The Anna Jinja Show
The Anna Jinja show focuses on the stories, issues, and questions connected to adoption and foster care experiences.
The host is an international adoptee with biological roots in Korea and adopted roots in the United States. As you can imagine, her journey and experiences as a transracial adoptee are multifaceted. Her experiences have been with the pain of discrimination and rejection as well as the joys of self-discovery and learning to embrace all aspects of her identity.
Along the way, she has discovered that she is not alone. We’re all – in some ways – adopted into or out of homes, cultures, communities, and relationships as we grow and evolve. This show illuminates the theme of adoption, in all ways, in our lives. And how those experiences create who we are and who we are yet to be.
Her hope is that through engaging with the guests and creative content, we are welcomed home in this world, cradled in the belief that we belong, that we are worthy, and that we are loved.
So stay tuned, and you may discover your own adoption story.
The Anna Jinja Show
The Brydges Family & Jean Mikhail
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A boy's only Christmas wish was to be adopted with his brother.
Dawson wouldn't leave Dalton behind. Dalton has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and is legally blind and nonverbal. When Robbin Brydges and her husband Steven found out about Dalton through the Dave Thomas Foundation's Wendy's Wonderful Kids program, they also found out he had a little brother who refused to be split up. They adopted them both.
Years later, a poet named Jean Mikhail watched their story and cried so hard she couldn't stop. She wrote a poem about it. Then she got to read it to the family, live, on this show.
On this episode of The Anna Jinja Show, you'll hear Jean's poem "Psalter for a Broken World," Robbin's honest reflection on becoming "the mom of a superhero," and Dawson himself, now a junior in high school, telling his brother on air: "I don't care how far the drive is. You can come home."
This episode is about the kind of family you choose, and the kind of loyalty a nine-year-old already understands better than most adults do. There are thousands of kids in foster care right now waiting for someone to say yes, the way Robbin and Steven did.
If today's episode moves you, you can learn more about foster care adoption through the Dave Thomas Foundation or your local foster care agency.
About Jean Voneman Mikhail, a poet from Athens, Ohio, whose work has appeared in The Northern Appalachian Review, Sheila Na Gig Online, and other literary journals. Jean draws on her rich experiences to bring heartfelt stories to the page, inspired by family and place.