• Twitter & TikTok: @emmastevensTGP
• https://linktr.ee/Authoremmastevens
• The Gathering Place: An Adoptee's Story found on: Amazon.com

Connecting to the adoptee community can be very helpful to the adoptee in search and reunion. In the second instance of a four part series, Host Lisa Ann sits down with the leadership of Fireside Adoptees. This group of dedicated humans are setting the adoptee community on fire by offering a space to discuss adoption from the states of surviving to thriving! They encourage and empower adoptees to work within their Community, Advocate for themselves and others, Mentor those who are farther behind in the journey called life, and set a slow and steady Pace so they don’t burn out.

Their motto in a nutshell is:
C community
A advocate
M mentor
P pace

Lots of ways to connect to this group via one or more of the links below: 

• Email: [email protected]
• FB Fireside Adoptees: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1411791922534076
• IG @firesideadoptees: https://www.instagram.com/firesideadoptees/
• YouTube Fireside Adoptees: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtOVAdI8lbW0HTqQhMjVL0A

Individuals

Raya Snow: IG @prestigiouslyholly

Amanda Baum: IG @twin_flame_rising

Nicole Koharik: FB The Adoptee In Me and IG @theadopteeinme

Dusty Sawaer: IG @dustysawaer

Greg Gentry: IG @greggentry22

Books:

• Chasing Away the Shadows: An Adoptee's Journey to Motherhood by Zara H. Phillips
• Journey of the adopted self: A Quest for Wholeness by Bette Jean Lifton
• Adoption Healing: A Path to Recovery by Joseph M. Soll

Video: Paul Sunderland Adoption and Addiction

In the third of a four part series on adoptees attending biological family reunions, Host Lisa Ann and podcaster Damon Davis have a great conversation. They cover the blessing of a fairytale reunion with a biological mother to the all-in aspects of a family reunion event. Wandering Tree was so grateful for the time these two spent in fellowship and looks forward to the next opportunity.

Here is a bit more about our guest:
Damon Davis is the host of the "Who Am I Really?" podcast (www.whoamireallypodcast.com) where adopted people share their stories of adoption and their attempt to find their birth families. He has interviewed nearly 200 adoptees from an array of life experiences from awful adoptions and amazing reunions to inspiring adoptions and unfortunate reunions.

In his autobiography "Who Am I Really? - An Adoptee Memoir" Damon shares his journey to becoming an adoptive parent and his emotions over the birth of his son, Seth. He opens up about the heartbreak of grappling with his adoptive mother's mental illness while balancing the joy of locating his birth mother working nearby. His journey took a twist when he located his biological father via DNA testing. 

Several ways to follow and connect with Damon to include Facebook, Instagram and his website for the Who Am I Really? Podcast

Adoptees Lisa Ann and Elle attended biological family reunions and have lived to share out their experience. In this session they share some of their thoughts and insights into the anxiety, excitement and details of what it was like to be in the presence of so many new people. Was it horrid or fantastic? Enjoy their laughs and near tears as they speak on the two days of activities.

Connecting to the adoptee community can be very helpful to the adoptee in search and reunion. Several months ago, Host Lisa Ann sat down with Author and Podcaster Jennifer Dyan Ghoston to discuss the benefits of connection adoptee-to-adoptee. Their lived experiences spawned a creative shared episode, where they listed out a few of their favorite resources. 

If you are not familiar with Jennifer, she has been connected to the adoptee community for over a decade and is interested in hearing the personal stories of adoptees from all over the globe. The Truth So Far… is her memoir capturing an open, honest and public adoption experience. To further give into the community, Jennifer hosts the podcast Once Upon A Time...In Adopteeland. 

Both Jennifer and Lisa Ann hope you enjoy the spirit of community and creativity in this week's episode. 

Want to connect with Jennifer:
 http://www.jenniferdyanghoston.com
IG:  @onceuponatimeinadopteeland 
Twitter: @Jenniferghoston and
FB: Jennifer Dyan Ghoston

RESOURCES DISCUSSED 

Podcasts:

• The Adoption Files - Ande Stanley
• Who Am I Really - Damon Davis
• Adoptees On and Adoptees Off Script - Haley Radkey
• Pulled By By the Root - Heidi Marble
• Once Upon A Time...In Adopteeland - Jennifer Dyan Ghoston 
• Adopted Feels - Hana and Ryan
• Adoption: The Making of Me - Louise Browne and Sarah Reinhardt 
• This Adoptee Life - Amanda Medina
• Black to the Beginning (podcast) hosted by Dr. Samantha Coleman and Sandria Washington

Books/Blogs:

• The Gathering Place - Emma Stevens
• The Lies that Bind - Laureen Pitman
• Tree of Strangers - Barbara Sumner 
• Searching for Mom: A Memoir - Sara Easterly
• The Truth So Far...: a detective's journey to reunite with her birth family - Jennifer Dyane Ghoston 
• Betty Jean Lifton (author) “Twice Born”
• Jean Strauss (author) “Beneath a tall tree” and “Birthright”
• Nancy Verrier (author) “Coming Home To Self”
• Ann Fessler (author) “The Girls Who Went Away”
• Julian Washio Collette (Blog) Peregrine Adoptee: Wandering Reflections of a Life in Fragments

Groups:

• Adoption Mosaic
• Fireside Adoptees (Private and Public Groups)
• Adoptees Connect - state chapters / groups
• Adoptee Voices Writing Group founded by Sara Easterly
• (Co-facilitators; Ridghaus, Alice Stephens, Kate Murphy and Jennifer Dyan Ghoston) www.adoptee-voices.com

Miscellaneous:

• Adopteereading.com
• Bookshop.org/shop/reunionlandpress.

July is National Family Reunion month, who knew? Adoptees Lisa Ann and Elle are invited to biological family reunions and both have decided to attend. In this session they share some of their thoughts on the why to attend, how they have prepared and their overall fears of meeting several new people at one time. Enjoy their laughs and near tears as the day of the event is imminent. 

Resources: 
Nationaltoday.com
The Children's Trust
GatheredAgain.com