My mom doesn't look like me

Julie Thomas became a mom of four in a matter of 20 months. "It is pretty wild how God put our family together," she said. But, as a blended family and a white mother to two Haitan, now teenage boys, she's seen firsthand how inequality, racism and biases are still present today. So she's asking everyone to "take an honest look at your own life. And honestly ask yourself, is there even a drop of racism in me?" 

00:23 Twanna introduces guest speaker, Julie Thomas. 

1:11 Twanna asks Julie to share a little about her family and living with four teenagers.  

2:50 Twanna sheds light on thousands of children in need of adoption and asks Kathy what drew them to adopt two children of a different race. 

3:21 Julie says, "I remember one night after my husband and I got married, we sat in a parking lot. I remember him telling me, 'I feel like I'm supposed to have a black son.'" 

5:04 When adopting their first son, Isaiah, in Haiti, Julie shares the experience and how Isaiah, at just 14 months old, picked Joel to be his dad.

6:06 In just 20 months, Julie and Joel went from parenting one child to parenting four. 

7:44 Julie talks about her first encounter with noticing the difference of how others were treating her first two boys in elementary school and how, especially during Black History Month in February, things would get stirred up. 

8:55 Twanna shares her experience and observation that "white people, in particular, don't have to deal with black people." She shares how they can go on without dealing with black people, but they would miss the truth of what is happening in our world today and what others different than them are experiencing. 

10:56 Julie wrote a blog after the Charlottesville riots called, "Where is the disconnect? The questions I'm asking myself about racism" and discusses the premise for writing this blog. 

13:43 After George Floyd's death and its aftermath, Julie shares as her boys get older, she may not fully understand where they are, but she wants them to know they are loved, accepted and safe with her and her husband. 

16:18 Twanna asks Julie if she and her husband have had some of the conversations that black parents have with their black children? 

16:28 Julie says it's disappointing and frustrating having two black sons and one white son and that the same rules don't apply to them because of the world we live in today. 

19:31 Twanna asks Julie how parents can intentionally help their children address race and racism.

21:49 Julie says, first, you need to ask yourself good and honest questions. Then ask your kids good and honest questions. Finally, as parents, model racial reconciliation.  

23:30 Julie closes in prayer. 

For video versions of episode 48 and onward visit us on Youtube.