Someday is Here

Latest Episodes:

S5 E5: The Power of Belonging with Tasha Jun May 30, 2023

Show notes

This Someday is Here series is sponsored by Denver Seminary. To learn more about Denver Seminary’s programs and community, visit DenverSeminary.edu/VIVIAN.

This is the last episode of the May adoption series! What an amazing month of powerful adoption stories! To wrap up this series, Tasha Jun joins to share her experience as an adoptive mother. Tasha is a passionate storyteller, expressing experiences through her writing, recently releasing her new book “Tell Me the Dream Again: Reflections on Family, Ethnicity, and the Sacred Work of Belonging.” Tasha also works to encourage others to embrace their own ethnic identity.

In this episode, we discuss Tasha’s experience as an adoptive mother. She shares the reasoning behind her heart for adoption, resources that she uses to help her child embrace their own powerful identity and some amazing advice- including how listening is a powerful tool!

I encourage you to listen to the other episodes in this series to be so encouraged by powerful adoption stories!

Complete our listener survey!

Resources:

Tell Me the Dream Again: Reflections on Family, Ethnicity, and the Sacred Work of Belonging

Connect with Vivian:

Instagram: @vivmabuni

Website: https://www.vivianmabuni.com/

Connect with Tasha

Website

Instagram

Facebook

S5 E4: The Story Behind the Music with Gordon "Gowe" Tsai May 23, 2023

Show notes

This Someday is Here series is sponsored by Denver Seminary. To learn more about Denver Seminary’s programs and community, visit DenverSeminary.edu/VIVIAN.

At the age of 18, Gordon Tsai, Gowe, found out two life-changing pieces of his identity; he was adopted and ethnically Korean. Throughout battling the impact of this news, Gordon sought the Lord for strength, identity, and guidance- leading to a career as a lyrically powerful hip-hop artist, finding and meeting his birth mom, and a greater understanding of his true identity.

This is a conversation you will not want to miss! We discuss Gordon’s life as an adoptee, the impact of discovering the truth of his story at an older age, the meaning behind his music, and seeking God throughout it all.

This is the fourth episode of our Adoption Series! If you haven’t heard the past three episodes, I encourage you to also go back and listen to the powerful stories connected to adoption!

Resources:

“I Wonder” music video

Gowe on spotify!

Connect with Gordon:

Instagram: @gowehiphop

Facebook: Gowe

Twitter: @gowehiphop

Website: Gowehiphop.com

Connect with Vivian:

Instagram: @vivmabuni

Website: https://www.vivianmabuni.com/

S5 E3: A Dual Perspective with Brandi Ebersole May 16, 2023

Show notes

This Someday is Here series is sponsored by Denver Seminary. To learn more about Denver Seminary’s programs and community, visit DenverSeminary.edu/VIVIAN.

Join us today for the third episode of our May Adoption Series! Today’s conversation is so encouraging as I am joined by Brandi Ebersole to hear about her life as both a transracial/transnational adoptee and an adoptive parent to transracial adoptees. Brandi is a mom of four, a former foster mom, and a mentor for adoptive youth. She also writes an adoptive-focused blog and is a co-owner of a photography business with her husband.

Brandi shares her powerful perspective growing up as a transracial adoptee and the impact that now has had on how she chooses to parent her own children. We discuss the power of identity, the impact of the Church, and her own advice to other adoptive parents! Brandi has such an incredible story as she has experienced multiple facets of adoption.

You will not want to miss this episode! If you haven’t heard the other two episodes of this series I encourage you to also go back and listen to my conversations with Sandhya Oaks and Shannan Martin!

Complete our listener survey!

Connect with Vivian:

Instagram: @vivmabuni

Website: https://www.vivianmabuni.com/

Connect with Brandi:

Instagram: @brandi_ebersole

Blog Instagram: @kindredand.co

Blog:

https://msha.ke/kindredand.co

S5 E2: The Role of the Adoptive Parent with Shannan Martin May 09, 2023

Show notes

This Someday is Here series is sponsored by Denver Seminary. To learn more about Denver Seminary’s programs and community, visit DenverSeminary.edu/VIVIAN.

Today is the second episode of our AAPI Adoption Series! Today’s episode is a both challenging and hopeful conversation as Shannan Martin joins me to discuss the impact of adoption on her life as an adoptive parent. Shannan is an author, speaker, and cook at a local non-profit. Most recently, Shannan has released her newest book, Start With Hello, about what it looks like to live a connected life in a community.

Shannan shares her experience as an adoptive parent of children from varying ethnic and cultural backgrounds. We discuss parental tips on assisting your children as they process, heal, and embrace the person that God has made them to be. This is not a conversation you want to miss!

If you haven’t heard the first episode in this adoption series I encourage you to also go back and listen to Sandhya Oaks to learn about her own personal experience with adoption as a transracial adoptee!

Complete our listener survey!

Resources:

It Takes More than Love: A Christian Guide to Navigating the Complexities of Cross-Cultural

Shannan’s books:

Start with Hello: (And Other Simple Ways to Live as Neighbors)

The Ministry of Ordinary Places

Falling Free

Connect with Vivian:

Instagram: @vivmabuni

Website: https://www.vivianmabuni.com/

Connect with Shannan:

Instagram: @shannanwrites

Twitter: @shannanwrites

Newsletter: https://www.shannanmartin.com/newsletter

Website: https://www.shannanmartin.com/

S5 E1: The Adoption Table with Sandhya Oaks May 02, 2023

Show notes

Happy AAPI Month!
This Someday is Here series is sponsored by Denver Seminary. To learn more about Denver Seminary’s programs and community, visit DenverSeminary.edu/VIVIAN.

Are you curious about the impact of adoption? Maybe you are a transracial adoptee seeking to be heard? Or an adoptive parent wanting to advocate and support your adoptive child?

Then you will love this conversation with Sandhya Oaks. Sandhya is a ministry leader, story coach, and spiritual director who has witnessed firsthand the impact of adoption through her own story as a transracial adoptee. Sandhya has also co-founded The Adoption Table which is a group connecting everyone involved in the adoption or foster care process.

In our conversation, Sandhya shares her own story processing her background in an abusive adoptive household and describes her journey to empowerment. We reflect and discuss helpful tactics for parents wanting to lovingly and effectively help their child embrace their ethnic background. Whether you are an adoptee, adoptive parent, considering adoption, or just curious- this is a conversation you will not want to miss!

Complete our listener survey!

Resources:

All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir

It Takes More than Love: A Christian Guide to Navigating the Complexities of Cross-Cultural Adoption

Therapy Services

The Adoption Table

Equipping Resources

Workshops with Sandhya

Connect with Vivian:

Instagram: @vivmabuni

Website: https://www.vivianmabuni.com/

Connect with Sandhya:

Instagram: @sandhyaoaks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sandhyaoaks

Website: https://www.sandhyaoaks.com/

Episode 10: Healing Takes Time with Bonnie Gray Mar 14, 2023

Show notes

Do you suffer from social anxiety? Do you have trouble falling asleep because your mind is racing? Do you feel physical pain due to stress? This week I sit down with author and Soul Care Coach Bonnie Gray who is passionate about empowering thousands of women weekly to detox stress and flourish in emotional wellness and prayer as God’s beloved daughters. We talk through two questions that can help you navigate stress and anxiety:

What is your physical body telling you?
What are the pieces of our story that you just passed by, but need to be dealt with?

We hope you’re encouraged by this week’s episode and know that you are not alone and there are resources for you. Click below in our show notes to take your Soul Care Quiz to learn what your body needs to begin turning chaos to calm!

Show Notes:

The Body Keeps the Score

Sweet Like Jasmine by Bonnie Gray

Turning Red- Pixar

Soulcarequiz.com

Turning Red- Pixar

Breathe: 21 Days to Transform Chaos to Calm

Breathe: The Stress Less Podcast

Connect with Vivian:

Instagram: @somedayisherepodcast and @vivmabuni

Website: https://www.vivianmabuni.com/

Connect with Bonnie:

Instagram: @thebonniegray

Website: www.bonniegray.com

Episode 9: Women Wise Nutrition with Isabel Garza Mar 07, 2023

Show notes

We all do it: step on the scale, look in the mirror, wish something about our body was different. Loving one’s body isn’t always easy, but is it possible to break that way of thinking and feel at home in your own skin? Join us this week as Registered Dietitian Isabel Garza shares how we can nourish our bodies with confidence and clarity!

Show Notes:

Women Wise Nutrition

Connect with Vivian:

Instagram: @somedayisherepodcast and @vivmabuni

Website: https://www.vivianmabuni.com/

Connect with Isabel:

Instagram: @womanwisenutrition

Website: www.womanwisenutrition.com

Did You Know Segment:

Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery in Desha County, Arkansas, is one of only three extant Japanese American confinement site cemeteries in the US? In 1992, it was designated a National Historic Landmark.

Executive Order 9066 signed by President Roosevelt in 1942 authorized the US Military to forcibly remove Japanese Americans and those of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast.

Rohwer was one of only two confinement sites located in the eastern half of the US. Over two thirds of its 10,000 incarcerees were American citizens. From this group, volunteers enlisted in the US Army and fought with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, one of the most highly decorated and respected military units.

Japanese Americans incarcerated at Rohwer from 1942 to 1945 designed and built the cemetery which sat on 500 acres of farmland.

In a 1982 dedication, a granite monument was erected to commemorate both the incarcerees who died at Rohwer and those who died while serving in World War 2.

SOURCE:

U.S. National Park Service, “Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery,https://www.nps.gov/places/rohwer-relocation-center-memorial-cemetery.htm

Episode 8: Voices of Lament with Kathy Khang and Grace Cho Feb 28, 2023

Show notes

In 2020, in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, 29 women of color worked together to bring words to the lament that was felt across the world. As they reflected on Psalm 37, these women wrote on topics of justice, anger, generosity, and peace, and showed the world the beauty and strength that comes from community. Join us this week as contributing authors Vivian Mabuni, Kathy Khang, and Grace Cho share their experience in writing Voices of Lament and how hope and healing can be found through grief.

Show Notes:

Voices of Lament: Reflections on Brokenness and Hope in a World Longing for Justice

Connect with Vivian:

Instagram: @somedayisherepodcast and @vivmabuni

Website: https://www.vivianmabuni.com/

Connect with Kathy Khang:

Instagram: @mskathykhang

Twitter: @mskathyKhang

Connect with Grace Cho:

Instagram: @gracepcho

Twitter: @gracepcho

Website: www.gracepcho.com

Did You Know Segment:

Scout Bassett is an elite sprinter, triathlete, Paralympian and UCLA graduate?

Who is she? Scout became the fastest American of her classification ever to run the 100-meter dash for the US. (1) And, she teamed with American Girl to have a doll created after her. (2)

Scout lost her leg in a chemical fire as a baby in China. As a seven-year old, she was adopted from a Chinese orphanage by an American family. (3) She grew up in a predominantly white town in Michigan and had no friends or role models who looked like her or had a disability like hers. (4)

However, her most painful life experience occurred during the pandemic when Scout faced overt racism at a local grocery store. (5) She used that event to not only fuel her athletic goals but also to become a voice and role model for other Asian Americans.

In her words, “Representation really does matter,… (w)e cannot aspire to the things that we want to be or that we don’t even know we might want to until we see someone else doing it.” (6)

SOURCES

Brooke Baldwin, Huddle, How Women Unlock Their Collective Power (Harper Collins, 2021), 121.
Ibid, 122.
Ibid, 121.

4-6) Sara Tan, “Full Speed Ahead, How Paralympian Scout Bassett Uses Her Sport to Find Strength in the Face of Xenophobia, June 11,2020, https://www.allure.com/story/scout-bassett-paralympics-runner-asian-american-xenophobia-interview

https://www.challengedathletes.org/athletes/scout-bassett-2/

Episode 7: Making Disciples with Alice Matagora Feb 21, 2023

Show notes

“Go and make disciples of all nations…”, some of Jesus’ last words here on earth, but too often neglected. Join us this week as Vivian and Alice Matagora share how their life was changed by discipleship. Alice shares research based data on Christians who are discipling, being discipled, and how discipleship can be made simple.

5 Traits of a Disciplemaker:

Love Jesus
Love his Word
Participate in God-fearing Community
Live Among the Lost
Have a Heart for Generations

Show Notes:

Navigators

How to Save the World: Disciplemaking Made Simple

Ephesians 2:8-10

Isaiah 54

Connect with Vivian:

Instagram: @somedayisherepodcast and @vivmabuni

Website: https://www.vivianmabuni.com/

Connect with Alice:

Instagram: @alicematagora

Website: Alice Matagora

Did You Know Segment:

That the First woman of color to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives was Patsy Takemoto Mink? She was also the first Japanese American woman to practice law in her home State of Hawaii.

In 1965, Patsy made history and started her long career in politics. Her lifelong experience with racism and gender bias drove her to create legislation that addressed unfairness and inequities.

She, along with Rep. Edith Green, spearheaded the passage of the Title IX Education Amendment of 1972. This landmark piece of legislation transformed women’s opportunities in higher education and sports. In 2002, this act was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act.

In Patsy’s words, “What you endure is who you are. And if you just accept and do nothing, then life goes on. But if you see it as a way for change, life doesn’t have to be this unfair; it can be better. Maybe not for me, I can’t change the past. But I can certainly help somebody else in the future so they don’t have to go through what I did.”

Sources

1-27-2022, PBS Hawaii Presents, Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority – A Film by Kimberly Bassford, 2008

https://youtu.be/k8icOtKYmxs

UCI Podcast: Patsy Mink’s role in Title IX passage

https://news.uci.edu/2022/06/22/uci-podcast-patsy-minks-role-in-title-ix-passage/

United States House of Representatives Archives – Patsy Takemoto Mink, 1927-2002

https://history.house.gov/People/detail/18329

Alexander, Kerri Lee. “Patsy Mink.” National Women’s History Museum, 2019. September 1, 2022.

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/patsy-mink

Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority and Ahead of Her Time

https://densho.org/catalyst/patsy-mink/

Episode 6: Feeling Stuck with Anjuli Paschal Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

Have you ever felt stuck in a season? Have you wondered if you would always have that struggle, or asked yourself, “When I get to the end of my life, will any of this matter?” If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, then this episode is for you! Listen this week as Anjuli shares through vulnerability and authenticity how God reminded her through a great disappointment that only one thing is required of her… to rest in the love of God.

Show Notes:

Awake: Paying Attention to What Matters Most in a World That’s Pulling You Apart

The Story of Mary and Martha

The Vine and The Branches

Connect with Vivian:

Instagram: @somedayisherepodcast and @vivmabuni

Website: https://www.vivianmabuni.com/

Connect with Anjuli:

Website: Anjuli Paschall

Instagram: @lovealways.anjuli

Did You Know Segment:

The First Asian American ATHLETE to win an Olympic Gold Medal was a Filipina American woman? Her name is Vicki Manalo Draves. In fact, Vicki won 2 gold medals in the 1948 London Olympics. She won her first gold medal in springboard diving two days before her teammate, Sammy Lee, won his medal in platform diving. Sammy is the first Asian American “man” to win an Olympic gold medal for the US.

To his credit, Sammy, who is often mentioned by the media as the first Asian American Olympic gold medalist, introduced Vicki to her diving coach and future husband, Lyle Draves. Sammy served as best man at Vicki and Lyle’s wedding.

Vicki grew up in San Francisco. Her father was Filipino and her mother was English. Sammy grew up in Los Angeles, the son of Korean immigrants.

Both Vicki and Sammy had groundbreaking performances in individual competition, but what’s overlooked is their relationship as good friends and teammates against a backdrop of discrimination and bias.

Sources

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/vicki-draves-and-sammy-lee-win-olympic-gold-medal

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/golden-friendship-between-two-first-asian-american-olympic-champions-n1006191

https://seattleglobalist.com/2016/12/15/real-first-asian-american-olympic-gold-medalist-doesnt-get-due/60115

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