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In Ecclesiastes 3:11, we read that God makes everything beautiful in its time. It is comforting to know that nothing is wasted in God's economy, but all of it will be used for our good and His glory. You're invited to join us for poignant conversations and compelling interviews centered on believing for His beauty in every season.
Shannon (00:01.348)
Well, hey guys, welcome back to the Everything Made Beautiful podcast. I am so excited today because I have two of my friends on the show and I always love having friends on the show, but I really love having friends on the show that I get to say to you, go support these friends, go support what they're doing, make sure that you are following along. And that's what I want to do today. But before I introduce you to my friends, Mal and Kate, I want to give you a little bit of
Katelyn (00:18.701)
Mm.
Shannon (00:31.388)
disclaimer. I want to jump up on my soapbox a little bit for a minute. This conversation is going to have a lot to do with adoption and specifically what Mal and Kate feel called by God to do in the adoption space and for adoptive families. And for those of us, especially in Tennessee,
who hear a lot about foster care and adoption, I want to answer the question for you, why should I listen to this interview if I haven't adopted, am not planning to adopt, and don't really know anybody who's adopted or needs support? And here's what I wanna say, and this is what personally God has convicted me of, but this is what I wanna say for you as well. We are all, as followers of Jesus, adopted. The...
The whole story over our lives is that we are adopted into the family of God. And for those of us that do not have adoption and adoption stories in our family of origin or as part of what God is doing in our own families, in our nuclear families, I think sometimes it can be difficult for us to reckon with what it actually means that we are adopted into the family of God. We were not born into it.
we were chosen by God and adopted by God into his family. Scripture says that we are adopted as sons and daughters of God. And so because of that, I think that we as believers have got to have as part of our ethos, as part of what we engage in, support for those who are in their own families pursuing adoption or have adopted or for
birth moms who believe that the best course for their children is that they be adopted into homes that love and care for them in a way that perhaps a birth mom cannot in this season of her life. So we're going to talk a little bit about that, but sometimes we as believers can be like, this doesn't apply to me. So I'm out. And I would just ask if that's what you thought. I would ask that you stay because I actually believe in the sovereignty of God, as you know, cause I preach it all the time.
Shannon (02:46.372)
but you clicked on this podcast and you're hearing this right now on purpose. And I think it might be because there's something for you in our conversation. So I'm gonna climb down off my soap box now, but I just wanted to say that because I think that preparation is key. So Mal, Kate, welcome to the Everything Made Beautiful podcast. This is Mallory Elrod and Caitlin Duckworth and they are my dear friends. How are you guys today?
Mal (03:13.526)
Hi, we are good. Thank you so much for having us on the show. And like, I kind of want to piggyback off what you say too, and say like the goal of this is not going to be to convince you to adopt. Cause I feel like a lot of people check out too, cause they're like, Oh, I don't want to adopt. So I'm not going to listen to this cause I don't want to be convinced or convicted. But Kate and I do something really special that's helped, that's, you know, supporting the adopting community in other ways than just adopting. But thank you so much for allowing us to come on and share our stories.
Katelyn (03:14.6)
my goodness.
Katelyn (03:20.174)
Mm.
Shannon (03:20.933)
Yes.
Shannon (03:30.042)
Yeah.
Katelyn (03:37.474)
Yeah.
Shannon (03:38.51)
Yes.
Katelyn (03:41.422)
Yeah, yeah, I'm so excited to be here. when you, you we've been friends for a while, known each other. But when you asked us to be in the podcast, I was like, me? Because you have quite the like, list of guests on your podcast. I'm like, little old me? Like you have quite the guest list. So I feel honored that you've asked Mallory and I to come on and share our hearts, share about funding love and why this matters. So I'm so excited.
Shannon (03:42.192)
Absolutely.
Shannon (03:57.04)
Well, oh no.
Mal (03:57.515)
You
Mal (04:06.218)
Yes, truly.
Shannon (04:07.918)
Yes, for sure. Well, you guys are right there at the top of the list. I'm so excited that you are on the podcast. So I'd love for you to just each take a minute and share just a little bit about yourselves and then how you became passionate about adoption and about birth moms, because I know that's really significant in both of your stories. So whichever one of you wants to start off, we would just love to hear a little bit about you. And then I can't wait to talk about what you guys are doing.
Mal (04:25.078)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (04:34.306)
Yeah, go ahead. I'll let you go first, Mal.
Mal (04:36.214)
Okay, so I am Mallory Elrod. My friends all call me Mal. And I am connected to the adoption, the adoptive community, because I am an adoptive mom. Adoption was something that was on my heart since childhood. Like I just always felt compelled by the stories, always felt drawn to building a family through adoption. And so when me and my husband were even dating, we talked about it. And then when we got married, we had three biological and I was like, okay, we talked about this now.
It's time to adopt. So we did, brought our fourth into our family through a domestic infant adoption. We do have an open adoption. So I just feel like it was something that the Lord had, you talked about sovereignty in the plan for my life for the entirety of my life, but it's been cool to see him grow me in that. If you would have asked like 12 year old Mallory, what adoption would have looked like for her, it would be a way different answer than what
Katelyn (05:27.501)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (05:32.758)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (05:33.783)
20 year old Mallory would have said adoption looked like for her and then now 38 year old Mallory, what adoption actually looks like and what the story that the Lord has brought me to. So when it comes to birth moms and that role, that was really during our adoption process. think I would admit that I came into the adoption process probably selfish, probably self-seeking, thinking that I was doing a good thing.
Katelyn (05:50.051)
Yeah.
Mal (06:02.398)
And not that we weren't, but that was kind of like the idea behind it. I was definitely immersed in like culture's view of adoption, I would say. But throughout the process of bringing home our son, really having my eyes opened to the Lord, like really digging through my heart and convicting me and opening up compassion and awareness. I really, our hearts, mine and my husband's really broke and then felt called towards.
Shannon (06:09.904)
Mm.
Mal (06:32.052)
the birth mom community. our hearts towards adoption completely shifted during that process of being like, okay, no, we do want an open adoption. We do want to not only like parent a child, but really fold in his birth family and allow him to have that his whole life, hold, know, fold her in and love on her as well. So it really kind of blew open our idea of just like parenting a child to folding in a family.
Shannon (06:58.81)
Yeah.
Katelyn (06:59.682)
Yeah.
Mal (07:01.019)
And so that's really where the shift came for me. Yeah.
Katelyn (07:04.204)
Yeah.
Shannon (07:04.492)
and define open adoption for people in case they don't kind of know all the terms. What is open adoption?
Mal (07:09.534)
Absolutely. Yeah, so open adoption. There's different ideas of it throughout the adoption community. Some will say it's open if you even just know a little bit about your birth family. But for the most part, an open adoption is like a scale. You can go from anywhere to I know the names of my birth family and I know my medical history to...
Katelyn (07:20.963)
Right.
Mal (07:32.253)
we see them on a weekly basis. So it's kind of like this sliding scale, but it basically means they have information about their birth family. And in a lot of cases, it means that they have a relationship with their birth family. For our son, we have a relationship with his birth mom. We speak from time to time with his birth dad, but we haven't met him in person, but we'll see his birth mom quite often in person. So that's for us what open adoption means is she's in our lives.
Katelyn (07:35.331)
Yeah.
Shannon (07:58.99)
Yeah, that's great.
Katelyn (08:00.172)
Yeah. I mean, gosh, so much of what Mal said is so, so much of my story as well. I'm an adoptive mom to two little girls. So that's my connection to the adoption community. And Mallory and I just folding in like where Mallory comes into that, we became friends right around that time that we were starting our adoption process. We had filled out the paperwork. We were going through our home study and Mallory had just been through it not too long before. And so she was that person that I just like,
Shannon (08:11.662)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (08:30.05)
What do I expect here? This is like an unknown territory. And a lot of the same feelings of like, I know that I was meant to adopt. So a little bit of that for me is I remember, I don't know, 12, 13, 14 years old, I was at church and they had those like angel trees that you picked at Christmas time. So you pick something off, I'm gonna buy something for a four year old girl or a seven year old girl or whatever. And I remember thinking like, one day I'm just gonna take that little girl home and she's gonna, yeah, I'm gonna get to love on that little girl and she's gonna be mine. So that was like the first.
Shannon (08:45.518)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (08:56.272)
Hmm.
Katelyn (08:59.406)
I was like, oh, I think I'm gonna do that. And then that grew in me. So dare I say that's like a little nugget, right? Little nugget that was like along the way. But then when we got married and Adam knew that I wanted to, that was on my heart. But you do, because you don't know any better, you start the adoption process self-seeking. Like for the idea to bring home a child and to be a parent.
Shannon (09:21.21)
Yeah.
Katelyn (09:26.584)
We don't have any biological children of our own. We knew that this is how we were gonna grow our family. So we only went the adoption route. But it wasn't long until you are educated. Thankfully, a lot of the agencies now say, okay, just so you know, when we go into this, birth mom is in charge, know, or expectant mom. So it's expectant mom until she even has the child. then once she signs the papers, it's birth mom. So you learn all of that because you don't know. Language is wrong. Your intentions are wrong. Everything is so not.
Shannon (09:42.852)
Mm.
Shannon (09:50.128)
Mm.
Katelyn (09:56.334)
good until afterwards you realize how ashamed you are of yourself thinking back. You're like, oh my gosh. But we brought we brought our oldest home Libby and where my heart for birth mothers really came in was those first few weeks, first few months where I felt like I shouldn't be in this position. Like I shouldn't be the one like seeing her first coup. I shouldn't be the one holding her and sleeping.
Shannon (10:00.26)
Yeah.
Shannon (10:17.648)
Hmm.
Katelyn (10:25.518)
you know, soothing her when she's crying or being so proud of her, like, I shouldn't be the one here. Like, it felt very wrong almost. And I remember Mallory and I have in conversation, she said, because at this point, I was not a part of Funding Love yet, just a supporter. And she said, you know, if adoption is love, then we need to fold in all corners of the adoption triad. And that's where the whole conversation started about building Funding Love's birth mom program. And then our hearts as
We sent our first group of birth moms, our hearts grew even more and then more and more as you meet birth moms. They're just women, you know, they're women. They're not like this species of human that are odd. They're women who have found themselves in a situation that was unexpected and had to make a tough decision and now therefore have that title of birth mom. So.
Mal (10:57.632)
Mm.
Shannon (11:02.586)
Yeah, yeah.
Shannon (11:09.359)
Yeah.
Katelyn (11:20.364)
That is a big part of what we do at Funding Love. Our heart is so, so much into serving that community. And yeah, so that's my little bit of history of adoption and birth mom, so yeah.
Shannon (11:34.286)
Yeah, that's so good. So tell us about funding love and really what inspired its creation because anytime that you create something, it is from a passion place. Like nobody or at least nobody I've met creates something like this and is like, yeah, I could take it or leave it. Like it's kind of like.
Katelyn (11:41.826)
Yeah.
Mal (11:43.83)
Hmm.
Mal (11:52.195)
Hahaha
Shannon (11:53.644)
I don't know much, but I know I have to do this. So tell us a little bit about funding love and we'll talk a little bit more in depth about it as we go, but just so people know, okay, so what is funding love?
Katelyn (11:56.579)
Yeah.
Mal (11:57.078)
Mm.
Mal (12:02.326)
Mm-hmm
Yes. Yeah. So Funding Love is an organization that supports all corners of the adoption triad. Our mission is to create post adoption experiences that strengthen bonds, build community and restore people. And we currently do that by sending adoptive families every spring, like groups of adoptive families to Walt Disney World for all expenses paid trips to Walt Disney World. And we can get into that because when you say all expenses, we mean all expenses.
Shannon (12:30.702)
Yeah.
Mal (12:32.51)
And then each fall we send groups of birth moms on all expenses paid trips to Walt Disney World together. So it's a really cool way to help families grow those bonds and a really cool way to help women find community in such a fun place. And I can't wait to dig into Disney World and why we choose Disney World. But really it started because as an adoptive family,
Shannon (12:54.01)
Yeah.
Mal (12:58.25)
We went through the process. We felt so much support. People were so excited for us. You you can see all the GoFundMe's, all the caring bridges. Like we're raising money to adopt a child and people get so excited. They want to help. They want to give. They want to be there as a support system. And then as soon as we brought home our son, I was like shocked by how not hard like it was just like so hard, but like there was unsurprised. I was surprised by the hurdles that we faced.
Katelyn (13:03.438)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (13:03.446)
Always yes.
Katelyn (13:15.916)
Yeah.
Mal (13:25.526)
In bringing home a child that wasn't biologically ours. Yeah, so for us and I know it every story is different Of course, we went through an infant adoption, but he actually came home to us when he was two months old So there was just already this gap of two months between us where we had not had skin-to-skin bonding I had not been the person feeding him bottles I had not been the person he smelled and heard and saw for the first time when his little blurry eyes saw me You know made out of face
Shannon (13:25.934)
Yeah, so what are some of those? Yeah.
Shannon (13:40.848)
Hmm.
Katelyn (13:45.325)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (13:53.353)
And it was hard to see how big that gap actually is. Two months sounds little. And we hear all the time in adoption too, like, well, you brought him home as a baby, so there's no trauma. Like, wow, so not true. Science backs that like even, you can even experience trauma in utero. So, you know, we had a gap of like trying to bond with him. didn't want me to really rock him to sleep. He didn't really want to be held. He wanted, you know, and so there was these hard things and there was no one to talk to. There was no one saying,
Katelyn (13:59.01)
Yeah.
Mm.
Shannon (14:03.504)
Mm.
Katelyn (14:17.518)
Yeah.
Mal (14:22.184)
I understand, try this. yeah, that season is hard. Like validating the feelings. I almost felt guilty over the hard feelings because I didn't want to admit that it was hard because it was this thing that we had willingly gone into. We'd been celebrated, people supported us. And so then you feel guilty saying, this is really hard, I need help. And so I saw that huge gap there.
Katelyn (14:29.027)
Yeah.
Shannon (14:42.564)
Well, and do you think, do you find too that there was probably an assumption, well, she's already got three kids. She knows what she's doing. Yeah, yeah.
Mal (14:49.05)
absolutely, absolutely, for sure. Like, she already knows how to raise a baby. Well, yeah, you can't. I knew how to feed a baby, put a baby to sleep, change a diaper. But you know, all of these emotional connections and things like that, that was totally surprising to me. so seeing that gap there post placement and realizing that I actually wasn't alone, you know, I don't know. I feel like the Holy Spirit led me through it all as well because I just knew like, this can't just be me. I know that
Shannon (14:58.308)
Yeah.
Shannon (15:04.848)
Yeah.
Katelyn (15:16.92)
Yeah.
Mal (15:18.326)
this is something that they didn't talk about. You know how like you also go through pregnancy Shannon and then on the backside you're like, why didn't anybody, all the women know that this is what happens or that you have to do this afterwards and no one told me about that. Why didn't they tell me? was, yeah, exactly. It was, it kind of felt like that as adoption. It was like, I know this has to be common, but nobody talks about it. Why is no one talking about it? And so I just really felt the call. I remember specifically the moment when I really felt the Lord.
Shannon (15:22.959)
Yes.
Katelyn (15:27.244)
Hahaha
Shannon (15:27.322)
Yeah.
Shannon (15:30.65)
This wasn't in the book.
Katelyn (15:33.227)
You
Mal (15:47.639)
tell me that funding love needed to be an organization. And that was because our family is a Disney family. We love Disney. Disney is a place where we bond. And we were able to take Mason there, our son, and have his first trip when he was only eight months old and like see the way it felt like we were folding him in to our family. He was becoming an Elrod. We were experiencing the things with him that we experienced with our other children. And it just felt like we were building bonds and connections as an expedited rate.
Shannon (15:53.488)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (16:07.246)
Mm.
Mal (16:15.998)
And we just wanted that for all adoptive families. And I think adoptive families need all kinds of support, but this was one kind of support that we felt equipped to be able to help them with. And I was like, babe, we've got to send adoptive families to Walt Disney World. They've got to have these Disney trips. And so that's really how Funding Love was born. And it was born in that gap that I personally experienced through my own parenting journey.
Katelyn (16:22.05)
Yeah.
Shannon (16:39.3)
Well, and I would say, I mean, and the expense of adoption alone certainly probably precludes 99 % of adoptive families from ever getting to take a trip to Walt Disney World that they pay for much less an all expenses paid trip that someone else pays for.
Mal (16:45.749)
Mm.
Katelyn (16:45.954)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (16:57.216)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. And within that time span of becoming a new family too. Cause for Finding Love, we send our adoptive families within the first two year of their finalization. Cause our goal is on building those bonds. And so for an adoptive family, like you say, that has adoption debt out the wazoo on top of perhaps new medical bills, new therapy bills, you just don't have that opportunity to take a vacation that close into finalization. And we really want to step in that gap and be like,
Katelyn (17:09.688)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (17:23.448)
Yeah.
Mal (17:29.524)
I know it's a hard season, like, and we're gonna come in and take that gap, take care of that and step in that gap for you.
Shannon (17:30.052)
That's so good.
Katelyn (17:30.168)
Yeah.
Shannon (17:36.622)
And it's the power of shared experience. Like how many times just, I mean, as women, as friends, like we go on a trip together and now it feels like besties for the rusty, you know what I'm saying? And so that it's such a interesting facet of this. And it's really wise that it's like, we want to as quickly as we can after finalization, be able to give this family a shared experience and truthfully a shared experience like none other.
Katelyn (17:39.438)
yeah.
Katelyn (17:46.138)
yeah.
Mal (17:47.03)
It is so true.
Katelyn (17:48.621)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (18:06.379)
Yes.
Katelyn (18:06.498)
bright.
Shannon (18:06.512)
That's so good. Kate, I'd love for you to talk a little bit about the fact that birth moms often get overlooked in the adoption conversation. I love that they are birth moms. I think it's really important to say out loud that just because someone does not raise the child they bore does not mean they are not a mother.
Katelyn (18:14.722)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (18:25.143)
Yes.
Katelyn (18:32.739)
Yep.
Shannon (18:33.87)
The definition of a mother is not somebody who raises, you know, now the other thing that I know you feel deeply about and I feel deeply for you is just because you don't have a child, bear a child of your own does not mean you're not a mother. When you are raising and stewarding a life, you are a mother. Be it a spiritual mother, be it, you know, relational, social, any of us women, I'm saying this to all of us,
who have the opportunity to pour into and steward another life, especially someone younger than us, that is a maternal aspect and it's a gift from the Lord. So I love that we have both of you to be able to talk to all sides of this, because Caitlin, like you said, you did not have Libby and Ellie naturally, but they are your children.
Katelyn (19:10.008)
Yeah.
Katelyn (19:20.44)
Yeah.
Katelyn (19:25.76)
Right.
Shannon (19:28.42)
but they are also the kids of their birth moms. So talk a little bit about why that part of the triad was so important.
Katelyn (19:32.012)
Right.
Katelyn (19:36.268)
Yeah, mean, gosh, dare I say the most important part of the triad, because that's where the journey begins for the child, because the child is at the center of all of this, right? This decision is made for the child. We chose to adopt for the best interest of the child to support that birth room through that. so where I mean, I recall Mallory and I have talked about this before and the lack of education around.
Shannon (19:43.717)
Yeah.
Mal (19:47.2)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (19:47.716)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (20:02.446)
or even just awareness of birth moms or their importance or why they matter. It like triggered in me when Libby was young. I remember even before we even brought her home when we matched with with her mom, heard, I mean, even people in my family would say like, oh, so what's wrong with her? Is she like on drugs? And you're like, no, no, she's not, you know, oh, is she in jail?
Shannon (20:21.742)
Hmm.
Katelyn (20:27.444)
No, not in jail. So like that, the stigma there already, so why is she giving her away? Well, once again, that language also, she's not giving her away. So that was just so glaring to me. And then when I started to feel that feeling like I talked about earlier of like, okay, I don't feel like I belong here. I had to kind of fight that as well. Like this is like an imposter syndrome almost, right? I started to just really, my heart felt for the birth mom community, but specifically Libby's mom.
Shannon (20:32.322)
Yeah.
Shannon (20:50.478)
Yeah, yeah.
Katelyn (20:56.94)
And that's where I grew. then Mal and I talked about how are we going to serve these birth moms? How are we going to serve them? Should we do Disney? Should we do whatever? Because it's different. It's a different experience. But we chose Disney because that's where we've gone on girls trips. That's where we understand bonds are built. after our first trip, I think we really, which was in 2021, that was the first time we sent a group of birth moms. We sent eight women. And after that trip,
Shannon (21:09.104)
Yeah.
Mal (21:10.846)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (21:13.604)
Yeah.
Katelyn (21:23.862)
our eyes were opened even more as to the need for this for this community. And also
Like the way that they knew that they were perceived, these birth moms would come to us with statements and questions like, so what do need from us? Like what's in, why did you send us? Like what do you want from me? Like that, which was such an unexpected thing, but so eye-opening for us, we're like, wow, we really just wanna love you. We really just want you to know that we see you, that you matter, that your voice matters. Yes. Right, they're like, what, and they just were honest. They were like, so what do you want from us? And we're like,
Shannon (21:40.225)
wow. Yeah.
Mal (21:41.91)
What do you
Shannon (21:50.904)
It kind of felt like what's the catch? Like when's the other shoe gonna drop? Yeah, wow.
Mal (21:53.897)
yeah.
Katelyn (22:01.762)
no, we were really caught off guard. We're like, nothing, I promise. Really, nothing. So that that was it's just a community of women who hurt. They hurt because they carry shame. They carry guilt that we know is not from the Lord. We know that that is from the enemy. And it is our burden, dare I say. Funding loves burden to say you don't have to carry that anymore. You are not alone. We want you to come to Walt Disney World with this group of other
Mal (22:04.224)
Yeah, nothing.
Shannon (22:07.61)
Yeah.
Katelyn (22:31.214)
women who know exactly how you feel and you will hopefully not feel alone. Hopefully you will leave with a group of besties, like you said, after a girls trip, a group of besties that can continue to lift you up and carry you through this because it's a lonely place for them to carry this. Yeah, and I'm sure we'll get into it more, but there some women that have traveled. Specifically on our very first trip, we had a birth mom who had never met another birth mom for 30 years.
Mal (22:40.054)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (22:40.144)
Yeah.
Shannon (23:01.306)
Wow.
Katelyn (23:02.094)
30 years she carried that alone of being a birth mom, of going through the decision to place, then placing, then the first birthday, then the second birthday, then she gets married. So then she's just carrying this by herself. And so to then come with a group of women to say like, my gosh, you know, it's a powerful thing and it's life-changing and dare I say life-saving sometimes for these women. Yeah.
Shannon (23:12.901)
Yeah.
Shannon (23:23.258)
Yeah.
Shannon (23:26.952)
I think it's so interesting, Mal, you talked about post adoption, the loneliness, like how shocked you were that it was like, so and I know women that experience that after they have their biological kids, it's like the showers are over and the registry is fulfilled. And now it's like, okay, so good luck. So you talked about loneliness, know, Kate, you're giving voice to the
Mal (23:40.746)
Mm.
Katelyn (23:45.819)
Yeah.
Mal (23:45.898)
Yes, yes.
Shannon (23:52.022)
loneliness of birth moms and so it I mean isn't it just like the enemy to isolate us when we're at our most vulnerable and to lie to us that no one else understands what we're going through so what you guys have done is you have stepped into that gap and you have not said hey we're gonna send you on a trip you have said come with this community
Katelyn (23:57.07)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (23:59.703)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (24:18.646)
Let's go together. And so let's talk about both the adoptive family and the birth mom trips. So first, let's dispel the, are you kidding me? Like we're sending people to Disney world. What is, what is important about that? And I do want to be clear. It isn't about Disney. We are, we are not ambassadors who are getting a kickback from Disney. You guys all know Maggie's part of the Disney family, Kate and Mal. We all, we all love it. So this is not the place for.
Katelyn (24:22.274)
Yeah.
Katelyn (24:30.39)
I know. Uh-huh.
Katelyn (24:38.414)
Mm-mm.
Mal (24:41.046)
you
Shannon (24:48.176)
the, but did you know this, this and this about Disney? So let me just set that aside. We're not gonna do that. But it isn't actually about Disney, except that it is one of the few places where you can have a fully immersive experience that is unlike anything else, especially for kiddos. So let's talk.
Mal (24:51.574)
right.
Katelyn (25:10.947)
Hmm.
Mal (25:11.658)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (25:12.492)
Adopted family vacation, what does that look like and what does it mean that it's all expenses paid? And then let's talk about the birth mom vacation as well. Some of the stories that I have been like heaving crying over have been out of that birth mom trip. So whichever one of you wants to tell us about whichever one, just unpack it for people.
Katelyn (25:28.291)
Mm.
Mal (25:28.652)
yes.
Katelyn (25:31.692)
Well, I'll let Mal dive into the adoptive family vacation, but as we're recording this now, our families, we have five families in Walt Disney World right now traveling on our trip. we're like in it and like seeing the families grow before our eyes. But Mal, go ahead and talk about, you know, like what it is.
Mal (25:31.808)
Yeah.
Yes.
Mal (25:39.38)
Yes. Yes.
Shannon (25:40.27)
Yeah. Yeah.
Shannon (25:47.63)
Yeah.
Mal (25:52.415)
Yes, so I love that you said like, it's just a Disney trip. That is why our mission is not we send adoptive families to Disney. That was never the mission. The mission is to create post adoption experiences. And Disney is a place that we know helps us partner with that in just like this untangible way. Like me and Caitlin always say, there is just a magic that lives there.
Shannon (26:02.446)
Right.
Mal (26:18.824)
on these Walt Disney World vacations. You can put all your political stances and ideas aside, but when you're in Walt Disney World, you are having a magical time. And I think that there's something unique too, to the fact that Walt Disney himself was an adoptive dad. He designed and created these parks because he wanted to make memories, having fun with his children. He didn't want to just take them to the fair and watch them ride the rides. He wanted to make the memories with them. So it's just so cool to see how our mission and what we're trying to accomplish.
Shannon (26:19.258)
Yeah.
Katelyn (26:32.45)
Yeah.
Shannon (26:32.976)
Mm.
Katelyn (26:44.93)
Yeah.
Mal (26:47.612)
matches so well with Walt's original mission of his theme parks that it's just there really is truly no There's no better place and it has this indescribable You can't put your fingers on what exactly it is about Disney that makes it the perfect place for this type of mission So for our adoptive families, they go on a full vacation This is not like a scholarship or like a quick two-day trip to just you know Immerse yourselves in the much as Disney magic as you can and then you get back home
Shannon (27:17.221)
Yeah.
Mal (27:17.618)
We send them on a true Walt Disney World vacation. So they are there for six nights. They are there Sunday through Saturday and we pay for everything. We pay for their flights. If they're driving, we give them a gas card to help compensate gas costs. We pay for their hotel room. It's a Walt Disney World hotel. We're not keeping them off property in like a group home. We're on Walt Disney World property. We are getting their park tickets. We give them gift cards for souvenirs.
Katelyn (27:23.672)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (27:40.282)
Yeah.
Mal (27:46.601)
We have the memory maker, is where the Disney photographers take your pictures. And usually if you don't pay for memory maker, you get the little like Walt Disney World photo across your pictures. We want them to take those pictures home with them. So we compensate for that. We get their food there on the Disney dining plan so that they can have food and snacks. I'm talking from top to bottom.
Katelyn (27:49.762)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (27:50.16)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (28:07.124)
The only thing that they would have to pay for is if they have to take time off work and they don't get compensated for that. So it's literally just the time off work. We don't want this to be a financial burden. We don't want to say, here's tickets to Disney, but figure out how to get here. We really wanted them to be able to say yes to these trips, like a very easy yes. And so we send, like I said, like several families at one time to kind of play into that community part. So an adoptive mom can see another adoptive mom.
Katelyn (28:24.29)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (28:35.644)
Adoptive dad can look at another adoptive dad and be like hey, you're awesome. You're doing a great job dad Our kids are the same we have similar stories No story is exactly the same but it's it's still so powerful to be in the room with people that understand where you're coming in and all of those things that you Feel like you have to explain to other people you don't have to explain them like if you if your child has trauma and they have certain reactions to bright noises or loud sounds or over stimulation or
Katelyn (28:37.697)
Yeah.
Shannon (28:39.568)
Yeah.
Shannon (28:58.01)
Right.
Mal (29:06.098)
Anything and they have a reaction you don't have to apologize for it because everybody in this room Understands and we're all saying you're doing a good job mom. So I don't know they're they're very powerful trips We currently we have one Park each day and then they have a rest day in between so currently our families that are here this week are on their rest day They are having a pool day at their Coronado Springs Resort gonna do dinner at Disney Springs They've already done a full day in Animal Kingdom a full day in Hollywood Studios
Katelyn (29:09.71)
Mm.
Mal (29:33.664)
tomorrow is their Epcot day and then they'll end with Magic Kingdom with those amazing fireworks over the castle. So, I mean, it is a Disney vacation. It's a whole Disney vacation, but more than that, it is curated experiences to help them break away from life, strengthen those bonds as these freshly made families and find community with other adoptive families around them.
Shannon (29:38.212)
Yes.
Katelyn (29:54.252)
Yeah, and another thing though, Mal, that because Disney is overwhelming and someone's thinking like, I couldn't go to Disney for six days by myself. Like, what would I do? We have magic makers. We have volunteers who fundraise to be there, who are there, dare I say, VIP guide all week long. They help with the kiddos. They help get the food. They help watch them. They help wrangle the kids. They help. Hey, bathrooms this way. Why don't we take a bathroom break before we get in line? Because we know this, this, this and this. They help guide them. So these these parents
Shannon (29:54.914)
It's so good.
Mal (29:59.871)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes.
Mal (30:15.157)
Yes.
Shannon (30:20.494)
Yeah. Yeah.
Katelyn (30:23.798)
not only are coming to Walt Disney World to see their kids light up, but they don't have to worry about it. They don't have to know what's next, they just are following along and enjoying, and that is like, that's like priceless. Yeah, it's amazing. Those magic makers are such a key part of our trip.
Mal (30:30.047)
Right.
Shannon (30:31.14)
Yeah.
Mal (30:37.908)
Yeah.
Shannon (30:40.624)
And some people just heard that and were like, my gosh, how do I become a magic maker? Like, like truly.
Mal (30:42.794)
Yes.
Katelyn (30:47.167)
Yeah, I know, right?
Mal (30:47.518)
Yes, yeah, so I wanted to say our magic makers when, or they might think that, or they might be like, absolutely not, I don't know this stranger. It goes both ways, we understand that, but when we say magic makers, like these are vetted Disney adults. These are people that know Disney like the back of their hand. They're vetted, we get background checks on them, but also we're finding their strengths and placing them in families where those strengths can be used best.
Katelyn (31:05.719)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (31:14.115)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (31:14.134)
Like for example, we have a family here this week whose son has autism and we have their magic maker is a parent of a child with autism. So it's not intimidating for her. She understands. And it was so powerful to see night one, night one he was kind of having some struggles because it was a long travel day. He was tired and he was in the floor playing with some trucks and his magic maker got right down in the floor with him and was playing and mom and dad.
Katelyn (31:27.202)
So powerful.
Mal (31:39.851)
I think the dad actually communicated, I think at that point that night, this already feels like a weight's being lifted. We have a partner here that's gonna be here with us to help us with Disney, but not only is she an expert in Disney, she understands my son. And so I think that that's something we're really intentional with at Funding Love, and I think it's something that really sets us apart from other vacation-granting organizations.
Katelyn (31:46.051)
Yep.
Shannon (31:46.466)
Absolutely.
Katelyn (31:53.763)
Yeah.
Katelyn (31:59.949)
No doubt.
Yeah.
Shannon (32:02.756)
The thing I love about what you're describing, you know, back to our spiritual illustration of adoption in the beginning, the, I mean, the spiritual illustrations have no end, but the way that you guys are lavishing this on these adoptive families, that, mean, that is how the love of God for us is dispensed. It is not.
Yeah, we'd love for you to experience this figure out how to make it happen. It's you don't have to figure anything out. This is how much love we are going to lavish on you and I love for any of your families who may have struggled to comprehend the love of God up to this point.
Katelyn (32:45.518)
Mm.
Shannon (32:45.668)
They are having a real life example of what it feels like to be lavishly loved, to be surrounded, to have their needs met and provided for. And my goodness, I love it. And I love that you also do this for birth moms. So Kate, talk about that experience because even just some of the things that you've said.
Katelyn (32:52.782)
Hmm.
Mal (32:57.65)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Katelyn (33:02.548)
yeah.
Katelyn (33:06.99)
Mm.
Shannon (33:09.742)
Think about this for a birth mom has been mind blowing for me. So talk a little bit about those trips.
Katelyn (33:15.552)
So yeah, mean, lavish is kind of like the word that we like pamper lavish. we just want, the trip does look different for birth moms than it does for families just because it has to. it's, know, there's no kids involved, there's no strollers, none of those things that you have to do. And it's a shorter trip. So we welcome the women. We do the first night is always that night with white linens, seven course meal.
Mal (33:20.0)
Mm-hmm, pamper.
Shannon (33:20.452)
Yeah.
Shannon (33:28.197)
Yeah.
Katelyn (33:42.894)
We usually have some sort of musical numbers. We have a visit from one of our favorite guests, Minnie Mouse, the last few years. And then we watch fireworks over Magic Kingdom from the contemporaries, what we've done. So that first night, we just want to say, we want this to set the tone. We want you to know that this is how you deserve to be treated, that you are worthy of this. Please take this. Please let us do this for you. And know that you don't owe us anything.
Shannon (33:51.312)
Mm.
Shannon (33:59.461)
Yeah.
Katelyn (34:12.866)
Like you don't know us anything. You have a seat at our table. You have a voice in this community. And we want you to just like bathe in it. Like just bathe in it. that first, I mean it is. It's hard not to when you're there. It's these, the first night some of these women, like I said, come in feeling a like tiptoeing in. Like what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to act? Who am I supposed to be?
Shannon (34:23.012)
Yeah. Sorry, I'm getting emotional.
Mal (34:37.728)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (34:42.988)
And then by the end of that night, they've sat around round tables with other women who have shared experiences and it just sets the tone. And it's really, I mean, I love the family trip, but I leave the birth mom vacation feeling like, my gosh, funding love is doing work. I leave it and then we start off the next day, we have a VIP tour. So VIP tour, we know is hard. You only have seven hours, you can't hit all the parks.
Mal (34:51.072)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (35:00.074)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (35:00.472)
Yeah, yeah.
Katelyn (35:12.312)
We have magic makers for our birth mom trip as well because, you know, first of all, rallying a bunch of women who are excited, we're like, nah, nah, this way, this way. Be at the bus this time. So we do Animal Kingdom in the morning typically, because that's not a VIP tour stop. And then we nail the other parks in the VIP tour, ending at Magic Kingdom with fireworks in the VIP viewing area. So you are in the VIP area, ending with Mickey ice cream bars. Just, it's so good. And then the next day is usually just the park free day, right? They can park hop, we start.
Shannon (35:18.351)
Yes.
Mal (35:19.677)
Ha
Shannon (35:21.359)
Yeah.
Shannon (35:28.197)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (35:36.782)
Yeah.
Katelyn (35:41.738)
usually together and then from there they kind of go their own way in groups because by that point they've kind of paired off or gotten in some groups. And then we end it the next day, we have a community day for them as well. Pool day, let's really build on the bonds that we've started to build. Let's solidify this community that we've gotten to know each other in line for, Space Mountain, in line for this. We've started that, but let's really learn about each other.
Shannon (35:59.428)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mal (36:08.854)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (36:09.774)
And so that's that day. And then we end with a farewell dinner that's usually just as delicious as the first dinner at Disney Springs with some shopping, shopping, dinner. It's really cool. It's just really cool to see women really allow themselves to be like a seven-year-old girl again, get excited about a princess, kind of forget for a minute why they're there. They're there because they're birth moms, right?
Mal (36:15.382)
and Densley Springs.
Mal (36:29.27)
Mm.
Shannon (36:29.55)
Yeah.
Shannon (36:34.222)
Yeah.
Katelyn (36:39.554)
they're not receiving it because, I don't know, they're worthy of it, regardless of that they're a birth mom. So you can see those walls start to come down and they're, by the time they get to fireworks on that VIP day, they're hugging and singing and dancing and it's powerful. But Mallory always.
Mal (36:46.932)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (36:56.196)
Have you ever, do you find that most of your birth moms have never even been to Disney, have never experienced anything like that?
Katelyn (37:05.574)
I think it depends on the year. it's not a question we typically ask because we don't want it to really be a disqualifier because Disney isn't, like if you've been to Disney, that's fine, this trip is different, right? But the first year I would say, I don't know if anybody had ever been. The second year maybe not either. This past year we did find a lot of Disney lovers, but maybe they, I think that was just because they found about the Disney circles. Yeah, they found us, yeah.
Mal (37:07.552)
Mm-hmm.
Correct.
Shannon (37:10.842)
Yeah. Right.
Mal (37:17.494)
very.
Shannon (37:17.518)
Yeah.
Shannon (37:22.052)
Yeah.
Mal (37:28.842)
they found out us too. Yeah, but we do say like this is
Shannon (37:30.882)
Yeah. Yeah, I would imagine it's, I was just gonna say I would imagine when you say what it's like to be a seven year old girl again, like I just wonder how many of them that might be the first time that they've been experiencing that and what a sweet opportunity you're providing for them to kind of revert for a little bit. I mean, Disney kind of makes us all revert to
Katelyn (37:40.269)
Yeah.
Katelyn (37:44.998)
I know.
Katelyn (37:49.985)
Yeah.
Shannon (37:55.046)
why don't I lay down my stress and my adult problems for a while and just enjoy and be filled with joy over something. So what a sweet experience. I would love to hear a story from an adoptive family trip and maybe a story from a birth mom trip. And then I want to tell people how they can get involved in funding love.
Mal (37:57.526)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (37:57.534)
my gosh, you're right.
Mal (38:05.407)
Yes.
Mal (38:16.832)
Yeah, absolutely.
Katelyn (38:17.964)
Yep. Yeah, Mal, you've got some good adoptive family stories.
Mal (38:20.606)
Yeah. So the one that sticks out to me so much is always our sweet lion family. were in one of our earliest trips. I want to say our third of funny love trip. The trip that's traveling right now is trip number nine. So that's incredible. Our next next year will be our 10th funny love, family trip that we have done. So this was like trip three, I think, the lion family, she was a single mom and I didn't add that in there, but every trip we make sure to send a single parent.
Shannon (38:32.709)
Wow.
Mal (38:48.63)
because that is super important to us that single parents get seen because it's hard enough to parent with a partner. It's hard enough to parent with an adoption with a partner, but then to have adoptive, be an adoptive mom all alone. We just shout out to adoptive moms, you are heroes. So this was a single mom that came with us. She had one biological daughter and then she had adopted a son out of foster care. And he had a hard story as many children in foster care do.
Shannon (38:48.889)
Mmm.
Shannon (39:00.303)
Yeah.
Shannon (39:13.2)
Mm.
Mal (39:18.294)
And they were, like we said, within that two year window. So they were really trying to strengthen bonds. And she's actually been on our podcast before and shared some of her story. So I'm not sharing anything beyond she shared herself, but her son has a rad, which is like an attachment disorder. So it's really hard for him to trust parental figures in his life. It's hard to trust that adults in his life are for him and are not going to harm him and that he's safe.
And so during that trip, she said that they sat down at the Beauty and the Beast show in Hollywood studios and she just started breaking down and like tearing up because she realized the beast was like, she saw her son in that character of like hard things happened to him and he put on this shell of like, when you get close to me, I'm gonna growl at you and I'm gonna get angry. But inside is just this person that's just longing to be loved and doesn't know how to let people in. And so she saw her son in that moment.
Shannon (39:53.402)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (39:58.384)
Mm.
Shannon (40:04.943)
Yeah.
Mal (40:13.448)
And it just like created this bond between the two of them of understanding. And she said that there was like breakthrough moments where that she had with him. And she literally wrote in her review afterwards that she felt like they had done more during that one week of vacation then and had more progress than had been in like months of therapy back home. Just in how those moments can cultivate organic healing and joy and peace.
Shannon (40:35.236)
Yeah. Yeah.
Katelyn (40:37.08)
Yeah.
Shannon (40:40.847)
Right.
Mal (40:42.462)
and understanding between people. so that is just one of the stories that I just always cling to in my head as where, you get in between the vacations when we're just doing all of the work and you have to come back to these stories of like, this is why we're doing the work because it's impacting people and changing lives even when they get home. She actually came last two years ago or last year, two years ago to our fundraising gala and shared her story from stage at our gala.
Katelyn (40:51.789)
Yeah.
Shannon (40:55.973)
Yep.
Katelyn (41:02.178)
I think...
Shannon (41:07.567)
Hmm.
Mal (41:08.692)
her son and her daughter were able to be there. And then her son created a piece of artwork that we were able to auction off. we got thousands of dollars for that piece of artwork, which further validates that his voice matters, his story matters, and that his family is a family unit that he can trust is going to be his family forever. And it's so powerful that just a Disney vacation can stir all of that.
Katelyn (41:20.974)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (41:31.362)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have a full circle moment in our funding love family already is that our first birth mom vacation in 2021, we sent a birth mom. The birth mom I referenced earlier who hadn't met another birth mom for 30 years. Well, the daughter she placed, her name is Caitlin, her and her family because she became an adoptive mom herself. Her and her husband decided that they were gonna grow their family through adoption, but they were one of our funding love families that traveled last year.
Shannon (41:33.4)
So good, so good.
Mal (41:47.894)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (42:00.97)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (42:01.216)
So birth mom traveled, her adopted, her daughter that she placed traveled with her family. And so it was that she's built through adoption. So it was a really cool full circle moment. And that family, the Brightonstein family, we shared about them at the gala last year. They had a big breakthrough moment as well, where, I'll let you share it because you have the words better around what she said, because you were there with her. But it was like one of those like.
Shannon (42:01.582)
Hmm.
Shannon (42:07.012)
Wow.
Mal (42:07.796)
that she's built through adoption, yes.
Mal (42:18.784)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yes. She actually submitted like a whole letter that I was able to read from stage about her loss after placement. Like we know that the birth mom experiences loss because, you know, she's placed her child. We know that the child experiences loss because now they are in a family that is not biologically theirs. And there is, mean, like I said, the sights, the smells, the sounds, everything is different. But then for her as an adoptive mom,
Katelyn (42:29.335)
Yeah.
Shannon (42:30.116)
Wow.
Katelyn (42:39.862)
Yeah.
Mal (42:52.562)
expectations of what it would be like, expectations of the child she thought she was going to bring home that she didn't and like all the loss that surrounded that and experiencing postpartum depression even though she had not carried the child and her breakthrough moment watching the fireworks at Epcot. It was the fireworks, it was the song that played and her husband holding their daughter and just this healing moment of like wow it didn't turn out like I expected.
Shannon (43:04.75)
Yeah, gosh, yeah.
Mal (43:20.298)
but it turned out how it was supposed to be and this is my girl. And I got chills just like, I know, like this is what was meant to be and I am her mom and she is my daughter and this is what was meant to be. It might not have been what I thought it would be, but it was what was meant to be. And it's just, it's so amazing how you don't have to try, you don't have to sit in therapy on a couch telling your story for things like this to happen. Sometimes the breakthroughs,
Shannon (43:20.656)
Mm.
Shannon (43:24.59)
Yeah. Yeah.
Katelyn (43:25.803)
Ooh, I know right now.
Shannon (43:34.682)
Yeah.
Mal (43:48.927)
are in those moments that you don't expect. We say a lot of times at Funding Love that the magic happens in the margins. It's not getting to do all the rides that you thought you would be on your Disney list. It's actually, you know, the conversation you had on the way or the feeling you had during the fireworks. And we also say bonds are built best when people are having fun together. And it's been so cool to watch those walls come down between parents and child that have really struggled to trust in just a moment of fun while start to crumble.
Shannon (43:51.77)
Yeah, yeah.
Katelyn (43:55.213)
Yes.
Shannon (44:08.911)
Yeah.
Katelyn (44:14.956)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (44:17.886)
and it's just so incredible to witness. And we witnessed that on the birth mom vacation too. So why don't you share some birth mom stories.
Shannon (44:18.266)
Yeah.
Katelyn (44:22.51)
yeah. yeah. I mean the one story, birth mom Paola, she came to our gala last year and shared her story as well. So I don't want to share any stories or say names if they haven't already shared on our behalf. she, I remember when she arrived, we welcomed, we were kind of in the lobby welcoming the birth moms as they were arriving and we walked her up to her room. We had her little welcome basket and it had like all these fun little things like.
Shannon (44:35.427)
Right. Totally.
Katelyn (44:48.376)
to make sure they're hydrated, to make sure they have a poncho, snacks, all the things, right, to make them feel welcome. And we walked her to her room and we put it in there and on the TV it has their name at Disney, know, like welcome to this family. And so we walked her up there and she, we were like, okay, well, get settled in a room and she turned around and looked at us weeping. And she just was like, why did you choose me? I was not prepared for that and I said, I just hugged her, said, because we love you and you matter.
Shannon (44:58.414)
Yeah.
Shannon (45:07.248)
Mm.
Shannon (45:11.088)
Mm.
Mal (45:13.238)
you
Katelyn (45:17.684)
It's just your time. I don't even remember what I said. Yeah, you're meant to only remember what I said in the moment, but I remember there was tears shed. We embraced and she said, just thank you so much. And she said, I have never met another birth mom. She goes, my child that I placed is 10 years old and I've never met another birth mom my whole life, since I placed. And she said, I felt alone and I just cannot, like she just was giving us her heart.
Mal (45:19.23)
You're meant to be here, yes.
Shannon (45:24.345)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (45:41.186)
crying and weeping, was like, my gosh, and we hadn't even started yet. She had just gotten there. So I was like, no, but that was just knowing, it's just, it is very validating. It's validating when we as an organization are fundraising, when we are pushing for dollars, when we're trying to get our word out there, when we're talking to donors, when we're doing our gala, like it can get exhausting because asking for money is hard, but then you have moments like that and you're like, I will ask all day long.
Mal (45:44.246)
Mm-mm.
Shannon (45:44.634)
Yeah.
Shannon (45:59.397)
Yeah.
Mal (46:04.79)
Hmm.
Katelyn (46:09.132)
because this woman deserves to feel loved. There's nothing more powerful than strong family units and confident women in this world. We need strong family units and we need confident women who know they are worthy. That's our mission. like Shannon, you started this. If you're not an adoptive family, if you don't know anything about adoption, you're not connected, that doesn't really matter.
Mal (46:18.358)
Mm. Mm-hmm.
Shannon (46:24.026)
So good.
Mal (46:25.482)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (46:35.49)
to support funding love. You don't need to be in that community and you don't need to be passionate necessarily about adoption. But I don't know anybody who isn't passionate about families just in general. These families are families. Yes, they're adopted families, but they're families. They're families who need you to wrap their arms around them as well. So that's what I say. So we serve families and we serve women in the adoption space, but we serve families and women. So yeah.
Shannon (46:45.508)
Right. Yeah.
Mal (46:50.464)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (46:53.701)
Yeah.
Mal (46:56.692)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (47:00.526)
So good.
Katelyn (47:01.474)
Yeah, that's one story that I just, tell over and over again because maybe it hit me personally, but it was good.
Mal (47:01.579)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (47:06.614)
Yeah. And I'm reminded too of when we did interviews after our last, this past September on our birth mom vacation, we had 14 women travel with us and we gave them an opportunity. We, on their, on their community day, we said, Hey, me and Caitlin are going to be in our room with a video camera. If you would like to share your story with our donors, feel free to stop by. It was not obligated. They could just sign up and come if they wanted to. And one of the women got teary eyed during sharing her story and saying that funding love was the first organization she's like interacted with that supported birth moms that wasn't
run by birth moms. She said that we have to support each other, like the ones that are further along in their healing. I'm doing like air quotes if you're just listening, but like they're the ones that are in turn serving the ones that are fresh and the hurt is still fresh. She's like, we don't have people that care or see us that are outside of the community. That's very rare. And like she had never interacted in a space like that. And here we are at Funding Love where we're not birth moms.
Katelyn (47:37.859)
Hmm.
Shannon (47:38.32)
Mm.
Shannon (47:44.378)
Yeah. Yeah.
Katelyn (47:56.259)
Yeah.
Mal (48:03.35)
It's not run by birth moms and yet we're serving birth moms and how unique that was and it opened up my eyes and I think it opened up Caitlin's eyes and and that like more people that are not birth moms need to stand up and give voice and platform and support to women that are birth moms. Like we have to we can't just leave them to their own. We need to come and rally around and support them.
Katelyn (48:09.197)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (48:15.556)
Yeah, yeah.
Katelyn (48:20.139)
Yep.
Shannon (48:23.642)
Yeah.
Katelyn (48:24.878)
Yeah.
Shannon (48:26.35)
Yeah, that's so good. Well, we're going to end in just a minute with how people can support funding love because that's really important to me. But before we go there, I want to ask you the question that I ask all my guests at the end of our podcast, which is if you could design your perfect, beautiful day, what would it look like from start to finish? And there are no restrictions. So if you need to teleport or you need to be able to be
Katelyn (48:50.83)
Mmm.
Shannon (48:53.464)
you know, invisible or you need to not have allergies, all of that is on the table. So what is your perfect, beautiful day?
Mal (48:58.372)
wow. Do you got this Caitlin?
Katelyn (49:00.872)
Mmm. You go girl, you go girl. Yeah.
Mal (49:03.928)
you want me to go? Okay. Well, I mean, I didn't put all of that on there, like the invisibility that might actually go along in mine anyways. That's a great superpower to have, especially for me that's an introvert. And I think that my perfect day really is flex on my, you know, where I'm at emotionally. Am I tired? Am I excited? Do my, you know, but in this stage of life, raising a tween teens and being a homeschooling mom and
Shannon (49:09.104)
I know.
Katelyn (49:10.094)
haha
Shannon (49:22.949)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (49:33.439)
running, funding love and doing all the things. Listen, my perfect day would be in my bed. Just teleport me to my bed. Like I love my bed. And so I would want to wake up, have coffee in bed. I would wanna read a book. I would wanna do my Bible study and take all the time that I need. I would wanna eat Chinese food. That would be required. I love like, it's like a comfort food for me.
Shannon (49:40.943)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (49:53.102)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (49:55.963)
So I'd probably start out majority of the day in my bed and then maybe move downstairs for a movie night with my family because I love watching films. So I would pick a film that I want to watch probably an old classic that would bore my children. But if we are doing my perfect day, they're so hyped to watch Casablanca. Yes, they are. They're like, yes, mom, can we please watch an affair to remember again? And so, and then I'm probably going to have like a really yummy.
Katelyn (50:03.725)
Hmm.
Shannon (50:08.432)
They're so into it. Yes.
Mal (50:20.542)
cocktail or beverage with a dinner with my family circled around the TV that would be like my perfect day right now because I just need some like Cocooning and chill so that that's me right now. Love it
Shannon (50:28.26)
Yes. So good. I love it. I can totally get on board with that day. Okay, Kate.
Katelyn (50:34.19)
Yeah, well, I love mornings. Like I love the feeling of morning. I love a slow morning. like my perfect day would be like that, having that feeling of morning all day long. Like, sipping my coffee, families are on the sofa, just hanging. We don't have to be anywhere because it's morning all day long. You know, it's just that feeling. And I love coffee.
Mal (50:47.753)
Mmm.
Shannon (50:47.812)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (51:01.666)
I, so I would have coffee all day long. I'd probably have some good sourdough bread that's fresh out of the oven.
Mal (51:06.88)
Hmm.
Shannon (51:07.098)
Yeah. And you make it so that is, that has to be part of it.
Mal (51:10.922)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (51:13.014)
I make it and I cut my finger off doing so. No, so I mean, would be a relatively simple day. We're a family that's on the go a lot. So I think it would be order some food in, probably some sort of pizza or Italian. And my kids are, everyone's behaving and napping as they should be. Cleaning up, yeah. And then we cuddle on the sofa and watch something together as well. Like it really is being at home.
Shannon (51:30.242)
Mm-hmm. Cleaning up.
Mal (51:30.26)
you
Mal (51:40.918)
Mm-hmm.
Katelyn (51:41.09)
I would say that's probably perfect day, but there's gotta be some sort of like mountain air in there. Like maybe I go on the balcony and I see mountains with some mountain air, like in my perfect day. You know what I mean? I love that morning crisp, cool, clean mountain air. So that would be somewhere in the morning.
Shannon (51:48.888)
Yeah, yeah, so good.
Mal (51:49.44)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (51:54.806)
Hmm.
Shannon (51:55.524)
Well, I love it. I love both of your days. I think I could get on board with both of your days. Sometimes people share their day and I'm like, why is there so much hiking involved in this day? I do not hike. But you guys are like, yeah, y'all are like staying in bed, ordering food in. Like, I'm totally down for these days. Well, first of all, thank, exactly, yeah, in the tired years, yes. Thank you guys so much.
Mal (52:08.841)
You
Katelyn (52:08.974)
Why are we going?
Yeah. Yeah.
Mal (52:15.368)
Yeah, you can you can tell we're in the thick of motherhood.
Katelyn (52:18.956)
Yeah.
Shannon (52:24.4)
for being on the podcast and sharing about funding love. You know, the entire genesis of this show was it is a passion of my life to keep putting in front of people that an accurate theology and view of God is one that believes to our very core that he is making everything beautiful. And if there is any...
Katelyn (52:48.686)
Hmm.
Shannon (52:51.876)
better example than adoption of how God is making everything beautiful. I'm not sure what it is, but for both adoptive families they see God make everything beautiful in its time and you guys are making sure that birth moms as well see how God can make everything beautiful through adoption. And so I want to unashamedly say to you my audience that I want you if you are not
Katelyn (53:08.856)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (53:21.616)
any adoption work anywhere, then I want you to start supporting Funding Love. I want you to get on the website. I want you to look at how you can give. You can give one time. You can give in a recurring fashion. You can come to our gala that we are going to be having at the end of April in Orlando. If you're like, man, you know, they've been talking about Disney and now I kind of want to go to Disney. You should go at the end of April and on Friday night.
Katelyn (53:28.014)
Mm.
Katelyn (53:39.022)
Mm.
Mal (53:42.784)
What?
Shannon (53:51.48)
You should come to the Four Seasons Orlando to our fundraising gala. You can find out all the information about that on the Funding Love website as well. For those of you, and I know I'm talking to some of you, who have significant financial resources that God has given you and you believe that you are a steward of those resources, then this is one of the ways I want to put before you.
that those resources can be used to continue investing in what God is making beautiful in its time, which is the families and the birth moms who are experiencing the miracle and the gift of adoption and the kiddos that are the beneficiaries of the way that God is rewriting beauty from ashes, beauty from ashes. And so that's why I wanted you to hear from Caitlin and Mallory. I...
Katelyn (54:22.445)
Mm.
Katelyn (54:30.328)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (54:41.38)
Believe in funding love. I am producing the event at the end of April. I said, how can I serve? I've recruited my friends. I have assigned my family. We're all gonna be there. We are all doing it. And I don't think there is a better way that you can invest in what the kingdom of God is doing in the earth than to be invested in the work of adoption. So whether that's.
something in your local city, whether that's through your local church or whether that's through funding love. think Caitlin and Mallory would say do something. Even if you don't do funding love, do something to support adoption, foster care and birth moms. So all of that information is going to be in the show notes, but I'm not even sorry that I'm asking you to pray about it. And I believe that if you have gotten this far in this podcast, then there may be something that the Holy Spirit wants to prick you to engage in.
Mal (55:13.238)
Absolutely.
Katelyn (55:16.365)
Right.
Mal (55:20.906)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon (55:36.12)
And I think you should absolutely say a resounding yes to however he's leading you. So I'm gonna put all of Mal and Kate's information in the show notes, Funding Love's information in the show notes. And it's our prayer that you would know more than you did when this podcast started about what is facing adoptive families and birth moms, but also that you would know that there is a way that you can be involved. We love women.
Katelyn (55:41.038)
Mmm.
Shannon (56:02.636)
I love women, and Kate love women. And at the end of the day, there are a lot of women involved in what we have talked about and we want them to see their intrinsic worth and their value and how worthy they are of being lavished in the love that funding love is providing. So ladies, thank you, thank you, thank you. Listen, I'm about it.
Katelyn (56:03.64)
Mm-hmm.
Mal (56:08.192)
Mm.
Katelyn (56:15.0)
Mm.
Katelyn (56:21.932)
my gosh, Shannon, thank you. mean, thank you for those words and thank you for, yeah, I mean, I just gotta say, like, it means so much that you had us on, you allowed us to talk about it from our hearts and that you support us in this way because that's how we feel about it. So I love that you're sharing that with us.
Mal (56:25.172)
No, thank you.
Shannon (56:39.374)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and this community, the community that listens to this podcast that's engaged in what we love, will love this and will support in some way, whatever that is. And so I'm excited to see what God does as we continue to care about what He cares about. And this is something that He cares about. So thank you, ladies, for taking up this mantle.
Katelyn (56:47.683)
Yeah.
Shannon (57:03.01)
It's not an easy road to try to champion other people. It is almost always met with a lot of resistance. And so we just want to say we're cheering you on and we love you. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. All right, everybody. Thanks for joining us. Keep your eyes open for the way that God is making everything beautiful, including you. And we will see you next time.
Katelyn (57:14.072)
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Mal (57:14.624)
Thank you, thank you so much.