Open Your Mouth and Tell Your Story

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the so I'm Adopted podcast, where we talk
everything adoption.
This journey is not one we takealone.
Together, we grapple with rawemotions that surface from
adoption stories.
We want you to be comfortableenough to heal, so sit back
andle with raw emotions thatsurface from adoption stories.
We want you to be comfortableenough to heal, so sit back and
go with us on this journey as wedive deep into adoption.

(00:34):
How are you doing?

Speaker 1 (00:35):
I am doing fantastic.
It's great to be back, greatback.
It's been a minute.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
It has been a minute.
You know, life gets to life, asthey say, and you get caught up
in your routines and one thingtakes precedence and now this
becomes a priority.
But I will say it is good to beback in our space.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Absolutely.
I'm excited about the events ofthis evening, our guests and so
let's do what we do.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
So I'm excited as well.
And when you give the narrativeof our guest, I want to ask her
a little bit about, becauseshe's a reason why we jumped
back in this double dutch asquickly as we did.
So I am excited.
But before we do that again, wewant to encourage you to hit
the like share button.
Look at us on all platforms.
Make sure that we are gettingthe word out about

(01:30):
non-traditional relationshipsand families and just trying to
really empower and educate.
One of the things that westarted doing was bringing light
to famous adoptees.
So, lisa, who do you have thisweek?

Speaker 1 (01:46):
I have Hold, please for a second.
I was trying to print it out,but it didn't work.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
That's your electronic drumroll.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
I have Tiffany Haddish, oh, the actress and
comedian.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Okay, she ready.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
She ready, but she was in foster care.
She entered foster care at theage of nine and she experienced
many multiple placements duringher time in foster care, but
then she ended up being adoptedby her grandmother, who ended up
, you know, legally adopting herafter so many years that she

(02:26):
was in foster care.
So that's, and to this dayshe's now an advocate of foster
care.
She speaks out about it quiteoften and and she is, you know,
she has some programs out thereas well.
So I knew she was in fostercare.
I just never realized that shewas eventually adopted by her

(02:47):
family.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
It was interesting and maybe she has.
I just haven't seen it.
I haven't heard her really usethat in her comedic stand.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
I haven't actually listened to any of her comedy
shows or anything, so I can'tsay but that's interesting.
If she hasn't, I would thinkthat would be a wealth of
material.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, because you know, most comedians use pain
for their comedy, but she's beenin the game for quite a while.
I will say but I'll go back andlook.
So that's interesting, that's agood one, that's a real good
one.
So my person.
They found out when they were35 years old that they were
adopted, and they were adoptedwhen they were three months old.

(03:34):
You said what?

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Like 35.
I said oh, I was like 37.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
So they were adopted, and I'm going to save the name
for last because I didn't knowthis one.
It blew my mind.
They were adopted, and I'mgonna save the name for last
because I didn't know this one.
It blew my mind.
Okay, they were adopted bybanna and byford mcdaniels.
You know who this is addy mcdanno, they.
This is the statement that theymade.

(04:00):
They did an interview withEssence and he said I realized I
was given love, direction andeducation, something that was
pivotal in me becoming theperson I was destined to be.
Every child, regardless oftheir unfortunate situation,
deserves the opportunity tobecome positive, productive,
achieving people with access tothe assistance to achieve their

(04:23):
dreams and desires.
In 2006, he co-founded theFelix Organization, which is a
summer camp, and they offerfinancial support for children
in foster care.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
I'm anxious to hear who this person is.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Be anxious for nothing, because I'm going to
tell you it is is drum roll.
Daryl mcdaniels.
Dmc from run dmc oh really yeah, I had no clue I did not know
that and he's like I said, he'svery open about it.

(05:04):
He found out when he was 35.
So that again paints a totallydifferent picture.
When you find out, it can causeyou to be angry or it can cause
you to be at a place whereyou're mature enough to really
digest the information.
So it just depends.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
It depends.
I was angry at first, so yeah,I get it.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
And I guess I didn't.
I'm not going to say I didn'thave an opportunity to be angry
because I was so young.
It just was organic and justpart of the cards I was dealt.
So, um, but yeah, that's so.
That is our entertainment orcelebrity adoptee story, right?

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
So let's jump into this double dutch.
I'm excited.
Yes, again, like you statedearlier, when we first started
we had taken a little hiatusjust because of life and
different situations takingplace Positive things, nothing
negative.
I do want to say that, and wegot an email.
Do want to say that, and we gotan email.
You want to talk about theemail?

Speaker 1 (06:08):
you can talk about the email, okay yes, you do that
.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
So in the email it was talking about the podcast
and just what it had meant, andI'm gonna ask them to share when
we bring them into the room.
But I want to talk about theimpact of the email.
Sometimes I think that we canget caught into our routines and
we don't understand the impactthat we're having on others.
And when you are doing whatyou're called to do, there's

(06:37):
always a purpose for it, there'salways a reason behind it, and
sometimes we can not understandthat or not see it.
We don't see the larger picture.
And when I read the email, itreally pierced me as to say what
are you doing?
Why are you not followingthrough?
You need to continue.

(06:57):
People need to hear, peopleneed to know.
So it was an excitement thatwas drawn back up and I'm again
I can't use another word, butexcited to have her on here
tonight.
So let's, let's jump in.
Give the bio, lisa, let's go.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Let's go, ok.
Ok, let's see here.
Miss Sanaa Latrice Cotton is apassionate advocate for the
disadvantaged families and youthin the foster care system.
As a founder and CEO ofUnashamed Inc.
A nonprofit organization, sheis dedicated to the journey and

(07:34):
the current, I'm sorry, to thejourney with current and
transitioning foster youth andyoung adults between the ages of
14 and 26 to overcome shame andknow they have value and
purpose, so they believe theybelong in this world.
That's powerful right there.
Aside from her impactful workwith Unashamed, sana is highly

(08:00):
regarded as a transformationalspeaker and author.
Is highly regarded as atransformational speaker and
author.
Her memoir Everyone Will Knowit Was God chronicles her
personal journey of overcomingearly childhood sexual abuse,
growing up in foster care,navigating teen pregnancy and
finding strength after adoption.
Sana also collaborates closelywith the Child Welfare

(08:24):
Department in her home state ofConnecticut.
Sona's unwavering commitment hasgarnered recognition from
various media outlets, includingappearance on CBN, the 700 Club
and the Jennifer Hutchins Showin 2019.
She was honored as one of the100 Women of color by June

(08:45):
Archer and 1128 Entertainment,highlighting her remarkable
achievements.
Outside of her professionalendeavors, sana finds joy in her
17-year marriage to her husband, joshua, and takes pride in
being a loving mother to theirtwo children.
Hopefully I'm pronouncing itright, jameer and Janae.

(09:08):
If not, correct me when we getback, when you get on.
Additionally, she cherishes herrole as the doting grandmother
of her grandson Sayir, so let'swelcome her into the show.
One moment.
Let me get her in.
I don't know why.

(09:33):
It's One moment, please.
Oh, let me open up my wholeentire.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
This will stop.
So why are you doing that?
Let's talk about one of thedifferences because prior to, we
have not really jumped into thefoster care avenue, so this is
an opportunity again to shine alight in a different pocket.
Our situations as the host ofthis podcast were the

(10:17):
traditional adoptions, you know.
So we don't necessarily havethe ability to speak from an
educated place.
You know, we can do researchand things of that nature, but
being able to speak from apersonal experience, we don't
have that.
So being able to getindividuals on that can share
their lived experiences or theirprofessional experiences, we

(10:41):
definitely invite them to comeon and help us out.
So when we had this opportunityand we began to do our
pre-conversations and just thethings that she's already done
has really been beneficial, andwe finally got her in and
welcome, welcome, welcome.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
Thank you, I'm so excited to be here with you all.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
As I was stating earlier, you were a catalyst in
us jumping back in this doubledutch.
So, before you get into yourstory and sharing, just thank
you first and foremost and, ifyou wouldn't mind, just sharing
a little bit about whatmotivated you to send the email.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
Absolutely.
So I happened on the so I'mAdopted podcast, just in walking
.
So every day I walk for threemiles and I normally try to
listen to a podcast or a sermonthat you know really interests
me, and so I was like I want tolisten to something on adoption,
and so I kind of searchedadoption in the Apple podcast

(11:51):
and this one came up.
There was a couple that came upbefore and I was like you know,
they weren't African-Americanand I was really looking for
something or fromAfrican-Americans, and then I
came across yours and so I said,okay, I'm going to start from
the very first episode.
So I went to the very firstepisode and I started listening

(12:13):
and then, before I knew it, Ihad went through, you know, on
that three mile walk, I think Ifinished two of the episodes and
then the next day I startedright back up and kept going and
I was just so interested and Iwas like, oh my gosh, I just
love it.
So I went to your Instagram andI'm like I need to know
everything about you, becauseI'm a person that loves stories.

(12:36):
I love to hear other people'sstories, especially as it
relates to foster care andadoption, and so I started
trying to find you guys on yoursocial media.
I want to know everything, Iwant to see everything.
And then I was like, wait aminute, I don't see any more
episodes.
What's going on here?
And I just sent the email.

(12:58):
I'm like, well, let me let themknow.
Like they have a fan out here,that is, you know, looking now
I'm bored.
I'm like three because I don'thave any more episodes.
And so that's what prompted meto to um, to send the email well
again.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Thank you so very much just for being obedient to
it, and I'm glad that we canhelp you on your healthy journey
of three miles.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
So we always start with the question so when did
you?

Speaker 3 (13:33):
find out you were adopted.
I have never not known that Iwas adopted.
I came into the world of childwelfare at a very young age.
I was four years old and I alsohad a twin brother, so we came
into foster care together at thesame time, pretty much just

(13:53):
because my mother and mygrandmother were both very
heavily into addiction and inand out of prison and had been
sexually abusing me.
And so at a doctor'sappointment one day the doctor
went to do the physical and Istarted to cry and it was a red

(14:16):
flag for them, and so theyimmediately called in the nurse.
And they called in, they askedyou know what's going on?
And in my four-year-old's mindI began to share like what was
happening to me.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Hold on, I'm sorry, son, I don't want to interrupt
you, but do you have a windowopen or something?
No, no, do you hear that?
Do you hear that?

Speaker 3 (14:39):
I heard it, but now I don't.
Do you guys still hear it?

Speaker 2 (14:43):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
I hear it.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yes, I hear it.
Let me see what.
I don't know what it.
I hear it hold on.
Let me just see one second.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
Hold on I'm gonna put myself on mute and see if you
hear it.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
Well, that's what I did.
There it is.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
Do you still hear it?

Speaker 2 (15:12):
No, when Lisa went on mute, it stopped.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
It stopped.
Now I don't hear it Right, okay, so we're good now.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
Okay, we're good.
So, as I was stating, I went tothe doctors and I basically
told them in my four year oldversion of what had happened to
me and immediately, you know,they called child welfare and we
were put into foster care.
Probably a week after meactually sharing what was

(15:42):
happening, we ended up goinginto the hospital first, and so
we were in the hospital for afew days and they ran tests and
all that stuff.
And then we ended up going toour first foster, our only
foster home.
So, and you both, went to thesame.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
We went to the same home, yep.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Wow, is that common?
Let me ask that nature.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
Okay, and again I'm asking questions because this is
new territory for us, with thewhole foster journey, and we
want to, like I said earlier,shine a light into these
different pockets, becauseeverybody's story is different.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Right.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
You never know who will be able to draw from
certain aspects of it, so Ialways just ask certain
questions that just may bebeneficial as we go through.
So you all are now in fostercare, and what happens next?
Talk us through the next partof the journey.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
So we're in foster care.
We were placed in a foster homewith, actually, it was a pastor
and a first lady, so they hadbeen doing foster care for many
years.
They had actually adopted acouple of children.
It was a pretty big house.
So at the time there wasprobably about they had three
kids that they had alreadyadopted.
And then it was my brother andI that were there and so this

(17:30):
pastor and first lady actuallyhad just started like having
church in their basement.
So they were like just startingout on their ministry journey
and so that was kind of like myfirst introduction to like God
and church and faith and all thethings.
And so we were there in thathome till we were eight years
old and the plan was always forus, for them to adopt us.

(17:53):
That was the plan, which is whywe were there for so long,
because normally in foster careif they know that there's a
youth where the parents'parental rights are going to be
terminated, they try to get themin a home that is going to be
more long-term, stable, leadingto adoption, as opposed to

(18:17):
having them move from house tohouse.
So it was very clear early onthat my biological mother's
rights were going to beterminated, the whole time I was
still in foster care we wouldgo to the prison and visit her,
because in foster care they havethe right to have visits.
It's their legal right, and sothey have to make sure that the

(18:40):
parents are able as long as it'ssafe, the parents are able to
see their children.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
So OK, let me let me 30 second timeout.
So many questions.
So the first one if you canremember, talk to me about your
mindset as a four to eight yearold, as much as you can remember
, being removed from the house,put in foster care and now

(19:08):
having to go to the prison tosee your biological mom and then
, like the discussions betweenyou and your brother, like just
unpack it, if possible, as muchas you are able to.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
So my brother and I had two very different trauma
responses.
His response when we came intocare, although he wasn't the one
experiencing the abuse in fact,our biological uncle, which is
our mother's brother, actuallytook.
He knew that the abuse washappening and he convinced my

(19:44):
mother to allow him to took.
He knew that the abuse washappening and he convinced my
mother to allow him to take.
He wanted to take both of us,but they wouldn't allow him to
take both of us, so they onlyallowed him to take my brother.
So the a lot of the abuse thatI endured he did not endure.
He wasn't even in the home butbecause my uncle was the one
that was.

(20:05):
He still was an addict as well,but he was more functioning.
So it was more hisresponsibility to take us to
doctor's appointments, thosethings that would cause, you
know, professionals or police toget involved.
It was his responsibilitybecause my mother had been
dealing with DCF since she foundout she was pregnant, so they
were already involved.

(20:26):
They were already, you know,very much aware of what was
going on and watching.
And so he.
My brother's response when hecame, when we came into care, is
he literally just went mute.
He stopped talking.
So the only person he wouldtalk to was me.
He would whisper in my ear andI became his voice and I would

(20:46):
say, like he's hungry orwhatever.
We were very, very, very close.
For me, my trauma response wasto take care of my brother, like
that was my main thing.
So what they call it in thechild welfare world is
parentified.
I very much became parentified,where I essentially became the

(21:11):
parent to my brother at a veryyoung age, and so I've always
been very mature.
I've always been, even at ayoung age, very inquisitive,
asking a lot of questions, likejust always.
It's always naturally been whoI am, and so my response was to

(21:31):
take care of my brother.
And so when we would go on thesevisits to go see our mom, my
brother never spoke.
He just sat there through thevisits, never spoke.
He just sat there through thevisits, just kind of looked at
my mom.
He didn't really have any wordsto say.
And for me I, you know, I justshe was still my mom.

(21:52):
You know, despite the fact ofthe abuse that I was very much
aware of, she was still my mom.
And so we, we, the way theywould set the visits up in the
prison is they would havespecial days where any prisoner
that had children they wouldkind of put them.
They had this community room sothe inmates would be able to

(22:15):
come there without their inmateclothing on.
They would kind of give themregular clothes.
They tried to make it as normalas you could in a prison.
We didn't have to go throughthe metal detectors, we would go
into the special room, theywould give us lunch, we would
have arts and crafts.
It was just a fun day, and sothey did this twice a month, and

(22:37):
twice a month we made the drivewhich was almost two hours away
from our foster home up to thisprison, which was almost two
hours away from our foster homeup to this prison.
And it was very interestingbecause when it's time to leave
the prison, all the kids arecrying because now you're
leaving your mom, you know, andso for me it was very traumatic

(23:00):
over.
It was like it was just traumathat happened on a regular basis
, because by the time you getback from the visit, you kind of
get back into a regular routine.
You know, after your emotionshave kind of subsided and you've
gotten back into a regularroutine, the next two weeks is
coming.
It's time for you to go back,and so you start the process all

(23:21):
over again.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
How long did that last?

Speaker 3 (23:26):
It lasted until her rights were terminated, so
literally up until we were aboutseven and a half we did these
visits.
Wow.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Every two weeks.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
Every two weeks.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
Mm yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
And then our grandmother who wasn't in prison
, my mother's mother, who wasn'tin prison at the time.
We also had to do like monthlyvisits with her.
So we would do those visits atthe, at the child welfare office
.
We would go, you know, once amonth for an hour.
So yeah, we did that.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
So, and again, just because I don't know.
So why did you have to do thebusiness with the grandmother?

Speaker 3 (24:08):
just because she was our like next of kin, she was
what they consider immediatefamily so they always try to
keep a connection with somethingin the actual family yeah, the
I mean, the goal is alwaysreunification.
So so you know, they worked withmy mom and my grandmother in

(24:29):
hopes that, like someone wouldstep up from our family or you
know, to be able to care for us.
But this was the 80s, Like alot of people were dealing with
the crack epidemic and it justyou know, unfortunately we were
in the mix of all that so I wantto ask a question now, since
we're talking about this partthat normally I would wait, but

(24:52):
I think this is the perfectsegue for it.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
You having that experience of having, like you
said, the abuse having to go seemother, how does that impact
your lens as a mother?

Speaker 3 (25:08):
So I think for me, my lens for as a mother was very
difficult, because I had thelens of my biological mother,
then I had the lens from myfoster mother, who wasn't a
really nice person she wasn'tthe nicest person and then the

(25:33):
lens of my adopted mother, whowasn't very nurturing.
And so, with these three women,I had to form my own version of
what I wanted motherhood tolook like, and so it was it was.
It was very tough, I think I Itook from each of them, except

(25:53):
for my biological mother, butvery much overprotective, very
overprotective, very helicopterparenting.
My kids were like my possession, because they were, they were
mine, and so it it struggled.
I think I struggled with it,probably up until the last
couple of years, if I'd betotally honest, I'm still

(26:14):
learning to be the parent that Iwant, like that I want to be
for my kids.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Thank you for the transparency of saying you just
recently, because a lot of times, you know, people paint the
picture that we have it alltogether and you know, when I
talk to people, let them knowlook, I'm still wrestling, I'm
still trying to figure it out.
I have good days and I havedays that aren't as good, but I
continue to press forward.
So again, thank you for thatforward.

(26:42):
So again, thank you for that.
So, going back now, so parentalrights have been terminated.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
You're in foster care .
What's going on now?
So I'm in foster care, Parentalrights have been terminated.
The plan is for my fosterparents to adopt us.
Foster father ends up having anaffair, a marriage.
They get a divorce, so heleaves the house.
Her plan is still to adopt us.
Then she begins to have healthissues.

(27:14):
She has a stroke and multipleother health issues and it just
becomes like not an option.
Adoption is no longer an option.
So at that point our socialworker which was always amazing
she was always very, even at ayoung age, very honest and
upfront with me.
She always said, like Sana,this is what's going on, this is

(27:37):
what's happening.
You know what do you want, whatdo you?
All the time she talked to melike I was an adult, so I was
always very aware.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
How old were you at as this was all going on?
Seven, oh, you were still atseven when the affair happened
and she started having healthproblems.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
Yeah, so we were there till we were like just
before eight is when wetransitioned into our adoptive
home.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Okay, so Question so, with her getting the divorce,
did that impact her, aside fromthe health concerns?
How was that viewed, with herstill wanting to adopt you all?
Was it a strike against herbecause now she didn't have a
husband?

Speaker 3 (28:23):
No, Okay, it wasn't a strike against her at all.
They were still looking to moveforward with the adoption.
She still, you know everything.
They had a nice house, she hadincome, you know all the things
that you would need to be ableto care for kids.
It was there.
I mean she, she took good careof us.
You know, as far as our care,she took good care of us.
You know, as far as our care.

(28:44):
She just was a mean woman andand I mean, looking back at it
now as an adult, I think I canunderstand where some of her
meanness stemmed from.
You know, you're in themarriage.
You're probably not happy.
You know all the things.
We didn't see all of that.

(29:04):
He, he wasn't in the art, myfoster father wasn't in the home
, a lot like.
I don't remember him.
But again, he they were juststarting a church, so he's the
pastor, you know.
So it was like him being out ofthe house didn't feel any
different for us because hewasn't there, he wasn't hands-on
, like that anyway.

(29:24):
So it didn't really feel anydifferent and so, but when she
got sick, you know, it was likethis is not going to happen, and
so we were put into back thenit was a.
It was like a binder, likeliterally there was like a
binder with all the kidsthroughout the state that were

(29:45):
up for adoption and so wheneverchild welfare would have like
open houses for adoption, theywould bring these binders and in
the binder it was a picture ofthe kids and like a little
description or story of the kidand it's almost like pick a kid
from the book, like who do youwant to adopt?
And now that binder is digital.

(30:05):
So in most states you can goonline to their child welfare
department.
You can see it's called like thethe heart gallery is what they
call it and now it's basicallythe same thing as that binder,
but it's digital wow and so weyeah, we ended up getting placed
for adoption and at this pointit was like my social worker was

(30:29):
kind of like she put this lifebook together for us of like
pictures from our time in fostercare and she would.
She became very intentionalabout taking pictures, like
whenever we had visits, wheneverwe had meetings, she would take
pictures and she would writethese little captions under
every picture of what washappening or who was in the

(30:51):
picture, and she just becamevery intentional about making
sure we had like that part ofour life wasn't omitted from our
memory as we grew up.
And so, yeah, it's not done asmuch anymore now, but it's the

(31:11):
best thing that I have from mytime in care.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
Did you see the book the Binder when you were young?
Did the social worker sharethat with you?

Speaker 3 (31:20):
The Binder with all the kids in it.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
So she didn't share it.
She didn't share it with mewhen I was young, but when I got
older and I got all of myrecords, our page was in the
records.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Yeah, so I still have the actual page.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Oh, wow, that's powerful.
All right, so we're in theadoption stage.
Now You've got the information.
How has your brother adjusted?
Or is he still just not talking?
Because now you have anotherlayer of trauma with the

(31:59):
separation of the foster andthen another transition.
So what does that?

Speaker 3 (32:04):
separation of the foster and then another
transition.
So what does that look like?
He's talking a little more, butwe're now recognizing that he
has some learning challenges.
So he was a little more he.
Because the whole time we werewith my mom, like leading up to,
like you know, four and five,we weren't getting any type of
like.
There was no.
She wasn't teaching us ourletters and our colors.

(32:26):
You know those, those veryformative years as a toddler, we
weren't getting any of that.
So by the time we got to ourfoster families, when we first
started getting introduced toschool and like you know, what
does that look like?
And so my brother struggled alot like with school, like he
was, he was always kind ofbehind me.

(32:47):
So I think for him again, thisis just me looking back now as
as a grown woman and haven'tbeen through therapy and
processing so much, realizinghow trauma shows up differently
for everybody it looks different.
And so he struggled a lot inschool.
He struggled a lot like at home, like lying he would lie a lot.

(33:11):
He would like not want to eatfood and like just stuff like
that.
Or we'd sit at dinner and hewould.
They would make him sit at thetable, like all night you're
going to eat those peas, and hewould just sit at the table
until like all night you'regonna eat those peas, and he
would just sit at the tableuntil whatever time because he's
not eating the peas.
So he like didn't want to eatthe food.
It was stuff like that.

(33:31):
He stuttered.
He had a stuttering problem,really bad, so that was one of
the reasons he also didn't wantto talk, because he was
embarrassed.
That.
And then for me trauma was I wasthe people pleaser.
I wanted to make sure I got thebest grades.
I did all my chores.
You, you know I was reallysmart in school, you know, and

(33:54):
my thing was for me it was Ihave to make up for my brother,
and my mindset was and if I dothis, then we won't get placed
in another home.
We can stay here.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
Wow, wow.
So did you ever have aconversation with you know, with
your brother?
You two have a you know aone-on-one, deep conversation
like, look, I like it here.
You know, like you're a peoplepleaser and he you know he was
more had his own issues going on.
Did you guys ever have aconversation like we need to

(34:30):
stay here, so we need to doeverything we need to do to stay
here?
Did you have that type of aconversation with him?

Speaker 3 (34:36):
We didn't have that type of a conversation.
My brother very much was likewhatever my sister says, go.
He was very much like I knowshe's going to take care of me,
whatever.
Whatever she says it's going tohappen is what's going to
happen.
So that played in a lot to evenus getting adopted, because and

(34:58):
I felt the burden of likemaking sure I always cared for
my brother, like that's just,you know how it's how it was.
And so when adoption came intoplay, simultaneously while all
this is happening over here withthe divorce and health issues,
across our state there is achurch and they're hosting open

(35:20):
houses for new adoptive parents,and so the book is there and
the church you know they'repicking through, you know the
kids in the book and a couplethere decides they want to adopt
us, their goal going into itbecause they already had my
adoptive parents together hadone son, and then my adoptive

(35:41):
father had kids from a previousmarriage who were older, and so
my adoptive mother had decidedshe didn't want to have any more
biological kids and so theywere going to adopt.
Also, my adopted father wasadopted.
So, for him he's always been athing to adopt.
So they go looking through thebook with the intention of

(36:03):
adopting just one kid.
They didn't care if it wasfemale or male, they just wanted
to adopt a kid.
They came across our profileand my adoptive mother said they
just fell in love with us andthey child welfare made it very
clear that they did not want tosplit us up.
So if you took one, you had totake both, and so they were open

(36:27):
with taking both of us.
And so, leading up to the act,so for a few months we did
visits with them.
First it would start out wherewe would go and have just like
lunch at McDonald's or BurgerKing and play.
This is when they had like theplayscape inside the restaurant.
So we would go for a couplemonths.
And then it went to weekendvisits where we would go and

(36:50):
stay with them for the weekend,and then after that for a couple
of months it went to okay, thisis gonna be permanent.
And so we didn't exactly knowwhen the permanent was gonna
happen, but we knew it wascoming.
And so one day we left to go toschool regular day, just go off

(37:11):
to school, and in the middle ofthe day we get called to the,
to the cafeteria, and we go downto the cafeteria and the whole
cafeteria is decorated like it'sa birthday party.
And so we walk in like it's notour birthday.
The crazy thing is like I knowit sounds so good, but for us it

(37:34):
was so embarrassing because noone knew.
Like we didn't tell our friendswe were in foster care, like
that's embarrassing, no one knew.
So now we're walking into thisgym and our classmates are all
there, there's all theseballoons and this is your going
away party.
And it's like what?
Like going away?

(37:55):
And our social worker was thereand literally they had like a
cake.
It was like this is your goingaway party.
And then we get in the car andso we're thinking we're going to
our foster home to say bye toour, our foster siblings, who
we've spent the last four yearswith our foster mom and no, they

(38:17):
had put all of our stuff in thetrunk, never got to say goodbye
, headed right off to ouradopted family.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
So that's where I think.
And again, when you know better, you do better.
Just over time, learning how,although good intent, it created
a stain.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
Even when you said they threw our stuff in the
trunk.
That's a.
You know your personal itemsand you just tossing them back
there.
Yeah, and even my question wasgoing to be how was the
transition?
But you answered it, it wasjust door closed.
Keep it moving.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
On to the next.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
Wow, wow.
So you never had any otherinteraction, communication with
them ever after.
Wow, that was it.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Okay, so we're in the car.
We've just had the traumaticsend-off yep, and it's our new
home.
How is the car ride like?
What are we after?
Again, at eight years old andyou're processing this traumatic
experience that you don't knowis traumatic is just like what

(39:34):
was that?
Then you have to switch it tonow being thankful that we have
this home, home, permanent home.
But I want to say goodbye.
I haven't had an opportunityfor closure.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
Yeah, I'm packed at ride.
The car ride there was.
It was a mix of, like, sadnessand excitement because, you know
, we had been doing weekendvisits, so we knew what the hell
it wasn't like we were gonnapull up to a house we never been
to like we had stayed therebefore I knew I had my own room
for the first time ever.

(40:07):
I was, I was going to my ownroom, like.
So it was that excitement andat that point I didn't know that
we weren't going to have anyconnection anymore with our
foster family.
I'm just, you know, it's just,we're gone for now, but when I
get there we can call or we canyou know we're going to.
I couldn't, I didn't processthat.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
Wrap your head around that.

Speaker 3 (40:31):
This was it.
Almost wrap your head aroundthat.
This was it.
Like we literally closed thedoor on that family.
So you know, you get there andexcitement.
You know the beginning isexcitement.
It's, it's all new.
It's like this is my home.
My adoptive parents wereamazing.
I mean, I had every toy that Icould want.
Like you know, it was very.
They were a family good old,just black family.

(40:55):
You know it was very.
They were a family Good old,just Black family, you know,
just regular.
I don't, you know, and so itwas.
It wasn't like it was soshocking to us.
It was structured.
We were used to structure yougo to church.
We were used to going to church.
Like there wasn't a lot of likechanges outside of.
Now it's me and my brother inour one sibling in the house.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
Who's older than us, about two years older than us.
Okay, so you know, we went onvacations, we had a regular
childhood, we went to privateschool, you know, it was just,
it was a regular childhood.
But so then we get to the point.
So after a year there we end upactually finalizing the

(41:40):
adoption.
So now we actually go to courtand the judge asks now I'm eight
.
So now the judge is askingeight-year-old Sana and her
brother do you for sure want tobe adopted by this family?
And I remember in that momentlike it felt like 10 minutes but

(42:07):
it could have, it was probablyjust a minute or so where I
paused to really think aboutthis thing, like do we want to
stay here?
Now I'm realizing we ain't seenour foster family this whole
year.
We talked to them the wholeyear.
I have no access to mybiological family.

(42:27):
That's now gone right, becausewe weren't just closing the door
on one family, we were closingthe door on two.
Right right, all of that is gone.
Yeah, these are good people,but they there's some like I
don't.
I don't, there's a, I stilldon't feel the real connection
like there's, like a I know thatI'm not yours, you know what I

(42:52):
mean.
I was really like, if I say yesto this, that means like these
are really my parents.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Did you think, did you think that you saying yes
would give you that connectionwhere they would treat you like?

Speaker 3 (43:08):
No, I didn't think.
I just really thought that if Isaid, if I said yes, I'll never
see my biological family again,gotcha, and if I say no, I
don't know what's going tohappen, that's a tough decision

(43:28):
for an eight-year-old to have tomake, right.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
And it's not just for you, it's for your brother too,
for two people.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
And I remember in that moment like my brother just
looked at me like would you saygo?
And I said yes, we want to beadopted.
Because I don't know what's onthe other side of my no, so I
know what's on the side of myyes.
I know my social worker wasvery.
She educated us on whatadoption meant, so I knew I was

(44:01):
not going to have access to mybiological family.
Like I knew that.
That's the stuff I knew.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
Right.
I didn't know what was on theother side of no so so question
does it normally take a year forthat process of being in the
home before they finalize it?
Is that normal?

Speaker 3 (44:21):
Honestly, it could take two years, it could take
six months.
Every case is really different.
It's really different with thelegalities of it.
I think, although they knew mymother's rights were getting
terminated and all that stuff,which is why they started the
adoption process of getting usthere, I don't think that her, I

(44:41):
don't think that the adoption,I don't think her rights were
actually yet terminated.
So I think that's what kind oftook that year is that we were
not, her rights weren't legallyterminated.
So once it was done, then itwas like okay, boom, move
forward.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
Okay, got it.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
And so, like my parents, my adoptive parents
were what they call apre-adoptive home.
So you know you're gettingadopted, so you can put a kid in
this home because you know thisis where they're going to stay.
We're not going to put them inanother foster home, knowing
that we're going to, they'regoing to be adopted.
So they they put us there.

(45:22):
It lasted the year.
They at the judge asked do Iwant?
We want to be adopted?
I say yes.
Then they say do you want tochange your name?

Speaker 2 (45:32):
Cool.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
Oh.
So I'm like, oh, I don't knowif I really like the name Sana,
because now I'm eight, right andwhat.
I don't want to change theirname.
Like what, a whole new name outof this.
So I'm like I don't know if Ilike the name Sana.
Nobody can pronounce it, likeit's weird, maybe I just want to
be Tisha, right?

(45:55):
So I was like thinking aboutthat and then we ended up
deciding that we would both giveour first names and we would
change our middle and obviouslyour last name.
And so we did.
We changed our middle and ourlast name, and then the adoption
was done.
They sworn it in and it was wewere adopted.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
So I like the fact that they did give you some.
They empowered you to say doyou want to change your name?
That's interesting.
But even at eight years old,because I can think of at eight
years old what I may have saidand it would not have been
positive, just because of youknow, at eight years old you're
influenced by so much butremember she had to grow up fast

(46:40):
.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
Yeah, okay, that makes sense in her her childhood
.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
But so do you remember your original name yes,
so my original name wasactually Sana's, my first name
Amenta, Doris, Choice, and whatI and right that name is.
I was like this name is ugly.
I definitely want to change it.
And my brother's middle namewas just David.

(47:06):
I'm like how they get Amenta,Doris and all he got is David
over there, so he.
So what I ended up finding outis that my two middle names,
Amenta and Doris, were mygreat-grandmother and
great-great-grandmother's names.
So there's the downside of that, where you lose a piece of your

(47:28):
identity and your history whenyou don't know.
They didn't know.
Nobody knew what those nameswere, so I did miss.
I missed out on that, Gotcha.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
Yeah, all right, so you have been empowered, sworn
in, you turn around like youturn around.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
And then what Big hugs to the family, fam, the
newfound family big hugs andcake and ice cream after, and
adopted, and guess what?
The next day it was regular oldlife because we already been
here for a year.
So nothing really is differentfrom, you know, being adopted.
So we're adopted.

(48:11):
So we hadn't.
You know, we go through life,we get into our teen years and I
think when I got to my teenyears that's when stuff started
to shift for me, because thiswhole time I know I'm adopted, I
know I have a biological familyout there, and so I get to my
teen years, probably around 14.

(48:32):
And me and my mom, like I said,we just weren't.
There was a disconnect, likeand I'm not saying she didn't
try, she wasn't a big nurturer,that's just not who she is.
Even now she's not a bignurturer, she's not gonna, you
know, give you a hug, she's justnot.
She's not gonna say I love you,love you, like that's just not

(48:53):
who she is.
But I mean she, I always wasvery well taken care of, always.
But I am the type, I'm a feelerby nature, so I need, like
nurturing and like that stuff.
I'm a talker, I want to talk,and she wasn't that.
So there was always thisdisconnect and me questioning
like I wonder what it would belike with my mom, my biological

(49:16):
mom.
I wonder what's happening withher.
You know I always have thesequestions, so this is where
things start to get a littlecrazy.
Ok, so Fifteen rolls aroundlike 14, I'm already thinking
right, right now.
Remember that life book.
I told you about that.

(49:37):
We had social workers sent itwas not adoption, that we had
this like.
Well, my adopted mom just tookthe life book, put it in the
closet and wouldn't give usaccess to it.
Oh, did you?
Did you know that she had it?
Yes, I knew that she had it.
So, yes, I knew that she had it.
So we each had our own.
I had one, my brother had one.
She took it, and it was almostlike she wanted us to forget

(50:00):
that we were adopted.
Like, forget that we had awhole nother life.
So we never have access to thisbook, right, which I am very
well aware that it exists.
So there was little thingswhere I think I started having
like animosity towards my mom,like I just didn't like certain

(50:22):
stuff, right, and so one day, myadoptive mother's sister or my
aunt she happens to be in prison, sister, my aunt, she happens
to be in prison.
She calls my mom and she sayshey, I'm in here, and one of the

(50:43):
ladies that's also in herekeeps talking about these twins
that she gave up for adoption.
She says our names and she saysnow I haven't told her that
they've been placed with mysister, but she has AIDS and

(51:05):
she's dying and I really thinkyou should allow them to come up
here.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
Oh, man here oh.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
And I'm grateful to my mom because she didn't have
to.
She didn't, she had noobligation to tell my mom
anything, but she decided thatshe was going to take us up to
the prison and so she called usin the room, she told us what
was happening and she asked ifwe wanted to go to the prison

(51:38):
and I was like, absolutely Like,yes, let's go.
My brother was more like Idon't really care.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
Whatever my sister says.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Yeah, like whatever.
So we go up to the prison,probably a couple weeks later,
because we had to get on thevisiting visiting list and all
that.
And a couple weeks later we goup to the prison.
Now this time we're going up tothe prison as teenagers.
It's not kids anymore.
It's the same prison, butthere's no community.
Now we're going through theglass sectors.
There's the glass creating uslike this is prison.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
So it's a different experience for you totally
different experience.

Speaker 3 (52:14):
And so we get there and you know, my mom come, my
birth mom comes out and I'm just, I'm looking at a face that
looks exactly like my face, likeexactly I look like literally
spitting in it and so, of course, you know, I'm just talking to

(52:37):
her, just telling her about, youknow, school like it's as if we
haven't missed out on all theseyears like I'm just talking to
her, she's talking to me, mybrother is dead right there the
whole visit.
He just sits there and he's justlooking and so after like I

(52:57):
think it was like a 45 minutevisit visits over and we leave,
and I was in tears.
But my mother, my birth mom andI started basically becoming
pen pals.
So we would write letters backand forth, back and forth, I
would fill her in about stuff,and then eventually she got
released from prison and sheasked if we would.

(53:19):
She asked my adoptive mom ifshe would allow us to go start
like staying the weekend withher, and my mom agreed oh wow,
we did that for a couple months.
We would go every other weekendand spend the weekend with her
and it was fine.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
How old were you at this time.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
At this time we're like 15.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (53:42):
So we're fine, we're doing these visits and we're
fine, and then she takes us to acrack house and leaves us there
.
Takes us to a crack house andleaves us there, and so I had to
, like find a phone, a pay phone, back then call my mom, tell

(54:03):
her, like this is the streetwe're on.
I don't really know how to tellher to get here because, again,
we live two hours away from ourhometown and so obviously the
visit stopped.
After that, my mom ended upgoing back to prison and I
stopped being a pen pal with her.
But during those times, thosevisits, she introduced us to our

(54:26):
other family, my grandfather,aunts, cousins, so now we have
this whole family that we'vegotten to know, and so while
she's not around, I want tostill be around my family.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
Right.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
I think my behaviors back at my adoptive home started
to shift, because now I'vegotten a taste of like who I am.
I don't want to be here.
I want to be over there.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Right.

Speaker 3 (54:55):
So I started like basically creating a plan to run
away, like I'm, I'm getting outof here, and I created this
plan one day, like I used tohave this babysitting job, so I
would go to the babysitting jobafter school and that's where I
would make my phone calls.
All the stuff was from thehouse, the people that I used to

(55:15):
babysit for, and so I literallymade an entire plan.
Had my grandfather one day, Ihad packed all my stuff, threw
it out the back of the window,back of the house, because I
knew he was coming to get me,and my plan was when they pulled
up, I was just going to run outthe house, get in the car and
take off.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
That was the plan, so your biological family was down
with this plan.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
Because this is the thing.
Okay, my biological family.
They are from the streets.
Okay, so they don't carenothing about no adoption, none
of that.
They don't care.
They are from the streets.
That's the best way I canexplain it.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
They live by a different creed.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
They live by a different creed.
They don't care.
You know my adoptive family.
They in the church.
They are a little different,right, and so, listen, I eat to
it all.
My grandfather pulled up, I hadthrew my bag out that back
window and I didn't even tell mybrother that I was leaving.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
That was my question.
Oh, you didn't bring thebrother with you.
You didn't hear because thebrother wasn't in the planning.

Speaker 3 (56:27):
He wasn't in the plan my brother because I didn't
know if he wanted to go.
He hadn't really taken a likingto our family the way I had.
He wasn't doing too well in ouradoptive family either, but he
just didn't have the courage tobe like come on, let's go.
So I ended up.

(56:49):
It was summertime, I rememberit clearly Summertime.
I'm out, grandfather pulled upwith one of my aunts.
I throw my stuff in that car.
By the time I'm getting in thecar, my adoptive mom is coming
down the stairs and she's likewhat is happening?
And I was like I'm leaving, gotin that car and I just took off

(57:10):
.
She had no phone number, noidea of nothing, and I took off
and I went, spent my entiresummer with my biological family
Wow, entire summer.
And it was a summer because Iwent from structure, rules, all

(57:33):
the things, to now all mycousins over here.
They rip and run the street allhours of the night.
There's no structure, you dowhat you want.
They cussing, they going tohouse parties, they all the
things.
It was like it was a cultureshock.
And then the summer starts toend and I called home To my mom

(57:54):
and she was like you need to, Iget.
I allowed you to be there forthe summer.
You need to come home, schoolis about to start, blah, blah,
blah.
And so I was like, okay, so I,I did.
I ended up going back home.
Now, when I got home afterbeing gone for the whole summer,
I go in the house, you, youknow, expecting to see everybody

(58:16):
, and I know it's probably, I'mprobably going to get in trouble
.
I'm prepared for all of that.
Right, I don't care.
But when I got home, I foundout that my twin brother had
gotten incarcerated that summer.
I was gone.
Oh, wow, yep.
So that totally shifted therest of my life.

Speaker 1 (58:42):
Let me ask you this Do you feel it's your fault?
Do you blame yourself for himbeing?

Speaker 3 (58:51):
a long time.
I did up until last year,really.
Yeah, I always kept the guilt.
So he gets incarcerated forrobbing homes.
In our neighborhood we lived inlike a cul-de-sac.
He was sneaking out in themiddle of the night I mean this

(59:12):
was happening before summer,nobody knew.
But he ended up getting caughtand he went to jail and they
tried him as an adult, eventhough he was 15.
And so he went to jail for thefirst time was almost 10 years.
So for me At 15?

(59:33):
.
At 15.
Wow was almost 10 years, so forme.
At 15.
At 15, wow.
So for me it was a very hardadjustment.
I never did.
I was angry with them becausethey went, he went to prison and
I think they were embarrassedand they just like, yeah, and so
nobody visited him.
And so now, now we turned 16 inoctober of that, you know, same

(01:00:00):
year, and so now I'm able toget a real job, so I I started
working at 16 so I could sendhim money in jail, so it you
know it, I absolutely felt theburning of like I left.
I left him here.
This is my fault, like you know.
All of that they wrote him off.

(01:00:22):
So I have to do what I'vealways done I have to step in
and take care of him, and thewhole time he was in prison I
took care of him.
Time he was in prison, I tookcare of him and he got out of
prison literally the week beforeI got married.
So he was in my wedding.
He got out of prison the weekbefore I got married.

(01:00:46):
I got married at 24?
, 24?
And that's when he got out,like a week before.
I think he might've got out alittle early and yeah, so that's
yeah.
What was he doing?
Today he's back in prison.
He's been in and out of prisonhis whole life and so when I say

(01:01:12):
last up until last year, it waslast year he went to prison
again and I had to make thedifficult decision to say I'm
tired of being your mom.
We are grown, I have my ownorganization.
I can extend opportunities toyou.

(01:01:33):
You don't want to accept theseresources and these
opportunities.
I wanted him to get a mentalhealth evaluation because I know
he has mental health.
You know issues.
He wouldn't take any of thehelp and I started getting
anxiety just worrying about himin prison, especially when COVID
happened and you know we werehearing such horror stories

(01:01:55):
about people incarcerated and Ifinally had to say enough is
enough.
I, I this is not my fault likewe were kids and you made a
decision and you continue tomake those decisions and I can't
keep once they got out afterthe 10 year did.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
Was that conversation ever had where he blamed you?

Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
he's never to this heat.
Well, he's never blamed me, forhe's never blamed me.
He's always been very clear.
My sister's always taking careof me when he came.
Every time he's come home fromprison he lives with us, with me
and my husband.
Like you know, I always makesure he's got clothes and all

(01:02:42):
the things.
So he's never blamed me.
But this last time, when he gotout before he went back in um a
couple months ago, he felt likeyou think you're better than me
felt like.
You think you're better than me,so I'm not going to knock you

(01:03:03):
off your high horse one day.
It became that like, it wasvery like, so that made it very
easy for me to say you know whatI'm done with this yeah, yeah,
sometimes you gotta cut, yougotta cut your losses.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
Yeah so still love them.

Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
Still love them, but I have to let you go.
I have my own kids and you knowmy kids love him.
When you know he's their uncle,he acts like a kid, like he's
he's my age, but he acts likehe's 18.
Age, but he acts like he's 18.
So my kids love that, you know.
And so to see my kids goingthrough this emotional

(01:03:45):
rollercoaster of you coming out,you're going back, you're
coming out, you're going back,it was too much and I had to
make a decision to say enough isenough, like we're not going to
keep doing this.
Even before that, the way I knowGod has always been so a part
of my story is, you know, Iended up finding my biological

(01:04:06):
family.
I came back home.
All that ended up leaving againbecause I just came home, my
brother's gone.
I felt like you, y'all put himin jail.
You left him there to just rot,like I'm all set with y'all too
.
And so at 16, I figured out howto sign myself out of high
school, my sophomore year, and Isigned myself in Job Corps and

(01:04:29):
I went off to Job Corps and Idid Job Corps and after that I
just kind of I became a teen mom.
I had my son.
Now I have to figure life outand I, you know, get my own
place.
And I had a lot, of, a lot ofstuff happened during that time.
But eventually I got into areally bad dispute with my son's

(01:04:54):
father and that was the turningpoint for me to say, all right,
girl, like enough is enough,you need to get your life
together.
And so I, my cousin, my adoptedcousin had started going to
church and so she's like youshould come.
Just after this, this, this,this whole altercation happened
with my son's father and it wasreally, really bad and I almost

(01:05:17):
went to prison.
It was really bad and she waslike girl, you need.
I almost went to prison.
It was really bad and she waslike girl, you need to go to
church because your life is outof control.
And so I agreed to visit thischurch and so we go to the
church.
So the dispute happened on aSaturday.
Next day is Sunday.
So I go to the church with her,walk up the walkway of the

(01:05:38):
church and I see this guystanding outside the church and
he's on crutches and I'd neverseen him before and I literally
I kid you not I heard the voiceof the Lord say that is your
husband.
And I turned to my cousin and Isaid the Lord said that's my
husband.
Girl, you almost went to jaillast night.

(01:06:04):
You got bandages on your hand.
You don't need to be thinkingabout no man.
The only man you need to focuson is the Lord.
We get in the church.
I cannot take my eyes off ofthis man.
Now he done wobbled in thechurch on a crutch.
He sat at the drums, he'splaying the drums, and then
service is going on.
I'm just staring at him.
And then, finally, we get tothe end of the service and they

(01:06:26):
call him up to the pulpit.
So I'm like, oh well, now I canhear his voice.
So he gets up to the pulpit,he's funny and all this stuff.
I I don't.
Now they, I find out he's thepastor's son and I'm like, oh
Lord, okay, this is not myhusband, but I'm still looking
at him.
So after the service I walk upto him.

(01:06:48):
They were asking for volunteersto like make desserts for some
event they were having at thechurch.
So I'm like you know, I canmake cheesecake, I don't know
how to do it, you know for theevent.
And I'm talking to him and he'stalking to me and then I just
shoot my shot and I'm like no,that's right.
Whatever.

(01:07:08):
So we end up exchanging numbers.
We go on a, we talk for a week,we go on a date the following
Saturday or Friday, and we endedup literally, I kid you not, we
moved in like right away.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:07:24):
The pastor's son, right.
So now we shack.
That's normally how it is.
We shack in and for about sixmonths and then finally he
brings me home to meet hisfamily and I go.
We go to his grandmother'shouse, knock on the door,
grandma opens the door and he'slike you know, nana, I want to

(01:07:47):
introduce you to my girlfriend.
This is Sana, and she lookedlike she's seen a ghost, like
she just looked like, and she'slike I know you.
And I'm like no, ma'am, I don't, I don't know you.
And my husband's like Nana, youdon't know her, I've never
brought her here.
You, you know like, don't beconfusing her with somebody.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
Don't mess up my game .

Speaker 3 (01:08:12):
Like hold on, and she literally like we step in the
door, she runs off to herbedroom.
She comes back a couple minuteslater and she hands me a photo
and I look at the photo and itis me.
What it is me.
What it is me.

(01:08:35):
When I was in that first fosterhome.
She was friends.
Her and her husband are apastor and first lady.
They were friends with myfoster parents, who were pastors
and first ladies.
Oh, my goodness, A littlepicture of me from when I was
five years old.
Look at God.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
Now he orchestrates all things well.

Speaker 3 (01:08:59):
This is the kicker.
This picture wasn't in a photoalbum, in a box in the basement.
She had the picture on themirror of her dresser.
What she said.
She just had it there all theseyears.
She doesn't know why.
She just always had it there.

Speaker 2 (01:09:20):
Whoa, said she just had it there all these years.

Speaker 1 (01:09:22):
She doesn't know why she just always had it there.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
Whoa yep, oh my goodness, full circle moment my
husband said in that moment heknew, he knew like this is it
was one day, yep.
So he proposed to me on j 4th.
We got married one month laterand it's been almost 18, almost
18 years.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
Okay, wow, so question I mean, these are some
common questions that we ask,common questions that we ask how
do you think or how do you feel, reflecting back, that your
journey impacted you as a wife?

Speaker 3 (01:10:06):
yeah, so it has been tough.
My husband and I had to havesome difficult conversations,
like probably a couple years ago, probably about two years ago,
like probably a couple of yearsago, probably about two years
ago because I had a lot of.
I had a lot of trauma that Ididn't realize I had.
I had just gone through life,surviving, like just surviving.

(01:10:33):
There was no therapist, therewas nobody asking me how did you
feel about being in foster care, or this or that and and, and.
I will also say which I didn'tadd, or this or that, and I will
also say which I didn't add mybiological mother.
When I got pregnant with my son, she was still in prison.
This was 2002.
I'm pregnant with my son and Ihad this urge to find my mom.
I'm pregnant, I need my mom,Disconnected from my adopted mom

(01:10:55):
, but I needed my biological mom.
I called the prison, find outshe's still there.
They're like you know, we justdon't have nowhere to release
her to.
So I say I'll take her.
You can't release her to me.
I had a doctor's appointmentthe day she was getting released
, so her father, my grandfather,went to go get her got out of

(01:11:15):
prison.
I get back to my grandfather'shouse, like okay, where's my mom
?
Like I'm so excited she's goingto see my baby bump, all this
stuff.
She left the house and nevercame back.
So I spent a week chasing herdown.
She, we finally get on thephone.
We get into this whole blownout argument Cause I'm like you
have another opportunity withyour kids.

(01:11:37):
Like what's wrong with you, Allthe things.
She's like you're not my mother, you're, you're a child.
You know, it's just this wholething.
She slams the phone up.
She died two days later.
Two days later I so the firsttime I saw her again in her
casket.
I say all that to say I have allthese traumatic things that

(01:12:00):
have happened Right, had to keepgoing.
There was never a point wherethere was respite for me, where
I just was able to catch abreath and process.
So by the time I got marriednow I'm entering into this first
family, right, myfather-in-law's a pastor.
They got this big old church.
I felt like I had to be thepicture of perfection that I

(01:12:25):
didn't share with my husband.
He didn't know about any of thistrauma and he learned about it
as the years went on.
And really he learned about itwhen the Lord started to deal
with me about being ashamed ofwho I was and where I had been
through, what I had been through, and so he started learning

(01:12:47):
about it.
That way, I started a blog, Istarted sharing stuff.
He was reading the blog likeeverybody else, finding out like
what, and then you know allthose things.
So a couple of years ago itjust got really tough.
Like we were at a point in ourmarriage where it was just like
I don't know if I want to dothis no more.
And he was like I don't know ifI want to do this either.
And we said to each other, ifwe knew now what we, if we knew

(01:13:14):
then what we knew now, we wouldnot have gotten married.
If we knew then what we knew nowwe would not have gotten
married Interesting.
And for him he said I justdon't think that I have what it
takes to love you the way youneed to be loved and for me it

(01:13:38):
was.
I don't know if you can love methe way I need to be loved.
So we got, we ended up inmarriage counseling and we, you
know, really worked through alot of stuff and it's turned
everything around a lot Like hehad.
He really began to like, do thework to understand, like, who I
am and some of the tendencies,why I'm so protective or you
know why I'm so like.
I have to have order, I need toknow what's going on, I need to

(01:14:01):
have structure, like becauseI'm so used to like this, not
knowing this.
So it's very.
There was one point where I saidto him you're so entitled and
he was like, what are youtalking about?
I'm like, every time I havelike a soda in the refrigerator,
you just drink it.
You don't even ask like, can Ihave that soda Like you know

(01:14:24):
it's mine, or you know if it'ssomething I'm very particular
about, the snack Like.
And he was like, why is thatsuch a big deal to you?
And our therapist has toexplain to him because there's a
lot that she didn't have of herown.
Yes, something of her own rightshe.
It means something for you toask instead of taking from her

(01:14:49):
and so it was a lot of, and oncehe got that, he was like okay
understand, and so it's been alot of just learning and
learning me and me learning him,and because Lord has to really
show me, like no girl, you thegift, you're the gift.

(01:15:21):
He just hasn't discovered thegift that you are, but he has
now.
So, yeah, so that's that.
And then 2021 came around.
Well, 2020 came around like thepandemic.
Right, the story's over the.
The pandemic hits and I hadbeen spending my whole life

(01:15:42):
never thinking that I had abiological father.

Speaker 2 (01:15:47):
I was gonna ask about that always focused on my mom.

Speaker 3 (01:15:54):
Right and like probably around 2015, I started
saying, well, where's the man inall of this?
And I got my records from DCFand started going on the search.
There was no information abouthim no name, no, anything.
He wasn't on the original birthcertificate.
There was nothing.
I was asking my biologicalaunts.

(01:16:16):
Nobody knew who he was.
It was like this mystery.
I'm like well, what in theworld?
So I ended up 2020 came around,where everybody's in the
pandemic, everyone's home.
I started going down this deepdive of ancestry.
I took the test.
I'm doing all this stuff onancestrycom.
I'm getting nowhere.
Finally, this TV show reachesout to me because I'm blogging

(01:16:40):
about this.
So it's like viral on socialmedia.
Tv show reaches out and is likehey, we're interested in your
story, let's do it.
And I'm like okay, fine, I hadto turn over my ancestry account
.
They changed the passwordbecause we can't know and all
this stuff, and they're servingbecause we can't know, and all

(01:17:01):
this stuff and they're certain.
And finally hit the pandemictowards the end of the year of
2020.
And the Lord said call thepeople the show and have them
release you from the contract.
And I'm like why?
Like, this is my only chance.
And the Lord said have themrelease you.
So I reached out and I asked tobe released and they agreed.
And then they turned overeverything that they had found

(01:17:23):
so far.
So of course, I'm bloggingabout this on social media.
This genealogist reaches out tome and he's like I would like to
help you.
He's in Texas.
He's like I would like to helpyou, and so I'm like what do I
have to lose at this point?
So I turn over all theinformation that I have and and
he's like you know this couldtake a couple of years.

(01:17:45):
You know, I don't know how longit's going to take.
And I said well, I don't havenothing to lose.
I've been looking this long, andso a couple of months goes by
and one day I'm doing this Zoomclass, I'm doing this Zoom class
, I'm doing this Zoom class, I'mteaching the Zoom class, and my
genealogist is blowing up myphone.
I'm like what is happening?
So he finally texts me.

(01:18:07):
He's like 911.
You need to call me.
I tell the people look, we gotto hang this up Right?
So I get off and I call him andhe's like I found your family.
I'm like what?
It had only been four months.
I said what?
He starts sending me pictures.
He's like I've made contactwith a gentleman.

(01:18:29):
I told him you know who you are, who I am.
He seems a little skeptical.
He basically said I'll call youback tomorrow, skeptical.
He basically said I'll call youback tomorrow.
So you know, it's literally theday before New Year's Eve.
And so I'm like okay, so allnight I'm just praying, like God

(01:18:52):
touched their hearts, like letthem know, I'm not crazy, like
I'm just like let them know, I'mnot crazy, like I'm just like
just praying, like, if this ismy family, like please, god.
So the next morning I I I kindof woke up, looked at my phone.
There was no message.
So I go back to sleep and thenmy genealogist calls and he's

(01:19:12):
like the guy called me back andhe said he won't tell me
anything, he'll only tell you.
The guy called me back and hesaid he won't tell me anything,
he'll only tell you.
And so I'm like give me thenumber.
I called immediately and he waslike I answered the phone and
he's like hello.
And he's like is this son?
I said yes, and he said I wantyou to know that you belong to
us.
I just lost it in that moment.

(01:19:34):
And so it turns out that myfather had passed away in 1991.
This gentleman was my unclethat was on the phone.
They have a bunch of siblingsand they've, they've, just, they
knew nothing about me or mybrother at all, like they had no
clue.
One of my aunts had an inkling,because she said my father

(01:19:58):
mentioned that he had twins onthe way at some point, and then
he said my mom had an abortionand that was it.
And so when she got the call,she said I immediately knew, she
immediately knew that we were.

Speaker 1 (01:20:13):
And so, yeah, I've been on this journey of just
Well, you have given me hopebecause, again, we only focus on
the mother and we don't reallyfocus on the father.
So I've done pretty much all ofthe steps that you've done so
far as far as doing deep diveson Ancestrycom 23andMe, and to

(01:20:38):
no avail.
Avail.
I've run into dead ends.
I've gotten up to secondcousins, but never anything past
that, and I feel I've gotten iton his mother's side and his
father's side up to the samepoint.
And I've always said that youknow, if I do, great, if I don't

(01:20:59):
, I'm not going to sweat it, I'mnot going to.
You know, it was as long as Iwas able to find my mother, you
know.
But the father, I could take itor leave it, but you have just
renewed my, my thirst.
Yes To you know, continuepursuing it.

(01:21:23):
I don't know what, you know howthat's going to happen or
whatever, but I'm, I'm stuck andI haven't gotten any further
than where I have been so far.

Speaker 3 (01:21:34):
And I will absolutely put you in touch with my
genealogist.
He's amazing and just see whathappens.
I mean, he's really amazing.
He's done some.
I've seen him do some somecases that were like crazy
because I have nothing.
At some point I was like Lord,did you?

(01:21:56):
Like, am I just made up?
Like where did I come from?
Right, that's to the pointwhere I, the Lord, said to me
one day I was driving and hesaid, if I never allow you to
find him, will you still serveme?
And I sat there like and then,and then I said, yes, lord, I
will still serve you, I'll stillserve you.

(01:22:17):
But in my mind at that point Isaid this means I'm never going
to find him.
Like this is the Lord sayingit's not going to happen.
But then he, literally he justopened the window out of nowhere
and it all came together.
And after it was done and Ifound out that my father was
deceased, the Lord said to menow will you let me be your

(01:22:38):
father?
The Lord said to me now willyou let me be your father.
Oh wow.
All this time I had beenlooking at God as a friend,
because I didn't want to replacemy father.
I wanted to know who my fatherwas.
And when that happened, theLord said now will you let me be
your father, cause he's alwaysbeen your father, I've been

(01:23:00):
trying to be your father thewhole time.

Speaker 1 (01:23:03):
He's been taking care of you the whole time.
Wow.
And my biological fatherallegedly is deceased as well.
So I don't know if it's true ornot, because I don't see no
documentation, but allegedlyhe's deceased.
So that doesn't help any.
But you have renewed my quest.

Speaker 3 (01:23:28):
And it's been amazing .
They're amazing people.
They all live in Durham, northCarolina.
I have two older brothers whoare 10 years older than me.
I'm the only sister, the onlygirl.
I've always, you know, I wantedolder brothers because I was
tired of being the older.
Right, right, right, very much.

(01:23:49):
Little sister me.
Even though I'm 42, they stilllike little sister me.
So, yeah, it's been amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:23:58):
So for me just in listening it's been amazing.
So for me, just in listening,it gives me a sense of hope.
My biological father passedbefore I could, you know, open
the file to get the information,but the family is not as
receiving, I guess.
So I some dead ends on somethings where I just don't have

(01:24:19):
the information and, like Lisasaid, you know, I kind of was
like I'm got mom's information,I'm good, I'll get to it when I
can.
So even when you shared thestory about the uncle, because
there was a uncle who wascontacted who just shut Wow.
So one thank you.

(01:24:42):
When we, like I said, when wedid the pre-conversation, I knew
that this was going to be animpactful journey.
I just did not know to thedepths.

Speaker 1 (01:24:50):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:24:51):
And was not aware of how much you would continue.
And I say continue because yourinitial email was a blessing,
but the discussion has been richand just many nuggets from it.
Because of the journey, I'mable now to see that much more
of why you do what you do.

Speaker 3 (01:25:12):
And.

Speaker 2 (01:25:14):
I can tell.
After we we spoke and we wentback and we started looking at
the various things you've donein the organizations, we were
like, wow, but now, knowing thewhy, just like with your husband
, once you get the why, you'reable now to understand and carry
out and we're just able to seewhy your passion is so strong

(01:25:35):
with what you do, why yourpassion is so strong with what
you do.
So give us some information justabout the organization and what
you have accomplished with it.
And I heard you say earlierthat you know that you wanted
opportunities for your brotherthat he never took advantage of,
and just to be that resource.
You know those of us who walkedthis journey, which you know.

(01:25:57):
This is why Lisa and I got intoit to be able to just share
from our experience so that wecan help somebody else and find
a community, because there's acommunity of us out here that
have unpacked trauma, that areseeking, don't even know what we
need, don't even know how thetrauma impacts us.

(01:26:19):
That's why I asked earlier youknow how it impacted your lens
with regards to being a mother,how it impacted your marriage?
Because one thing that we'veidentified is that these lived
experiences, they have roots andthey manifest themselves in
different ways and if we're notsober in our thinking, it can

(01:26:41):
cause destruction and repeatedtrauma.

Speaker 3 (01:26:45):
Yeah, absolutely Unashamed was really birthed out
of.
I won't say that I was like, oh, one day I'm going to give back
to foster kids.
That was never my that.
That was never my goal.
My adoptive father, before hepassed, he used to growing up.
He used to always tell me whenI was younger you're going to be

(01:27:06):
a boss, like one day you'regoing to be a boss, and I used
to read the dictionary for fun,like I would use all these big
words and it's just always.
I've always been a reader andjust all the things, and but I
never went to college and Inever got a degree, and so I

(01:27:27):
always felt there was limitedopportunities for me based on
that Right.
And so you know I have this GEDthat I got at Job Corps, but I
don't have no college education,and so I started like just the
whole thing of serving otherswas just always a part, just a
part of who I am.
And so it just started with mejust realizing there were

(01:27:50):
different needs for people inthe community.
And how can we meet those needs?
Come together as a communityand meet those needs?
There's a single mom over herethat needs some clothes for her
kids who got got clothes, thattype of stuff, and so it started
there and then it just wentinto a nonprofit organization,
still just serving people in thecommunity families.

(01:28:11):
And then one day I got called tothis meeting at a church and I
didn't know why I was going.
They just asked me to go to themeeting.
I go to the meeting't know whyI was going, they just asked me
to go to the meeting.
I go to the meeting, I pick upan agenda.
They got an agenda at the doorand I'm I'm the keynote speaker
and I'm like right.
So I get in there and I'm, I goto the person who asked me to

(01:28:33):
come.
I'm like what am I supposed tobe talking about here?
And they're like just shareyour story of, like, foster care
and adoption.
And so I'm like oh, I can dothat.
Like I don't need notes forthat, I can share that.
So I get up there in front ofthis group of people that I
don't know and I tell the story.
And when I was done, I foundout that the commissioner of
children, of child welfare, wasin the room immediately came

(01:28:59):
over and was like oh my gosh,like do you have a non-profit?
and I'm like yeah, and she'slike how can we give you money
to do like to do something?
And so he was like we have twohundred thousand.
What can you do?

Speaker 2 (01:29:17):
Oh what.

Speaker 3 (01:29:19):
And so I just started like what do we?
Okay, god, what are we doing?
Right?
And this is all happening likeright after COVID.
So I'm still fresh into meetingmy bio family.
My son gets into a car accident.
It's so much going on todistract me from this thing,
right?

Speaker 1 (01:29:38):
So the Lord kept saying on to distract me from
this thing.

Speaker 3 (01:29:40):
And so the Lord kept saying you have to do this thing
.
And so I started building out acurriculum.
While my son was in thehospital in a coma, I'm building
out a curriculum for fosterkids and we ended up putting on
these workshops.
And then the Lord was like youneed to focus on foster kids.
So we went and we did file thepaperwork Okay, now we're just

(01:30:01):
focusing on these workshops.
And then the Lord was like youneed to focus on foster kids.
So we went and we did file thepaperwork Okay, now we're just
focusing on foster kids.
And then the Lord, you know,after a year or so, he said no,
no, no, only teenage foster kids.
I said, got it.
And so from that came our focus.
We specifically work withfoster youth 14 to 26.
And we've chosen thatparticular age group because

(01:30:24):
it's the forgotten age group.
They're not as cute anymore.
They have attitudes, they gottrauma, they got some of them
are teen parents in foster care.
So much stuff going on andeverybody wants to buy the cute
little kids toys and do the cutelittle events.
But who's focusing on theseteenagers?
And so that is the area thatI've just focused on, and God

(01:30:47):
has given us grace in that, inthat space, to work with these
kids and they just it's likethey're drawn to us, like
they're drawn to us and I said,okay, if we're going to do this,
then I'm going to make being afoster kid not shameful anymore.
So we created a line ofmerchandise that is specifically

(01:31:10):
for foster kids and it's likecolorful and it's bright and
it's dope and you want to wearit and it says unashamed foster
kid and it just says out loudthis is who I am, but it's cool,
like I'm cool, and I'm a partof this movement of foster kids
in Connecticut and we're, and sothat's what we've created.
And so now you see, you canwalk through Connecticut, you'll

(01:31:34):
see kids, that people havegrown adults wearing our
merchandise and it's verybranded and you know people know
that's unashamed, and so thatwas our goal to take the stigma
away from kids in care and to beproud and to say, yeah, I might
be forced to care, but this isnot the end of my story yes, yes

(01:31:55):
, yes, yes, wow, that isfantastic.

Speaker 2 (01:32:03):
Yeah, that is how you take your lived experience and
you turn around.
I mean, and I'm sure you knowyou are an inspiration to those
who come in contact with Godcontinues to send you various
people just because of who, justwho you are an inspiration to
those you come in contact with.
God continues to send youvarious people just because of

(01:32:23):
who, just who you are, who hehas placed, what he's placed
inside of you.
And then I'm not, I'm justreinforcing what's already been
shared with you and again, allbecause of your obedience to an
email connected us.
But it has inspired me on adifferent level, just to to

(01:32:44):
press that much forward, to see,okay, where, how can I further
impact the pocket?
What is, what's my pinpointedarea?
Um, just as you're talking, I'mlistening, like I suspended the
podcast, then we're on and nowI feel like it's a therapeutic
opportunity for me to be able tojust grow in this space of

(01:33:06):
walking in your purpose.

Speaker 3 (01:33:08):
Yeah, because it's so important.
And if you don't do it, whowill?
Who's going to do it?
Somebody has to do it, and it'snot easy.
There's a lot of moments whereI want to say get somebody else
to do it.
Right, this is too much.
But then God always reminds methat no, you're here for this.

(01:33:29):
Like you think, the purpose isthem kids you got.
You think the purpose is thathusband.
No, no, no, the purpose is foryou to do this.
There are hundreds of kids thatI need to walk in freedom and
know who I am.
That is your purpose, and so Ido it.
And then, for the adoption sidebecause I didn't forget that I

(01:33:51):
am also an adoptee, even thoughI don't talk about it as much as
I would like to we started aprogram it's actually in honor
of my biological father, so mybiological family helps out, and
we it's called Roots and Wings,where we help adult adoptees
locate their biological family.

(01:34:11):
So we supply the ancestry DNAkits and then my genealogist
does the footwork.

Speaker 2 (01:34:17):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 3 (01:34:18):
This year, 2025, we had a goal of reuniting 10
families, 10 adult adoptees.
I think we're up to like eightso far that we've been able to
reunite just in 2025.

Speaker 1 (01:34:32):
Wow, wow.

Speaker 2 (01:34:36):
So, yeah, you've completely just obliterated the
blueprint of what I thought wasgoing to happen in a great way,
though in a great way, ways thatwill have takeoffs, trust me.

(01:35:03):
What if you could share onething to those who are listening
, whatever it may be?
What would you share, whetherthat's someone who is listening
from the foster care lens, fromthe adopted lens, from the
adopted family, maybe theirspouse is adopted?
Whatever is on your heart toshare, what do you want to put
on the table?

Speaker 3 (01:35:24):
I would say open up your mouth and tell the story.
And the reason I say that isbecause all of this started
because a four-year-old sat inthe doctor's office and told
that she was being sexuallyabused.
I opened my mouth and I told mystory, and me doing that didn't

(01:35:50):
just save my life, it didn'tjust save my brother's life, but
it has since saved many, manylives, and I think a lot of us
are still living in shame ofwhere we've come from, what
we've experienced.
You know all of the things.
We're trying to be Instagramperfect and have the right

(01:36:11):
aesthetic, and God is justasking us to tell the story, to
tell the story, and so that isalways what I tell.
People Tell the story becauseit's attached to the freedom of
so many other people.

Speaker 2 (01:36:28):
You've just given us the title for this episode.
I'm serious Open your mouth andtell the story, yeah, yeah, so
many of our, so much of ourculture is missed because people
don't tell the story.
Yeah, so much trauma goesunchecked because we don't tell
the story.

(01:36:49):
Yeah, so, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:36:53):
Yes.
How can people find you onsocial media?
How can they contact you?
How can people find?

Speaker 3 (01:36:59):
you on social media?
How can they contact you Onsocial media?
You can find me at Sana LatriceS-A-N-A-L-A-T-R-E-A-S-E.
That's my social media.
My website is sanalatricecom.
I have a blog there, so I shareweekly just what's going on in
life and just whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:37:20):
And then if you want to find my non-profit Unashamed,
it's unashamedincorg okay, wewant to just thank you for your
time, thank you for yourobedience.
I mean, you have just I don'tknow what else to say.

(01:37:43):
This has been a very powerful,powerful hour and 40 minutes of
just eye opening and anointingexperience, and we appreciate
you being obedient and reachingout to us eye-opening and
anointing experience, and weappreciate you being obedient

(01:38:06):
and reaching out to us becausewe were just doing life at the
moment and you have justrejuvenated us.
Thank, you.
We appreciate your transparencyin everything that you're doing
and we just pray that you willcontinue to do what God has
called you to do.

Speaker 3 (01:38:22):
Thank you, thank you guys for this platform, and I
know in listening to theprevious episodes, john shared
how he was a little hesitantwhen you came to him with the
idea of the podcast.
But you know, I just pray thatit just keeps you guys going,
because there's so many otherstories that need to be told and

(01:38:43):
they need a platform to do it.
And so this is it.
Y'all can't stop.
I'll be waiting to hear more,more episodes uploaded.

Speaker 2 (01:38:53):
Absolutely I look forward to just other
opportunities to partner andconnect and just whatever
organically God has in store.
I'm excited for that.
Yes, Truly truly so.
Let me see if you've reallybeen watching.
Let me see if you know how weend the podcast.
All right, you ready?

(01:39:14):
Lisa?

Speaker 1 (01:39:15):
I'm ready.

Speaker 2 (01:39:16):
All right, so I'm John.

Speaker 1 (01:39:18):
And I'm Lisa.

Speaker 3 (01:39:19):
And I'm Sana.
All right, so I'm John and I'mLisa and I'm Sana and we are
Adopted.

Speaker 2 (01:39:25):
Oh my gosh.
Thank you so much.
This has been a blessing andhit the like, hit the share.
Please reach out to us.
We are excited about thisplatform and this opportunity to
strengthen and build acommunity of individuals who
have similar journeys, so thatwe can learn from each other.
Like it was said today openyour mouth, share the story.

(01:39:48):
Thank you for listening to theso I'm Adopted podcast.

(01:40:12):
We hope that this wasinformative and educational.
You can follow us on Instagramand Facebook at so I'm Adopted.
Also, subscribe to our YouTubechannel so I'm Adopted.
And again, thank you forlistening and until next time,
make the choice to begin yourhealing journey.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

24/7 News: The Latest

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

The Charlie Kirk Show

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Open Your Mouth and Tell Your Story

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}24/7 News: The Latest

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

The Charlie Kirk Show

All Episodes

Open Your Mouth and Tell Your Story

24/7 News: The Latest