Once Upon A Time...In Adopteeland Jennifer Dyan Ghoston

Jennifer Poole was adopted as an infant in a closed adoption. She holds a Masters Degree in Interfaith Pastoral Counseling, where she wrote her thesis on “Openness in Adoption as an Opportunity for Spiritual Growth”. It was during this time, in 2001, that she initiated her reunion with her birth mother and later with her birth father. 
Passionate about supporting families, she is certified in Hand in Hand Parenting, Redirecting Children’s Behavior, the Enneagram, and Whole Person Design Life Coaching. Drawing from a large tool box which includes continuing education in Mindfulness, High Conflict Diversion, ADHD, ACES, Attachment Theory and Trauma Informed Care, Jennifer provides counseling and coaching to help families move from conflict to the connection they seek. 
She also works with Adoption Mosaic as a co-teacher and parenting consultant. As their adoptee outreach coordinator, she interviews adoptees to help find panelists for their “We the Experts” series. 
She currently lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband. Together they have 4 grown children.
Websites: https://www.feelmorelove.net/
https://adoptionmosaic.com/
Music by Corey Quinn

Edward Di Gangi is a returning guest.
Adopted at birth, Edward Di Gangi was born and raised in New York City. Although he knew for most of his life that he was adopted, it wasn’t until he approached his 70th birthday that he began to search for the identity of his birth mother. His journey and the many surprising discoveries he made as he searched are recounted in his memoir, The Gift Best Given. Edward and his wife now live in Hillsborough, North Carolina. He is a popular book club presenter and podcast guest. The Gift Best Given is his first full-length book.
In this episode,  Edward shares the research he continues to do in preparation for his next book, how he has come to better understand the birth mother’s experience, the month of May and how some things have not changed since 1948, the year he was born.
Website: https://www.digangiauthor.com/
Music by Corey Quinn

Heather G. Marshall is an adoptee, author, speaker, teacher, and traveler. Her short fiction has been published in a variety of journals, including Black Middens: New Writing Scotland, and Quarried, an anthology of the best of three decades of Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel. Her first novel, The Thorn Tree, released in 2014 (MP Publishing). When the Ocean Flies, Heather’s second novel (Vine Leaves Press), released in February 2024. Her TED talk, “Letting Go of Expectations,” centers around her adoption and reunion. In addition to writing, Heather is a mindfulness and yoga teacher and offers mindful writing classes and workshops for adoptees. Originally from Scotland, Heather emigrated to Ireland and then the US. She’s currently based in Massachusetts.
Website: heathergmarshall.com When the Ocean Flies
TEDx: "Letting go of Expectations" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meka3_pUVqc
Music by Corey Quinn

Michael Knox is a returning guest, and after four years of listening to podcasts and interacting with his biological family, he has a different view on adoption. Coming out of the fog, he thinks is a real thing. Nobody can really define it, but there are things that he discovered that might help explain it for some people. The fact that after 25 years of sobriety, his way of handling it was going back to drinking was the wrong way to deal with it. 
Michael was adopted in 1961 in Illinois. He grew up with two younger sisters; 1 adopted 1 bio. His family moved to Southern California when he was five. He has been married for 38 years and has three wonderful children and two granddaughters. He worked in the television industry for many years and moved his family to Atlanta work on Olympics and never left Atlanta.
Around 2002, Michael started running, biking and swimming one thing led to another and he started doing Iron Man triathlons.  If you asked him to describe himself in 2019 he would say “A husband, father, grandfather & athlete”. He did both Ancestry and 23andMe out of curiosity and was never searching for family. there was a match on 23andMe and life changed forever! Now, he describes himself as ADOPTED, husband, father, grandfather & athlete.
At years 58 years old on July 3 2019, Michael found his birth mom and maternal half brother and sister. With a little more research he found his birth father who passed away in 2011. He had 4 sons and 1 daughter. Michael now has a total of 9 siblings!
Michael's first appearance was during Season 3, episode 44.
Recommended Books: "The Girls Who Went Away"- Ann Fessler, "The Primal Wound"-Nancy Verrier, "The Body Keeps the Score"-Bessell van der Kolk
Recommended Podcasts: Adoptees on, Who am I really?, Adoption; The Making of Me, Pulled by the Root, The Adoption Files, Thriving Adoptees, Voice of Adoptees, Adoption Unfiltered, Unraveling Adoption, Birth Mom’s Real Talk, DNA Surprises, Everything is Relative, and NPE Stories
Music by Corey Quinn

Valerie Naiman is the author of the newly released book Mystic Masquerade, An Adoptee's Search for Truth, which was compiled from decades of diaries and journals she wrote during her biological & spiritual search. Valerie is also a singer, story-song writer and is working on an album of her adoptee story songs. Besides that, she's a founder of the first permaculture designed eco-village in North America called Earthaven Eco-Village. As an onotologist studying the art of beingness, she's become a spiritual guide to many seeking to find truth in their lives. Valerie holds a Master of Arts from the Univ. of Miami, and is the president of the Spirit Foundation, an NPO that supports disenfranchised children.  
Valerie now lives in Asheville, NC with her honeybees, chickens & dwarf goats.
Valerie’s new book is available in print, ebook and soon to be release audiobook. You can find parts of it on her website http://valerienaiman.com or order on Bookshop, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.
Music by Corey Quinn

Eva Asprakis was raised in South London by her American mother and Cypriot stepfather, who subsequently adopted her. She now lives in Nicosia with her partner, and is the author of two contemporary fiction novels.
https://www.eva-asprakis.com
https://www.instagram.com/eva.asprakis
Music by Corey Quinn