With U Podcast

With a crazy, truth-or-dare-like boldness, we asked our kids to ask us any question at all and promised we'd answer truthfully. We enjoyed a candid Q&A session that led to tears, laughter, and some surprising discoveries about what aquatic animals we'd like to be and why.

---

produced by Zach Van Dyke

We choose some relationships in life, and some relationships choose us. If you have a sibling, you know what we’re talking about. As we grow up together, we live and learn, fight and hopefully forgive. We enjoyed a conversation with David’s brother Nathan about their shared family experiences, their age-gap challenges, and their evolving friendship.

See fun family photos of David & Nathan on our website at With U Podcast

Please send feedback or show topic suggestions to us at [email protected]

--

produced by Zach Van Dyke

Did you know we are each made up of trillions of microbial cells? And that our relationship with these unseen microorganisms may have a profound impact on our lifelong health? Our guest Toni Harman, is a filmmaker who produced the award-winning documentary Microbirth. She explores the science behind how our bodies interact with our environment, and emphasizes the importance of optimizing the microbiome from birth.

---

Toni Harman is a filmmaker, author, course creator and champion of the microbiome.

Toni has produced and directed a number of internationally distributed documentary films including MICROBIRTH about the origins of the human microbiome.

Toni’s extensive research for her film MICROBIRTH led to her co-authoring the books THE MICROBIRTH EFFECT and YOUR BABY’s MICROBIOME.

Toni is also the founder of MICROBIOME COURSES, an online school offering CPD approved courses for health professionals and parents on the infant microbiome, now with over 40,000 registered students.

For a free mini-course explaining the infant microbiome: https://microbirth.teachable.com/p/taster

You can watch MICROBIRTH here: https://microbirth.teachable.com/p/microbirth

You can also watch MICROBIRTH on Vimeo On Demand here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/microbirthfilm

---

Links to some other things mentioned in the show:

Lambic beer

Book: “You Are What Your Grandparents Ate”

National Human Genome Research Institute: definition of microbiome

https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Microbiome

Some facts Tara & David mention are from the Human Microbiome Project

https://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp

---

produced by Zach Van Dyke

What happens when the next steps in life don't come so easily? Russell Moore's expectations about growing a family were challenged when he and his wife experienced infertility. Though initially resistant to the idea of adoption, Dr. Moore's heart opened to welcome two sons adopted from Russia. He shares ways adoption is woven into Jesus' own family tree to reveal the expansive love of God and the concept of family beyond biological ties.

---

Russell Moore is Editor in Chief of Christianity Today.

Moore is the author of several books, including Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches.

An ordained Baptist minister, Moore served previously as President of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and, before that, as the chief academic officer and dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he also taught theology and ethics.

The Wall Street Journal has called Moore “vigorous, cheerful, and fiercely articulate.” He was named in 2017 to Politico Magazine’s list of top fifty influence-makers in Washington, and has been profiled by such publications as the New York Times, the Washington Post and the New Yorker.

Moore was a Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics and currently serves on the board of the Becket Law and as a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum in Washington, D.C.

A native Mississippian, he and his wife Maria are the parents of five sons. They live in Nashville, where he teaches the Bible regularly at their congregation, Immanuel Church.

---

produced by Zach Van Dyke

see full transcript on our With U Podcast website

Hillary and Jonathan Wildt each felt led to the idea of adoption even before they found each other. After they were married, done with grad school, and feeling ready for parenthood, they worked to prepare their house, their hearts, and their extended family for the realities of adoption. The process led them to welcoming three biological siblings as their children. Now two years into their parenthood journey, they share the challenges they face, including attachment issues and managing expectations, but also the joy of certainty that they were meant to be together.

—-

Resources Hillary & Jonathan found helpful:

In On It by Elisabeth O’Toole (book used for family wine & cheese adoption book discussion)

Parenting from the inside out

The Whole Brain Child

The Connected Child

The Connected Parent

Dancing with a Porcupine: Parenting wounded children without losing your self.

Raising Human Beings

The Raising Devon Blog

—-

please see full transcript and other extras on our website, With U Podcast

---

produced by Zach Van Dyke

transcription by Ryan Van Dyke

In a story of love, loss, and letting go, Joy and Myah explore their experiences with adoption and their evolving relationship as mother and daughter. Joy candidly shares the rollercoaster ride of emotions through unexplained infertility and the new path to growing her family. Myah reflects on her complex feelings about her biological family and her quest for belonging. Together they express that every challenge has been worth it to bring them to where they are today.

---

produced by Zach Van Dyke

transcribed by Ryan Van Dyke

---

see full transcript and more photos of Joy & Myah at withupodcast.com

Family ties get twisty when another enters the family. Much has been said about the effects and needs of adopted kids and parents, but what about the rest of the family?

Seven adopted siblings joined Jana’s family after she turned 16. This big life transition opened her heart and grew her compassion. But Jana also learned a lot about effects of adoption on the whole family system. Her own unaddressed needs and struggles led her to finding better tools and interventions to keep adoptive and foster families connected and healthy.

—-

Dr. Jana Hunsley is the Executive Director of Project 1025 LLC, an organization devoted to equipping and supporting adoptive and foster families, where she offers consulting, training, coaching, and counseling for families and professionals. She is also co-founder of Camp Together, a nonprofit offering therapeutic family camps for families impacted by trauma. Jana received her doctorate in experimental psychology from the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University where her research focused on understanding and meeting the needs of every member of adoptive and foster families through post-adoption supportive services. Over the years, Jana has worked in various clinical settings as a therapist with children and youth who have experienced trauma, including residential treatment, institutional care, schools, child welfare, and juvenile detention. Jana credits her passion for this work to her siblings who were adopted when she was a teenager.

—-

Project 1025: Services and Resources to Create Connected Foster and Adoptive Families

Connected Family Series: An online, self-paced post-adoption family intervention aimed at seeing and meeting the needs of all members of adoptive families.

—-

Produced by Zach Van Dyke

Transcribed by Ryan Van Dyke

It’s Leap Day! Since February has an extra day this year, we present a bonus episode: a review of the movie Leap Year (2010) starring Amy Adams. Guess which of your hosts will get extra sappy and which will get practical as we follow this rom-com story set in Dublin, Ireland. On a quest for a Leap Day marriage proposal we will cover it all from Celtic traditions, to travel disasters and relational misunderstandings. Does it all lead to a happy ending? Watch the movie to find out and then join us on the podcast to sort through the hilarity and mishaps to find the gold at the end of the rainbow.

—-

More about the movie: Leap Year (2010)

View movie trailer here.

—-

Wedding toast from the movie:

May you never steal, lie, or cheat, but if you must steal, then steal away my sorrows, and if you must lie, lie with me all the nights of my life, and if you must cheat, then please cheat death because I couldn't live a day without you. Cheers!

—-

music by Oleskii Kaplunskyi from Pixabay

produced by Zach Van Dyke

transcription by Ryan Van Dyke

When Gabriela was inspired to volunteer, she never imagined herself serving behind bars. But when God prompted her heart, she ventured outside her comfort zone and into prison. Now, after 20 years of prison ministry, she shares her passion for responsibility, grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, and God’s love for all.

—

Gabriela Kabatova lives in Prague, Czech Republic.

Gabriela served as a member of the Salvation Army volunteer team for prison visits (2006-10), and she is the founder and director of Prison Fellowship Czech Republic (2010-present).

—

produced by Zach Van Dyke

transcription by Ryan Van Dyke

---

See the song "Srdce za zdí" (Heart Behind the Wall). The

Full transcript of this episode available on With U Projects website.

produced by Zach Van Dyke

cover art photoshop assistance from Ryan Van Dyke & Zach Van Dyke