Creating Connection: A Foster-to-Adopt Family's Legacy Through Stories | Mark & Jenna Marino

Having kids, I, as you know, you know, you start reading them lots of, lots of different books, and some are good and some are bad and some are really bad, but the ones that are good, like you, you have such affection for it because it's this vehicle for connection with your children in such a deep way. Right.And so sometime around, it's around the time when they were 8 and 10, I started working on the first of the Mrs. Wobble stories and just reading little bits to both Genevieve and to Davion on and off about, you know, this magical, well, magical foster care home. This figure of this loving foster care mom sort of appeared and then kids who were showing up at her house for the first time.In hindsight, it's very clear what was happening. Right.Is that this was a way to sort of to process everything that we were going through and through the way that we like to process things, which is through imagination and storytelling and creativity.

It's the Foster to Forever podcast. Happy stories of non traditional families born through Foster to Adopt. I'm your host, Rachel Fulgenetti. Hello and welcome.I am so excited to talk to my guests today. I have Genevieve and Mark Marino. They are a family formed through Foster to Adopt. They are writers and they've written.They actually sent me this really cool book that my daughter and I have been enjoying so much. Mrs. Wobbles and the Tangerine House Unboxing by the Marino family. I can't wait to hear your story. So welcome.

Thank you so much for having us. It's a pleasure to be here. And I should mention one of our co authors is not here probably.Well, the one who brings us into this whole world and that's my son Davion, Jenna's brother. He's 21, so he came to live with us when he was two and a half and we were able to adopt him when he was four and a half.And then around the time when Jenna was 10 and Davion was eight, we started this journey of the Mrs. Wable stories.

So many questions. Firstly, so Genevieve is a biological daughter and then your son is adopted through foster care.

Yeah.

Do you have a partner or are you a single father? And how did you decide to do Foster to adopt?

I have a wife, her name is Barbara. She's. She's certainly the better half, the better three quarters.And she is an emotional supporter of the Mrs. Wobble series and encourages us and also tolerates us. So adoption was something that was always something we wanted to do.And so after we had Jenna, let's See, she was about three when we started the process of taking the classes. I had a good friend.You know, I don't know if you find this to be true, but it seems like there's often a person in your life who adopts that sometimes sort of like reminds you of what you were going to do all along. So I have a very good friend from college who is also a writer, and he had adopted two children, and through fostadopt and something about that.I think talking to him about his experience reignited things for my wife and I. And so we took the classes. And, you know, it's one of those classic moments where you're. You're. You're open to whoever's going to show up, right?It was one of those things where, like, we had taken the classes. You know, our certification wasn't quite signed yet. Anyway, sorry, I will tell this moment, if it's okay.And so I had given my wife, for our anniversary, which happens in August, that I would paint the living room. So it was October, and I was finally painting the living room.I was about halfway through, and the phone rings, and I get the call, you know, and there was somebody who needed an immediate placement who had already been in the system. And then right away, you know, I hung up and I called my wife. I said, this is it. You know, they told us a little of the circumstance.Well, you know how it goes. And then we went out, and we got to meet him. And then a couple days.

Question. Were you the designate? So you were the designated call receiver?When I did this, there was only one of us in the couple that was like the designated call receiver. And that person had to make the decision on the spot about whether it was a yes or a no. And that was me.And that felt like a tremendous amount of pressure. I'm just wondering, was it like that for you and your wife, or were you able to, like, talk to each other and then get back to them?

I think I was the one who just happened to be at home to receive the call.You know, I'm trying to think whatever year it was, I mean, I think we already had smartphones and cell phones and things like this, but this came in on the home phone, which is why I was answering.

Oh, wow.

And no, I think Genevieve can attest to this. No, I would never be the person, sole person, made to make a decision this weighty for our family. Everything is collaborative.I kind of trust my wife's sort of more logical mind, more. More solid judgments than. Than perhaps my Own. So. So my answer to them was probably. I still think I said, that sounds great. We'll come out in right.

You were ready. You were like, let's do it.

Right?But the call to my wife, though, was based on every conversation we had had prior to this about what we thought, who we thought would be the best fit for our family. Everything sounded exactly like this was. It was one of those times that hits you like a. Like a train, that this.This was the right person at the right time and we were the right family for that's. That's what we thought. Of course, you don't know anything until everybody meets each other and see how everybody gets along. Sure.

And so how old was he when he was coming to you?

He was. He was two and a half.

Okay, so the kids are pretty close in age.

Oh, yeah, yeah. And they. And right away, Jenna started preparing the room. I feel like you were preparing the room even before we went to meet him.Is that true, Jenna? Do you remember that at all? Oh, that.

No idea.

Okay. Okay. All right. Well, there are a few things. All right, so some.Some things, I have to admit, one of them was even though we had taken all the classes and we were, you know, all but signature certified, in fact, as soon as we got the call, they said, okay, you know, we called our server, the. The group that was helping us with. Like, it wasn't a private organization.They were a non profit we were working with called west side Children's Center. And. And they said, well, of course we'll sign your paperwork now.You know, like, it was just something that had been waiting for no apparent reason, like many things related to the system. So they. They went ahead and signed it. But I had said, my wife, who's very practical, of course, we had said, you know, let's set up the room.Let's get everything in place. You know, we had. We had inherited some bunk beds from some people. And I said, oh, let's not worry about that till the time arrives. You know, let's.We've got plenty of time. So as soon as we get this call, we, you know, immediately go into high gear and we're putting together bunk beds and getting the room already.And then. I'm surprised you don't remember, Jenna, but you were. You. You were. We have pictures of you in the room getting things ready and, like, move.Because at the time when he arrived, you were young enough that you could share rooms, and so you were moving your stuff into part of the dresser and so that he would have drawers.

Do you remember that time at all, Jenna?

I think I remember it mostly through the stories that we continue to tell, both literally and figuratively.

Got it. Yeah.

Right.

Because you were so young.

Do you remember going to meet him for the first time? Do you remember anything from that pic?

Only from stories.

Well, I'll share a couple of them. So one was once we all met. So we met him twice. Well, the, the second time we met him, we were picking him up.So we drove out to Corona, which in Los Angeles is, I want to say, like 45 minutes east of here, but with traffic it could be, you know, three hours.

Oh yeah.

And we, we go into this place. Is this when we first met him? And we're, we're. It was at yet another one of these nonprofit adoption organizations.And we sit down on the, on this bench sort of off to the side. For some, for some reason the room had a sort of a strange entrance where it kind of came to a point right at the doors when you walked in.And so we were over on the left hand side on these benches, sitting down, and this little boy walks, Latino boy, walks through the doors by himself. We knew from the description that that wasn't going to be him because we knew it was an African American boy.So anyway, so, so he, he just walks into whatever room he was walking into. I don't know. That was a little strange. I mean, I never stop to think about that part of the story.But anyways, the second person who walks in was, was our son. And he looks over at us and, and again, I haven't really thought about the logistics of the story. But he does walk in by himself. Yeah, so.So I, I can only imagine that the, the woman who was sort of like the emergency foster care placement who had had him for just a couple of days, she had sent him in, I guess, you know, go meet those people. I guess as it was the thing.And he go, he walks over and he sees us sitting over on the, on the bench and he hops on the bench and he just sits right down next to us. And it was just one of those like heart melting moments obviously. And, and then, then we had our first meeting, our second meeting.We, we go and we, you know, we're picking him up with all of his stuff and Jen is there with us and I do remember a time where we sat down on, on another couch together and I'm reading them a story and my son starts flipping the pages very quickly and my daughter starts holding down the pages so that they're not turned so quickly as their two personalities were emerging. And then we did the thing on the way home. We stopped at the. I think it was a Burger King Playland, and they started playing together.And then the last part of the story that I can't help but tell was at the time, I was driving like a RAV4 or something like that with sort of high backs, and it was dark already because this was October. I hear this voice from the back of the car, and it says, papa. And I said, yeah, okay. So we drive a little further, Papa. And I said, yes.Do you need something? Nothing. A little longer, Papa. I'm trying to figure out what's going on. And then finally I realized that it's. It's dark in the car and. And.And he couldn't see me, and he just wanted to know that I was still there. Oh. So anyway, so. So that's.

That.

That's. That's a little bit of the origin story.

Yeah, I love that. So point of clarification was his. So he had been in the system for a while. Were his parental rights already terminated?So he was, like, available for adoption already or.

No, not yet. That was highly likely, and it eventually did happen. But he had been in the system since he was very. Since he was very young. Yeah. And so.And then had been in one placement, and then. Then that didn't work out. And so then was placed in this emergency placement and then. Then was placed with us.

Got it. And did he have a lot of special needs coming to you? I'm assuming that he had some stuff. If he was in the system this long. They.I've come to find out from doing this podcast that pretty much every child from foster care will have some type of special needs. They just. They all do in some ways.

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Although also, I think you're familiar with this as well.There were a lot of special needs that turned out not to be true, you know, 100%. When he was placed with us, they told us he was, like, lactose intolerant, for example, which he wasn't.There were numerous other things that were, you know, of the medical variety that were just accurate and. Oh, yeah, yeah. So that. So it. It took. It. It was quite a while before we really realized who he was and what was true and what wasn't true.

Yep.

Yeah. A very incomplete record, I guess I would say, in just.

Right.

Just inaccurate. So. Yeah. So for sure.

Right, right. And also, there's a lot of behaviors that happen if the child is in trauma or not.Feeling comfortable or safe in their environment or not understood or whatever it is. So there can be things that, you know, might be in the record of, like, oh, this child has, like, you know, temper tantrums. This child has meltdowns.This child bites and kicks and scream or, well, they're. They're dysregulated, and they need, like, just a lot of love and attention and safety and stability and that kind of thing. So. Yeah, I get that.

Yeah, there was. There was a transition, for sure, that involved a lot of that.Although really more for my wife than for me because I. I got instantly slotted into position of Papa Fun.

The fun dad.

Yeah. That had been previously occupied by, you know, the foster dad, who I think hadn't been around very often because of his work and I mean so much so.Another famous family story is we had a photograph of his. His foster mom, and in the upper left hand corner, there was a smaller photograph of his. His foster dad. You know, like a. Looked like a. Like a nice.A tall African American guy with a mustache, like, you know, handsome guy. And at some point, my wife asked him, oh, you know, like, who's. Who's in this picture? And he's like, oh, that's Mama. Whomever.You know, we kind of use different mama and then followed by a name to sort of distinguish between different people.

Sure, yeah.

And then she said, oh, yeah. And then who's this guy? And he said, papa. And she said, oh, yeah, Papa. Papa who? And then he looked at her like, no, that's. That's Papa. Like, that's.That's the same person that I am. Like, there's. There's been no break. There's no difference. This is. There's one person called Papa, and this is the same person.Okay, again, yeah, obviously you're. You know, I think if they put us side by side, you'd be able to tell us the difference, obviously. But like I said, it was a little bit.Because of that. It was an easier acclimation for me.

And then what I'm getting is he didn't have a strong male correct role model. So it was like just. This is the papa guy.

Right.

And so that was.

Yeah, so I got slotted in where she had. I don't know about earn her place of trust, but earn. She had to earn that role of mama.

Yeah, no, I get that. I get that. So you said there were some issues at the beginning. Can you speak to those and how you were able to navigate them?And of course, you have Genevieve as well. So I'm sure that was a concern. I know a lot of foster parents say they're concerned about the.You know, what's happening with my foster child is, like, impacting and affecting my other children. I'm just wondering if there was any of that there and how you handled it, because I've also heard about that, and I always like to ask that question.

Yeah. Jenna, do you have any thing that.

Well, I remember that we always talked about how I had, like, immediately very deep sense of empathy for him. I immediately, like, identified with him. And I remember we always talk about me being a translator for him because I was so.Because I was closer in age, and also because I had a deep empathy and understanding for him.And so sometimes when he would be speaking, you know, he had some issues with speech, and so sometimes my parents wouldn't be able to tell what he was saying, and I would be able to tell and translate what he was saying. And I remember that being a very connecting place for us.

Yeah, I think. I think it was enormously helpful to have you as a translator. And then also, I think.But, you know, I think there might have been some slight challenges to getting. So when you have a biological sibling that's born, you have a little bit of lead time before they can walk around and touch your stuff.

Yeah, true. Very true.

And, you know, disrupt your previously uninterrupted existence. And so I think. I think Genevieve did a good job, but I think that was. That was also a bit of an adjustment.

Right.

That suddenly there was somebody walking around and, you know.

Yes. Pushing down the. The tower that you just made and doing. Yeah, I had all of that, too, with our kids.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

So some other challenges were we had to go to work. You know, that was October, so. And I don't think we right away got a leave. I think my wife got a leave right away.I don't think I got a leave at all, you know, because now. Now. Now our work has some paternity leave period. And also. And even in cases of adoption.

Yeah.

And, uh, so that meant that I was suddenly doing what the previous foster care father had done.

Like, I was not repeating that.

Not quite to the same extent, but I'm like, you know, a child who has maybe some abandonment issues or whatever. Like, suddenly I'm disappearing. So fortunately, we had. You know, and this also was a nice transition.When my wife had to go back to work, we had a spot in a children's center that's tied to. She. She works at Loyola Marymount. University.She was able to get a space for him there, and we were able to work with some amazing people who were so talented and kind and loving and helpful with that. With that transition. So I think. I think that made a big difference. Like I said, my wife earned a spot in my son's heart, but not without a fight.You know, there was definitely some resistance early on, again, because she's. She's filling a role that's already been filled to some extent.

Right.

You know? Yeah, yeah. Which was different. So I think that, you know, there was some. There was resistance. There was some, you know, and some of that.Some of that was. Some of that was physical, you know.

Sure. Yeah. Did you. Did. Were you doing visits with the. The birth family?

Yeah, with the. Yep. We were doing business with the birth mom, and we've reconnected with her because there was a little gap where we had. So there was.There were regular visits and then termination of parental rights. And then we kind of lost touch for a while, and then we reconnected and then we lost touch for a while. And now.

Now we're.

Now not only are we reconnected, but they're. They're reconnected and we're. We're also reconnected with members of her birth family. Her dad, my.My son enlisted and her dad lives in the LA area and came to his. My son's going away party to when he enlisted, and then her brother has been out to our house and visited. He.He coincidentally grew up in Pittsburgh where I grew up. And so anyway, he's come over and we've bonded over Pittsburgh things. And.

Was that initiated by your son at a certain point when he was older? He said, I want to know. I want to know my birth family. Is that how it came, how that happened, or how did you reconnect?

She.

When she would reconnect, we would sort of always give him, especially because he was. That tended to be, like, when he was older. Right. We would ask him, like, do you want to. Like, hey, do you want something you want. And.And for a while, it wasn't. For whatever reason. I'm sure there was a lot of stuff he was working through. And then at some point he was open to it. And then when he was. Then he.When he was. He. We facilitated. And I can remember it wasn't that long ago, to be honest.

It wasn't until after he turned 18 that.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then he went with my wife to, to go visit her because she's. She's not living in Los Angeles. Anymore and. Or not. Not in the area anymore. They reconnected then.And then since then, she's been out, and we've had her over to our house for. For a meal where they were reconnecting. This is before he went off into the military. And then.And then also when my son enlisted, she went to his graduation from not basic training, but advanced training. So that's been nice, too, you know, like. But again, you know, it's different for everybody. Different at different times.But I think the fact that they reconnected after he was 18 also meant that we were all in a very different place, emotionally and otherwise.With that reconnection, you know, there was kind of like, okay, well, now he's grown up, and he's figuring things out for himself, and this is part of his. Part of his journey and his, I mean, healing process. And I don't. We.Of course, we wouldn't have been obstacles to it at any point in time that he wanted to reconnect, but somehow him. The reconnection happening when he was. Could make the decision like, you know, was an adult and was making the decision for himself.In a way, I think made a lot of sense for everybody, you know, like, with. Sure had everybody in a. In a. In a good spot with how. I don't know how that relationship would develop.Again, like I said, we would have been happy with the reconnection at any point, but somehow that made a certain kind of sense.

Genevieve, did you remain close with your brother the whole time? It sounds like you were really close when you were little. Did you remain close?

Yeah, I think we remained close for a very long time. I think that the teenage years were tough for both of us. So high school was definitely a point where we kind of strayed away from each other.But in common Covid fashion, we were able to reconnect a little bit during COVID because we were staying home with each other. And so that was a way that we were able to kind of reconnect a little bit. But we.There was a lot of tension that came with growing up and becoming adults,.

As it would with siblings, perhaps.

I was just gonna say, yeah, that sounds normal. Siblings fight, and then you throw the hormones in there and growing up and all that. Yeah, I get that. And I do think that Covid did that.That was like a fringe benefit of COVID for so many families, including my own, because my husband had been driving from the valley where we were living to God. Where was it? It was someplace really crazy far away. It was like a two Two and a half hour commute.He was not around a lot, so when she was really little, he wasn't even around. And I was like kind of doing everything myself, which was difficult. But then Covid hit and suddenly we were all together. And it was amazing.It was like amazing for their bonding. It was amazing, amazing for our bonding as a family. So, you know, it was horrible in a lot of ways, but it also. There were those benefits.Sounds like you experienced too well.

And just to jump in there, during COVID we started making a daily webcomic. This is sort of apropos what the Family does, that documented our time together as a family.

I would love to see that. And that brings me to what I really also want to get to, which is your creative endeavors that you've all taken on together.And I want to hear about that. It sounds like you are a writer. You were a writer. Do you work currently as a writer?Like, give me a little bit of writing history and then how this blossomed into a family thing.

Yeah.So I have been writing for a while and I teach writing at usc and I've always been interested in sort of digital, like, what, what the next kind of writing is going to be, electronic or whatever. And having kids. I. As, you know, you know, you start reading them lots of. Lots of different books.And some are good and some are bad and some are really bad. And the one.But the ones that are good, like you, you have such affection for it because it's this vehicle connection with your children in such a deep way. Right. And so sometime around when the kids were.Like I said, it's around the time when they were 8 and 10, I started working on the first of the Mrs. Wobble stories and just reading little bits to both Genevieve and to Davion on and off about, you know, this magical. Well, magical foster care home. And I think there wasn't necessarily a lot of, like, you know, why this story? Why now? You know, this.This figure of this loving foster care mom sort of appeared and then kids who were showing up at her house for the first time. You know, again, I think in hindsight, it's very clear what was happening. Right.Is that this was a way to sort of to process everything that we were going through and through the way that we like to process things, which is through imagination and storytelling and creativity. And so right away, I don't know, very early in the process, the kids became collaborators. And I remember just. I would.I would keep asking them, like, okay, what, what should happen? What should happen next? What. What. You know, what. What kind of magic happen?You know, this is a spooky, magical home, but I don't want to be too spooky. How do we. How do we keep it from being too spooky or what's spooky enough? Right. And so we started working on these stories, and I don't know, it's.It's just been a. A fun way for us to process our family's experiences.It's been a helpful way for me to try to reflect on my son's experience in a way that's creative, that doesn't sort of exploit his story, doesn't render him vulnerable, because it's not his story. It's a fictional story.

Right.

Characters. Right.Even though there are things, obviously, that touch upon his story, my feelings about his story, you know, Genevieve's relationship to that story. And yes, everybody gets sort of folded into the story in one way or another, but it's all within the safety of imagination and storytelling and play.And because our stories are sort of choose your own path, there's like. There's also.We like the idea that of giving the reader some choice, but also, I don't know, like, as I've come to think about it, you know, one thing foster kids don't have is a lot of choice over their lives. You know, a lot of agency. And so the idea of, like, creating a story where they do have choice, you know, they can do. They can explore what happens.I don't know. Somehow that feels like it fits the setting.

Love it. Love it. And in fact, when I realized it was like a choose your own adventure thing, I was like, this is great.My favorite books, when I was younger, when I was, like, a little kid, I used to love those choose your own adventure books. Did you have those ever?

I'm pretty sure I still have them, yeah.

I would just be obsessed with them, and I would be going, like, to. My siblings were much older than me, so my mother would always be dragging me to, like, this sporting event or that sporting event.And I didn't care about sports at all. I was like, I loved books and reading and theater and all that. You know, I was a theater geek even, you know, at heart, even as a little kid.And so, man, I just sit there in the stands and, like, choosing my own adventure, going through them all, you know, then going through it again and deciding. And so. So wait, did the first book turn into this book? Is this the first book?

So, no. So there are about six or seven stories that live online Only the very first one was called Mysterious Floor.Predates those TV shows, but not spoilery, but it might be about a floor that turns into lava. And then there's a. There's a whole series, including one that Jenna was the main driver on called the Land down under. And those are all online.And then I think we realized at some point, much so I love the electronic. We need to have something physical.And actually, yeah, actually I was interviewing my son for some other video project about the stories and he said, I really think it would be great if these stories were print, like a physical thing live on my shelves. And so from the moment he said that, then I thought, we need to make that happen as soon as possible. So then.

Yes.

So then that puts the one that you have in your hands unboxing. I don't know. Sometimes I think of it as like book eight or so, but.

Okay.

That's the only one that's. That has a print manifestation at this point.

Did you self publish this or. I was just trying to look and see if they. Is it published under you Self published?

Self published. So it's available currently through Amazon.And then I think we're going to move it to IngramSpark next so that it can be available in bookstores and libraries and things like that.

Sure.

Yeah.

Great. And I will certainly link to that in the notes. Yeah, we just had so much fun. My daughter and I love, love, love to read together.And so she just turned 10, but we now she can read. So we actually will take turns reading and you know, that kind of thing. And we were just laughing so much.She's also got like a wonderful sense of humor and always has ever since she was like a little, little kid. And it's so sort of quirky and funny in a way and like just kind of, kind of odd in the greatest way that like both of me and her really enjoy.She's neurodivergent. I was like, wait, is somebody writing this neurodivergent? Because it's so awesome. Like, it's just so cool and like out of the box kind of situation.Any. Any neurodivergence there?

I don't know. I'll have to let. Jenna just graduated with a psychology degree. I don't know.Jenna, do we have any neurodivergence going on in these in our author crew?

We're neurospicy.

Neuro. Spicy. Okay. I love it. Yeah. Nice.

What's been nice about the stories too though is so there are two stories that the kids were like, the main drivers on. So Dave Yon wrote one called Action Figures about these action figures that come to life. And we've read that for a while there.We would read it every year at his children's center for to the kids. But Jenna, there was. Land down under is really yours. Do you want to talk a little bit about that one and where it goes?

Yes. I would love to hear about your process and all of that.

Yeah. Land down under came from, you know, you're talking about being a big reader.And of course, I was a big reader and I was always reading my books and always avoiding social interactions by reading. And in the fourth grade, we started reading dystopian books like the Giver and other YA books like that.And I had a book project with a teacher that I really loved where we were asked to create our own little world that was similar to, like a dystopia situation. And that's where the world from Land down under was born. As somebody who really loves control and perfection, I was very drawn to a world that was.That had no flaws.And so that's kind of the world that I built, made out of little paper people who are all on a little track and they go through the same routine every day, and everything looks exactly the same. All the men look the same, all the women look the same.But of course, as I learned very quickly, all utopias are a dystopia in some way for some people. And so we created the mysterious floor based on that world that I created.We created an opportunity for some of the foster children to live in that world for a short period of time and explore it and explore the strengths and weaknesses of a society like that.And we were able to keep a lot of the funny little world building that I included, like Basilisk King and Queen with the face, a face shaped like a heart, which was not a reference to Alice in Wonderland, but was in fact a reference to the perfect face which I was reading everywhere in these YA novels, which is the face, which is a heart shaped face which I had never heard of and still don't quite understand. But anyway, somehow that idiosyncrasy made its way into my world building and into the story that our queen has.The face has a face, the shape of a heart. And all of the art for that is inspired by my original illustrations.

Wow, that's so cool. Who did the artwork overall for all of these things? Like, did you hire someone to do that or do you also do that?

There's an Irish illustrator named Brian Gallagher who Who, who I was so attracted.He does these things called scraper board but it looks like, it looks like old fashioned woodcuts and so I love that like a lot of so just, just books and reading. A lot of the story focuses on this narrator.That's the book of the lost, that's this, this book that you find when you've either lost something or you are lost. And it's a book that's falling apart. It can't hold itself together anymore. It's remembering scenes, pages out of order, that kind of a thing.But even though it's all digital, there's something about the materiality of reading that's so important to me. And so the back cover of our electronic versions is this primer that my great aunt had that she grew up with when she was first learning to read.Something about having those old fashioned style illustrations was, was so important. And then usually too we, we get a poem that's donated from, from a poet in each one of our stories.Jenna has written one of these, my niece has written one. Annie Taylor, Reika Aoki and I don't know, it's a nice way for us to fold in other families.In fact, our latest story that we're working on that should be released sometime this summer called Go to youo Room has a map of the hormonal world of Disneyland. This confusement park that was drawn by the daughter who's part of another forever family that we.

Oh nice.

We're friends with the, the Balderrama family is Myra Balderama. And that's another family that the claims that our experience inspired them. Again this is how this process works perhaps.But of course they, they, in addition to their birth, their biological daughter, they adopted three siblings at once into their family. So.

Wow.

I, I, that's awesome.You never claim like I'm in awe of every family at this point but, but anyway the stories have proven a nice way for us to, to make those other kinds of connections. Yeah. Yeah. So I was going to mention in the story you have unboxing, Margaret Ree is the poet who shows up in there.

So is it just the poem is embedded somewhere within the story?

In the electronic one you get poetry power up point or poetry power ups. Yes. If you find the poem, those will earn you a jetpack which gives you the ability to go back and make a choice again that you previously made.Because even though the electronic ones are choice based, they are unidirectional. Whereas the books I know we call it, we can always stick our finger In a page, in the books.

Yes, it's very true. Did you think about. Have you ever considered making the digital ones into graphic novels?

Oh, that would be amazing. Now I have.

You're welcome.

Wow, thanks.

Yeah, yeah. I mean it just seems like the perfect. Like it seems so like, yeah, these should be graphic novels. And graphic novels are so popular now.

Yeah, we'd have to find. We'd have to find. We might have to find a larger budget for that and.

Well, that's.

An illustrator wanted to do that. But yeah, because there's a whole. Actually there's this whole wonderful. Well, two people we've come across. One is the author Ryan North.And Ryan, he's a comic book writer who. He writes Squirrel Girl primarily. But he's written like he writes mainstream graphic novels.He also writes dinosaur comics if you remember that from the Internet, early days of the Internet where it's the same dinosaurs and they tell jokes but he, he's written to be or not to be and Romeo and or Juliet. And these are choice based stories that are based on the Shakespeare ones that are really hilarious.And yeah, he also recently wrote a graphic novel version of Lower Decks, the Star Trek animated series that traditional. Choose your own anyway. So between that and there's a Gravity Falls choose your own adventure that's out there. Anyway.All this to say is I think it's a fantastic idea. And well, to be honest, in the dream world there's an animated TV series that's somehow. Absolutely takes the stories and of course.And then there's the people build the Tangerine house. They build it in Silver Lake where it is which the address currently does not have a house on it.It's at the top of Earl street, which I don't know if you've spent much time in Silver Lake, but Earl street is windy.

Like.

Yeah, this one my car cannot actually drive up because the angle.

Right.

Steep.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Been there. Yep.I remember being sometimes like in the car and like the GPS would tell me to go a certain way and all of a sudden I'd be on like a cliff. Like this is so insane. I have my like kid in the car with me and I'm like, oh my God, I'm terrified right now. There's like nothing in la.There's just some roads that are like. You could just fall. You could tumble to your death easily on this road.

Yeah, I understand completely. So which is to say that yes, we, we've got many ambitions and dreams for the right for the Mrs. Wobbles world and I think. I don't know.There's a part of me, based on our experience with the print one, that wants to try to make a couple more print ones just because those are tangible and easy for people.And it's nice to take kids away from screens, obviously, but there's also the fact that we've started to see if we could set all of the stories on the same day so that someday there might be, like. Like a mega online one where you can just jump from story to story.

Oh, that's awesome. I love that too.

Jenna and I need to work out the logistics, and we need to talk to Davion about it too, to see, like, how to.

Yeah.

If they actually could possibly fit. But. But there's. There's already some intersections and some openings where that's happening. And of course, in a magical house, anything's possible.

So how do you guys find time to do it? Do you work separately and then just tell each other the ideas, or do you have weekly meetings? Or, like, how does it go down?Like, how do you actually do this?

Jenna, you want to describe the process?

Well, I have the misfortune of living with my father.

Listen, do you remember the theme of this whole podcast?

Yes, I have the fortune of living with my father.

Fortune slash misfortune. Yeah.

Meetings often happen in the kitchen when I'm least excused affecting them when I'm grabbing a glass of water and I'm bombarded with questions about where the story should go next, which I am open to and responsive to. So I. I serve as a 247 consultant.

Wow. Well, that's.

And my dad seems to have. Need no sleep and have no work ever, somehow, and is just always working on them.

I don't.

I don't know.

Ah, the life of a college professor.

Well, well, another.Another way to say it is so as a dad, like, the last thing I ever like, the thing that would absolutely break my heart just so Genevieve hears this is. If ever I was like, hey, kids, let's sit down and work on the Mrs. Wobble stories. And for them to be like, you know what, dad? We're tired of this.Like, right. Like, that was. We were kid. You know, so that's like my biggest, you know, terror. And so instead of making. Hopefully.I mean, there have been times where literally I've put the kids to work of like, okay, I need feedback on the story. Read it, tell me what you think, and, you know, or they'll help out with the coding of it for the electronic ones or whatever.But much, much Much more of it is I'm driving them to school. Hey, I'm thinking there should be some wacky, let's see. In SpyEye has secret agent things that you get out of the cereal boxes.And so driving to school. Hey, guys, what could be in these cereal boxes? Throw ideas out. Right, right.

Got it, got it. Yep.

And then similarly to, you know, try to set up occasions like this that motivate us. Or we'll go to, we'll maybe go to our local library and do a reading. And then it's like, okay, hey guys, I set this up.Do either of you want to participate? Great. Do you want to read a character? Do you want to read a section or whatever?

Yeah.

And, you know, I don't know, the kids have been game for it, so I guess part of it is trying not to make it work, you know, and then also just, just making it like a, like an open, open, open invitation or an open, you know, some, some questions that they can chime in on or, or not, because something tells me, I don't know. I, I, I definitely would probably work on these things regardless at this point.But, but it's their, their response decides what, what gets the energy at any given moment. You know what I mean?Like, if they seem like they're enjoying it or they think something's a wacky idea, or it seems like it would be fun, or something seems like it would be meaningful, then that's, that's where the energy flows. And if the, the things that they're less interested in, you know, my enthusiasm starts to slack on those as well. But.

Right.

Yeah, right. But I think they're used to the idea that we're going to collaborate if, if I'm around on something, whether that's, yeah.Whether that's just, hey, let's just make up a fun story while we're on a hike or, or let's, you know.Well, to be honest, one of my favorite things is because they're my co authors, we have very specific kinds of conversations after we see movies or after we watch TV shows. You know what I mean? Like, I think they know that they're storytellers now.And so, yeah, it means that we, when someone else does the thing, we evaluate as though we did that, you know, like, well, how would we have, like, I don't know, what do you think? Did that, did that hit you? And, and I would say both of the kids have turned into really great curators, I guess, of content.You know, Again, you mentioned graphic novels, so my son, you Know what do you find? Bone and, and several other ones. Again, I mentioned the show Lumberjanes. Lumberjanes. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if you've seen that.I don't know if you've seen that series yet. By. Boom. Amazing. Unbelievable.

Write it down.

Yeah, yeah. Series of comic books and graphic novels. Amulet. Another great series.And then he also, like I said, I think one of the kids found, found the Disney show Gravity Falls.

We love Gravity Falls. My, my daughter found it and just went gaga over it. And then we all got super into it. It's very funny.

And that's that sweet spot that we love, which is like, you know, and again, all the Pixar movies have it too. Right. But it's like that, that emotional depth, imagination.

Yeah.

Creativity, a little bit of playfulness, you know, hearts. I don't know, like all, all mixed together. That's, that's the thing. That's the space that we really love. And so, and, and to be honest, it has led.All right, one more plug. It's led to Genevieve at usc.We ended up in the same research group and we collaborated on making a card game about masculinity as part of that project where Genevieve was really driving that ship and making sure that it came out in a way that she was happy with. Anyway, so the collaboration has gotten to continue in all sorts of ways. So anyway, it's one of my big delights.

Genevieve, he mentioned you just graduated. Did you graduate just this time? This spring. Congratulations.

Yeah, thank you.

Very exciting. Do you. How do you think that your family's like, situation or how you grew up informed your choice to go into psychology?Do you think it informed it and how.

Yeah, I mean I, I think it, it definitely did. Again with like the constant conversations about art and art curation.I spend a lot of time thinking about how art informs our mental health and our well being. And that has been a big part of my life as well as just being in a house where I feel like I'm taken seriously at sometimes too seriously.Being an armchair psychologist at the very precocious age of 10. And I think being in a space where I'm treated as a collaborator has informed that in a lot of ways.And constantly being in this space of talking about mental health and well being in different ways and different ways that we can access that, again, very connected to art, has led me to be very interested in psychology. And also the other thing that has informed it is my like, my very, very deep sense of empathy.And so I think in exploring My relationship with my brother and the empathy that I share for him and wanting to support him has led me to want to help people in different ways and, you know, seeing the different ways that foster care can impact foster children and everyone else who's touched by their lives. I've been drawn to studying psychology and.

I feel like I also see the influence of all these things in another part of your life where if it's okay to share that Genevieve is also, she's also a birthday party princess and.

Oh, nice.

One of her great delights is to engage in imaginative play with children and it feels, feels like so fun. Feels like that combines to your interest. Top pick. It seems like it combines your creativity and your empathy.

Yes. Yeah. Finding a way where play can be a source of well being and exploration is like way of my great passions.

Who, which princess are you? Are you Arielle?

I'm the White princesses.

Okay. Or I would, I would have to say not Tiana.

Not Tiana. You know, so one of my favorites is Belle.

Not Jasmine.

Not Jasmine.

Okay. God.

One of my favorites is Belle.

That's my own Belle. Loves to read.

Yes, Belle loves to read. That's one of my favorite parts of her. And yeah, she also loves imagination and storytelling and.But also some of the more modern princesses are really awesome. I love Elsa. She's great.

Especially love Elsa too. Yeah. Nice. What does Davion do now? Has he gone to college or is he, what is he studying, what is he like, where's he work, you know, anything.I'm just curious where, where his interests went.

A year ago January, he enlisted in the army.

Oh, that's right, you said that. Yep.

And so since last May, he's been stationed in Alaska and he's got, he's got a leave coming up and so we're looking forward to seeing him then. And then in July we're going to go up to see him.

So have you ever been up there before?

I've never been up there, so I'm eager to see what that's like for him. And we miss him terribly. Yeah.

But we get to.In the short times we have gotten to see him, we have been very happy to see that all of his light heartedness and goofiness and also his empathy and deep care for other people around him has maintained.You know, we talked to some of his fellow army men and they, they all just love to talk about how supportive he is and how selfless he is and how they couldn't have made it through without him. And so we are definitely at peace knowing that he's supporting the people that he cares about and also maintaining his great sense of humor, which.Which is one of our favorite things about him.

Well, that's.

That's true. When.When we went to see him at his graduation from basic training, they warned us, you know, your service person may not be as affectionate as they were. They're going to be. You know, they're.They might withdraw, like, you know, it's part of, you know, beat out of them and boot camp, that kind of a thing. Right. And so we go.We're there with his grandfather at the graduation, and we step outside, and we're looking around, and, you know, I see him, and there he's standing there looking all fit and all. You know, he's. He's rather tall and. And, yeah, I walk up to him, and he's like. He's like, oh, one second. And he. He's. I'm like, okay, where do you go?And he runs off so that he could go pretty much just give hugs to all of his fellow classmates in the most warm way. And then to go find his.Then to go find the drill sergeants and to kind of give them the business, you know, like, in as much as you're allowed to, even as a recent graduate. So.

But.

But at that point, I think Genevieve and I just breathed a sigh of relief of, like, oh, he's still the same person. Okay.

Right. Yeah, I can imagine that that would be really, you know, like, concerning.

That would concern me, and I'll send it to you. But when he enlisted, I did write a little rhyming children's book called E Is for Enlisting.That's written from the point of view of our dog Ace, that's about to try, because it's, like, with everything to try to deal with those. The many feelings you feel when your child comes to you and says, I'm going to enlist, you know, which is.Which fills you with all sorts of emotions and thoughts and.

Sure. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.Well, I think it's just so cool the way you've found a way to be creative together as a family and to, you know, we know as creative people that when you work in that capacity with people, it's so incredibly bonding, and those bonds last forever.I can see people I've done, like, theater with, and I haven't seen them in so long, and it's just right there because it's like, you know, it's just so. I think it's a beautiful thing for a family. To do. And I wonder, did you, did you initiate.It sounds like you didn't initiate this intentionally as, like, we're gonna do something together as a family. It just kind of happened. Would you say that's accurate, or did you sort of intend and cultivate this?

Oh, I, I, I, I wish I could have the kind of wisdom to intend any such thing and cultivate something. No, no, it's just like, it's just the insatiable appetite for storytelling and play.And I guess some, some, there was some, some deeper sense for me that this is, this is just such a rich way with the people that I love, you know, to be able to make something together, to be able to enter an imaginative world together.And then, then I knew right away that it would give, that we could take these even with some fun playfulness, that we could take it to a level of, of depth, emotional depth. That again, like I said, like, I see every story as a meditation on our family's experience and particularly Davion's experience.And, and like I said in a way that I hope especially for him is clothed and cloaked and veiled in ways that make it a safe space for him to process things as well.

But have you discussed that with him now that he's an adult? Has that ever come up?

No, but he has had, like, like I said, every once in a while there's an occasion like this if he's around for it. He sort of had to answer those sorts of questions. So.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think.

And he, and he has said in, in those contexts that, that, that they're more importantly like a, he sees as a way to share his story again without him having to, without it have to be like a, an exploitative way, but also, also without it to put him in a position of, like, utter vulnerability where it's like, oh, here's, here's my life story. Right? I mean, no, no one gets access to that unless he decides who gets access to it. So.

Right.

But, but, you know, when we go into his children's center and the kids get to ask questions about foster care and adoption, you know, that's a real moment, and he's the one who's answering. So, so it's, it just, it just creates like a safer space and one that we can all inhabit and one that we share ownership of.You know, like, again, if, if, like, I, I remember this moment. I was reading him.He was going to bed and I was reading him part of Spy Eye or Spy Adventure, and there's this moment where the, the villain got tossed into a, a giant frying pan and he's. And he shot up in bed and said, no, that can't happen. I said, so why not?He's like, he's like, he's like, that's something the Joker would do to, to somebody. Like, that's like, that is way too terrible. Like, you cannot. So, you know. Okay, so, you know, we, we, we. We doubt it back.So again, I think, I think there's something about the fact that we can touch upon the, the deepest parts getting towards some of the traumas that come from the, that are shared in totally unique ways by everyone who's been affected by foster. Like, you know, foster care happens because of societal tragedies.

Absolutely.

Like, like major flaw. Like, and, and lots of hurt and lots of hardship and you know what I mean?Again, it's like, so, so we, we always wanted these stories to be so different from, oh, it's great to tell a story about an orphan. You know, like that kind of a thing.

Right.

As opposed to giving a space where we could think about feelings that all children go through and then the feelings that certain children, you know, experiences certain children have to go through, that's, that are, that are harder than other experiences and that do come with their own kind of pains and, and where finding their way towards hope and possibility and adventure and, and whatever is, is, you know, is a bit different, you know. And then.

Right.

And then again, I think the, the thing we hit upon early on was this figure of Mrs. Wobbles, you know, this kind of like loving wise, you know, she's, she's not unlike a Mary Poppins figure to some extent or some of the other Miss Piggle Wiggle. Like she, she kind of knows what's best for the person better than they do, but she's not going to say it out loud.She's going to let the magic world do its work. And I think, I think, I think imagining ourselves into that kind of a world has been, has been really healing for, and helpful for the family.You know, a place of growth and like I said, a place that's full of. That's as boundless as imagination and, and reading is so.

That's really beautiful. I, I can't wait to see the TV show comes out.

You and me both in the graphic novel.

Give the listeners again the website where they can find all this awesomeness.

Okay. All right, so if you just go to markcmarino.com mrsw that will take you to all things Mrs. Wobbles and on various platforms.If you look for Mark C. Marino, you'll find your way towards us and our our many wacky projects. And if you look up Coronation webcomic, you'll also find your way to our Covid era antics.

Well, I'm going to link to both of those in the show notes again. Thanks, guys. Great to talk to you today.

All right, thanks, Rachel. We appreciate it. It's really been a pleasure.

This has been the Foster to Forever podcast. Happy stories of non traditional families born through Foster to Adopt, produced by Aquarius Rising. Original music composed by Joe Fulginetti.For more information or to stay in touch, visit from foster to forever.com that's from foster the number two forever.com and stay stay connected with us on Instagram at foster2forever podcast. That's foster the number two forever podcast. We'll see you next time.