It Wasn’t Meant to Be, by Lyndsay Wilkin

Michelle Madrid-Branch / March 5, 2020March 5, 2020 / Adoption Advocacy, Faith, Foster Care Advocacy, Love, Orphan Advocacy, Quilt of Life

I walked into the children’s receiving home with my husband that crisp fall morning six-and-a-half years ago, my heart galloping in my chest. This was the day we were going to meet our children for the first time. Our social worker told us about them only the day before, and we hadn’t seen pictures or received much information. All I knew was a two-year-old boy and his six-month-old half-sister waited for my husband and me somewhere in that sterile government building. Waited for us to scoop them up and take them to safety and be their forever Mommy and Daddy. That was what my galloping heart pounded out, loud and clear and urgent.

Your Big, Beautiful Story: A 3-Step Technique To Help You Live It

Michelle Madrid-Branch / February 28, 2020March 5, 2020 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, Blog, Foster Care Advocacy, Foster Youth Advocacy, Inspiration, Life Coach, Michelle Madrid-Branch, Orphan Advocacy

“If I don’t give this work my all, I’m stealing from those who need my message the most.” It was a seismic shift in my mindset! Moving from being apprehensive to share my story to being 100% determined to share my story, and doing everything possible to make that happen.

It feels like, in the world today, we are prone to devalue our stories—our big, beautiful, important stories. In other words, I think we too easily lean toward silencing our voices. We tell ourselves that we don’t have anything important to say. What could someone like me possibly have to offer?

The Look of Love, by Andie Coston

Michelle Madrid-Branch / February 20, 2020February 20, 2020 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, Foster Care Advocacy, Foster Youth Advocacy, Orphan Advocacy, Quilt of Life, Soul Journalism

“I would get too attached.”

It’s the most common hard pass excuse we hear as foster parents or social workers.

It’s been overused as an excuse and as a blog topic. As a foster parent, you can now Google for well-crafted snarky responses to this lame excuse for not wanting to foster. We ALL know now that it is an excuse. That people who “get too attached” are exactly what we are looking for in foster parents. We all know that they just don’t want to step out of their comfort zones and into positively participating in changing the trajectory of children and bio parent’s lives.

A Call from God, by Christine Hebert

Michelle Madrid-Branch / February 6, 2020February 11, 2020 / Adoption Advocacy, Faith, Motherhood, Orphan Advocacy, Quilt of Life

When my phone rings, no matter the time or how busy (or not) that I am, I rarely answer. I let it turn to voicemail, filtering the message to determine if it’s something I want to deal with, save for later or—let’s be honest—blatantly ignore. So why, on an early August morning when I heard God calling me toward adoption, did I decide to tune in, on what would otherwise be the first ring?

It was the first week of August 2018 and I went out for a walk with our dog, tuned into a random podcast and heard the hosts speaking on adoption. Adoption had always sounded like a nice idea but was not yet on our radar. Nevertheless, I came home from that walk and told my husband all about it, ending with something like, “We have to do this.” I think he was probably a little shocked, that my usually detail-minded and indecisive self would be so spontaneous and certain. Months later we’d learn that our son was born on nearly the exact morning I felt that nudge. Even later, we’d be amazed to find that our son legally became our child on the anniversary of the night my husband and I started dating. To put it clearly, we have no question as to the divine intervention that orchestrated the growth of our family.

This Side of Adoption: Sharing Our Struggles, Mom-to-Mom with Kelli Belt

Michelle Madrid-Branch / February 4, 2020January 30, 2020 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, Motherhood, Orphan Advocacy, The Greater Than Podcast

“Seeing the beauty doesn’t diminish the pain.”

Kelli Belt is the host of the podcast, Beauty is Rising. She’s the mother of 3 and a wife of 21-years. Kelli’s 7-year journey to adopt her daughter from Ethiopia led her to the work she focuses on today: equipping adoptive mothers with what they need to be happy right now, and connecting those mothers to a larger community of support.

Life: Why It’s Worth the Journey

Michelle Madrid-Branch / January 31, 2020February 4, 2020 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, autoimmunity, Blog, Breast Implants, Explant, Foster Care Advocacy, Foster Youth Advocacy, Inspiration, Life Coach, loving well, Michelle Madrid-Branch, Motherhood, Orphan Advocacy, breast implant illness

“There are a million reasons why people feel broken.” This comment, shared in an email, caused me to sit back in my chair and reflect for several minutes.

“Are there really a million reasons why people can find themselves shattered and on the floor?” I asked. “That seems overwhelming….”

My friend replied, “There are people who grew up in stable, but unloving homes. People abandoned in marriage. People who never found love. People rejected for all sorts of reasons that have left them feeling worthless.”

The Blessings of a Scar, by David Michael Barnett

Michelle Madrid-Branch / January 23, 2020January 22, 2020 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, Faith, Foster Care Advocacy, Inspiration, Orphan Advocacy, Quilt of Life

Scars are signatures of painful events in the life of our bodies. They are a reminder that informs us that we are not always in control of our lives. I have many scars. Scars on my hands from bee stings received while playing hide and seek; a scar on the lower right side of my abdomen created by a surgeon’s scalpel to remove an angry appendix; and a scar on my left arm as a result of being “cleated” while playing football.

Of all my scars, I have a favorite, the scar on my left knee. When I was almost three years old, I was running through the house and tripped and fell on my sister’s toy sewing machine. It was made from metal and had a sharp edge on the base. The gash was severe, and the blood began to flow. My father took a sheet, began ripping it, and wrapped my knee to stop the bleeding. What I remember most was sitting in his lap with my mummified leg, being comforted by his big hands. I will never forget his hands. Those hands are forever etched into my memory as a visual reminder of my father’s love.

The Transformational Power of Service

Michelle Madrid-Branch / December 19, 2019January 3, 2020 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, Blog, Foster Care Advocacy, Foster Youth Advocacy, Life Coach, Michelle Madrid-Branch, Orphan Advocacy

I host a podcast called Greater Than. I started this project to explore how people rise above tremendous challenges and find a greater way of being—discovering a purpose and a calling beyond their wildest dreams.

I’ve learned so much from listening to the stories of others who have gone through the toughest of times and, on the other side of pain, have uncovered the true meaning of life: serving.

When we look around us, as we approach the closing out of 2019, it seems that society has lost its way in the area of service. Greatness is viewed as having more than the next person: more accolades, more money, more strength, more power, more status. Greatness has never been about these things.

5 Things to Remember in Helping Your Adopted Child Through Self-Soothing

Michelle Madrid-Branch / November 6, 2019 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, Blog, Foster Care Advocacy, Foster Youth Advocacy, Life Coach, Michelle Madrid-Branch, Orphan Advocacy

I was a self-soother. As a young international adoptee, I would rock myself back and forth on the family room floor trying to re-connect with the rhythms of my birth mother.

It was instinctual. Like a lost animal in the wild, searching for its mother, the rocking was a primal ritual performed by a child looking for her home.

I don’t remember having an awareness of why I would lay there, rocking myself. I just remember that the behavior seemed to calm and comfort me. It made me feel connected to something real inside of me. Something I could not openly express.

Looking back, the rocking gave me a sense of control. When I rocked, I could feel my mum. It was the only time when I could feel her close. Rocking myself offered me certainty.

Living in the Skin of Adoption

Michelle Madrid-Branch / October 29, 2019October 29, 2019 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, Blog, Foster Care Advocacy, Foster Youth Advocacy, Life Coach, Michelle Madrid-Branch, Orphan Advocacy

I have my moments. Those times when I wish adoption was not part of my vocabulary. If you’re an adoptee, do you know what I mean?

There are times when I wish that I didn’t speak the language of adoption so fluently. I suppose, like every person of adoption alive today, I have my dark hours of doubt.

I’ve never pretended that I wasn’t adopted. What I have done is lessened this part of my story—skimming over my adoptee chapters. Many times, in the past, I’ve looked the other way…but, the skin still follows. I live in the skin of adoption and I know the challenges of feeling uncomfortable in that skin.

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