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I was so excited about doing this podcast interview. Jillana and I have so many overlapping connections and passions: she lived in Guatemala (where our little boy is from!), she\'s a foster mom, she\'s adopted from foster care, she has teenagers, she has an ongoing relationship with a birth mom, and she has a child with special needs.
We could have talked for hours, but I limited myself to just around 30 minutes for this episode -- and it\'s packed with goodness! We dive deep into what it looks like to parent a child with special needs, the challenges and blessings of walking in proximity to birth parents of children we\'ve fostered and/or adopted, and how living a love-stretched life has turned their world upside down in the most beautiful of ways.\\xa0\\xa0
Whether you are a foster parent or an adoptive parent or a parent of a child with special needs or whether your life looks completely different, I think you\'ll find your heart resonating with her passion to love those who need love the most and to walk alongside them without criticism or condemnation but instead with compassion.
[02:05] \\u2013 Jillana introduces herself and her unique family.
[03:18] \\u2013 Why did Jillana foster children before having children biologically?
[06:33] \\u2013 What was her mindset before she started fostering?
[09:11] \\u2013 An honest discussion on birth parents.
[13:31] \\u2013 Parents with kids in foster care were often kids in foster care themselves.
[15:06] \\u2013 Jillana offers advice on how to walk alongside other foster parents if you aren\'t called to foster.
[16:50] \\u2013 Hear about being welcoming but with boundaries.
[19:52] \\u2013 What it\'s like parenting a child with special needs.
[29:52] \\u2013 The beauty of interdependency.
[31:22] \\u2013 What does a love-stretched life look like?