Welcome to the Storytellers Live podcast where everyday people share real and personal stories.

Some are profound and challenging, while others are more common and relatable shared with honesty and humor.

But all of these stories reveal what God can do in our lives when we trust him with the details.

Thanks for joining us.

Hi everyone, this is your host, Kelly, from the Storytellers Live team. On each episode, you'll hear a

different woman share her story of God's transforming love. These stories are recorded in a live

setting at weekly local gatherings, where we're aiming to build community through sharing,

connecting, and encouraging one another.

Most importantly, these stories reveal the faithfulness of God and how he can take what's ordinary and broken

and exchange it for extraordinary and redeemed.

Today, our storyteller Lynn shares her unique experience with adoption, having given up a baby for adoption when she was just 18 years old and now also being an adoptive mother herself as she and her husband have brought two girls into their family from Russia.

Lynn's decision at age 18 to give up her baby was beautiful and courageous,

but it also triggered for her a lot of guilt, trauma, and shame.

The process of healing has been a long and hard journey,

but God has brought so much joy and restoration through the adoption of her twin girls and also being able to reconnect with her biological son.

God's truly brought her full circle.

And this story is not only a testament to his faithfulness, but also to the power of a mother's love.

Here is Lynn.

I am Lynn Ortiz, and I have six kids.

When I was a teenager, I gave a child up for adoption,

and said that was my first child when I was 18.

And then I have Andy, who is 22, and he's married,

...