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A poem meant for a father became a welcome for his son.

Every episode of The Anna Jinja Show pairs a guest with a poet who writes in response to their story. Iván Gastañaga knew that, so he introduced Anna to fellow adoptee and poet Catalina Galarraga.

The three met a couple of weeks before Iván was due to become a dad. Then his son, Eli, arrived, and when Ivan shared a photo holding him, Cata’s poem grew into a bilingual welcome for Eli: “Manos que sostienen / Hands That Hold You.”

It’s Eli’s very first poem. Ivan is framing it for his room. 🤍

On this episode of The Anna Jinja Show, Anna sits down with Ivan and Cata:

Iván was born in the Soviet Union and became the first Russian child ever adopted into Spain. He spent 20 years finding and making peace with his birth families in Russia and Armenia and then became a dad.

Cata was born in Argentina and is now raising two teenagers in England. While in labor, she asked her midwife, “Is this what she felt when she gave birth to me?”

Together they talk about the hands that hold us, and why, for so many adoptees, the hardest part is letting ourselves be held.

“Some children come through blood, and others come through the heart.”

Here is what this episode asks you: whose hands have held you? 💛

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About The Anna Jinja Show: A weekly podcast exploring adoption stories, foster care, identity, and creative expression to help every listener find a place of belonging

Connect with Anna & The Show

• Website: annajinja.com

• Email: hello@annajinja.com

• Phone / Text: 515-808-1742

Station Managers: Contact us for custom spots and broadcast details.

Credits • Host: Anna Jinja Mather • Audio Engineer: Colin Cameron • Music Director: Nick Kizirnis • Adoption SME: Dr. Melissa Rizzo • Social Media Manager: Linnea Hietala

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A violinist who stopped the internet. A poem that turned her story into music.

In February, Rose Crelli performed alongside Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl halftime show — then posted a few quiet words online. More than 147,000 people responded with tears and recognition.

Rose was born in China and adopted into a family in rural Alaska, in a home without running water, electricity, or internet. From those log cabins beneath the northern sky, she found her way to conservatory training, to stages shared with the NFL, the NBA, the MLB, and Andrea Bocelli — all the way to the biggest halftime show on earth.

When writer and writing coach Claire Steele heard Rose's story, she couldn't stop thinking about it. So she wrote a poem: "Oh My Baby, Baby." And in true Anna Jinja Show fashion, Rose set Claire's words to music for this episode.

It's a conversation about identity, belonging, and the sound of finally coming home.

Guest Links:

https://www.constellationsconsultancy.co.uk/who-we-are

https://rosecrelliviolin.com/

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Host Anna Jinja sits down with Wilson Munsterman and Mike Bila — two men who, on paper, don't have much in common. Wilson is 19, an adoptee from China, and the author of a book that's now part of the Library of Congress collection. Mike is a singer-songwriter and father, the middle child of seven, who wrote a song called "The Man That She Sees" out of something close to imposter syndrome.

But Wilson chose Mike's song for this episode. And once he explains why, the whole conversation clicks into place. The song is about a father trying to close the gap between who his daughter believes he is and who he's afraid he really is. Wilson hears that and recognizes it instantly — not as a parent, but as someone who has spent his whole life navigating the distance between how people assume his adoption story goes and what it actually felt like to live it. The "grateful adoptee." The "success story." Titles that flatten a whole, complicated person into something easier to hold.

The episode sits with that flattening. The Hollywood version of adoption that ends the moment the paperwork is signed, when in reality, that's when the real story starts. The self-doubt that follows someone even when — especially when — they've built something as remarkable as Wilson has by 19.

And the conversation turns to choosing. Not just being chosen — which is where so much of the adoption conversation stays — but choosing, actively, again and again. Choosing the people who show up with no legal obligation to. Choosing ourselves, even on the days it doesn't feel earned. It's the whole reason this movement carries the name it does.

Host Anna Jinja's husband Pete joins the episode on guitar to accompany Mike on the song, and there's something about hearing it performed in real time, right after the conversation that shaped it, that's hard to fully describe on the page.
For anyone who has ever felt the weight of being someone's idea of them instead of just themselves — this episode is for you.

CREATIVE INTERCHANGE:
Song written and performed by Mike Bila
Guitar accompaniment by Pete Mather

The Man That She Sees
by M.T. Bila

Questions abound at this time of life - truth to tell well hell I'm scared
The feel of alone settled deep in my bones begs the question - is anyone there?
Dreams die on the vine - no she wLl never be mine - and Nashville most likely wont call
But the dream I love best so much more than the rest still thinks her dad stands twelve feet tall

CHORUS
The most painful thing about living this life I live is letting her down
I've found new ways to lose - only a child or a fool would ever hang around a ship going down
Yesterday twelve tomorrow thirteen - now one has to wonder how long will it be
until she opens her eyes and the man that she sees is me
I've spent hear after year proving her momma wrong just To find time again she was right all along
I gotta try - I gotta fight - i've got to go on -oh God please make me the man that she sees.

Questions abound black and white all around but I live in shades of gray
In the shadows of life not quite wrong looks like right and not quite right is close enough so they say
At almost forty years old I'm a low budget hero - seems like I fall much more than I fly
But there's a girl in her room thinking dad roped the moon - how much less can I do than try

REPEAT CHORUS

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