Surviving Sarah

It's that time again for another crossover episode with my good friend, Melanie Dale. And if you are new to the show and haven't heard one of these episodes you are in for a treat! Each month, Melanie and I sit down and have a conversation about a topic that we are both surviving and that we could lighten up about. So one part is here and the part of the conversation is on her show, Lighten Up with Melanie Dale. So be sure to hop over there when are you are finished listening to this one. This month, we are having a conversation about something that I tend to struggle with a lot—contentment. Does anybody else ride the struggle bus, too? We talk about the different categories of discontentment, the byproduct emotions of our discontentment, and what has helped us when we feel like we are spinning out of control with discontentment. Listen to the other part of this conversation over at Lighten Up with Melanie Dale What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Erin Weidemann sits down with me across our virtual kitchen table. Sometimes I meet people and its like we could be real life friends if we only lived in the same area. I felt that way about Erin. She is the co-founder and creator of Bible Belles which is a publishing company whose mission is to help girls discover real beauty, God's love, and their purpose through the female heroes of the Bible. She's also the host of the Heroes For Her Podcast which highlights positive role models for girls today. In this conversation, we talk about how she ended up going from a middle school teacher to running a company; why she chose to create products for young girls to help them talk about beauty and identity; how to move girls from self-doubt to purpose; raising girls in the current culture climate and how we tend to put God in a box with what He could do through us. So much goodness covered in a short period. Bible Belle's book series: HANNAH, ESTHER, ABIGAIL, RUTH, DEBORAH - 10% discount on an order from Bible Belles if you use discount code SARAH What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Amber Tysl joins me around my kitchen table. Amber is a former teacher who quit her secure job to take over a photography business (which she had no experience in) in order to stay home with her kids. Her husband is a high school basketball coach and they have 3 kids. Amber is someone who sees the beauty in the broken. That is truly a theme in her life. You see beauty that she has created in her home, by her fashion and in her photography. She loves to take was is imperfect and display it as beautiful. We talk about what its like to be a coach's wife, how she made the decision to leave her secure teaching job, what hospitality looks like for her and how to get the most out of thrift store shopping. Links: Surviving Sarah episode 116 with Sandra Stanley "a problem to be solved or a tension to manage." What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa TerKeurst Moment app Sponsors: Warby Parker - Go to warbyparker.com/survive to get your FREE Home Try-On Kit today What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Kylie White joins me around my kitchen table. She is a wife and mother to 4 kids—2 of whom she adopted from the Congo. They operate two Chick-fil-A restaurants and are also part of the Cathy Family that founded Chick-fil-a. So you know I had to ask her for secret menu items!! Kylie is also on the Board of Directors for CARE for AIDS and loves to lift her voice for the voiceless! We talk about finding purpose. If you have ever wondered if God is done with you or if this is all there is to life, then you are going to love this conversation. We talk about how to find that purpose and how to raise your kids to be generous, to take risks and to be adventurous. Links: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story by Donald Miller CARE for AIDS Families For Families Sponsors: Warby Parker - Go to warbyparker.com/survive to get your FREE Home Try-On Kit today Molekule - For $75 off your first order, visit molekule.com and at checkout enter SURVIVE What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

It's that time again for another crossover episode with my good friend, Melanie Dale. I hope you enjoy these episodes as much as we do. And this month, we are tackling summer. If you are in the south, summer has begun and many of us have mixed emotions about it. Before I had kids, summer was just another season. After kids, summer now carrying a mixed bag of emotions. I equally dread while looking forward to it. So in this part of the crossover episode, we talk about our feelings about summer, our no's of summer, how we survive working from home while our people are home and screen time. And per usual, there is some slightly inappropriate dialog. Heaven help us. After you listen to this episode, be sure to jump over to Melanie's podcast, Lighten Up with Melanie Dale, to hear the other half. Sponsors: The Phonics Museum - Phonics Museum FREE for 2 weeks. Go to PhonicsMuseum.com/SURVIVE to gain access to the freebies to help your child learn to read. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Natalie Brenner joins me for today's episode. A mutual friend connected us and I knew pretty immediately that you would resonate with her story. Natalie is wife, mom, photographer and author who is passionate about justice, Jesus and digging into a life of grace. She married young and quickly decided to grow her family through adoption. While walking through that process, she suffered a miscarriage, loss of dreams and loss of jobs. If you have ever been in a place where you experienced both sorrow and joy, then you will relate to Natalie's story. She learned first hand what it is like for your prayers to be answered in different ways than expected. We talk about her miscarriage, her adoption, the trauma she experienced in child birth, loss of her husband's job along with some advice for women who are currently left sitting with expectations unmet. Sponsors: Teami Blends - Go to TeamiBlends.com and use the code SURVIVING for 25% off your order of $34.99. Your colon will thank you. The Phonics Museum - Phonics Museum FREE for 2 weeks. Go to PhonicsMuseum.com/SURVIVE to gain access to the freebies to help your child learn to read. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

It was a privilege to welcome back to the show, Shaunti Feldhahn. She received her graduate degree from Harvard University and was an analyst on Wall Street before unexpectedly becoming a social researcher, best-selling author and popular speaker. She joined me on Episode 78 to talk about how men are wired. But today, I asked her to come back on the show to talk about her new research. We talk about what it looks like to actually find rest. We talk about what true rest really looks like, what was surprising about her research, why women want to remain busy, how fear plays a role, and how to retrain yourself to notice the good which in turn brings you rest. Links: Find Rest by Shaunti Feldhahn The Kindness Challenge by Shaunti Feldhahn Sponsors: BioClarity - You will get your first month for only $9.95 plus free shipping! That's a $20 savings and it comes with a 100% risk-free money back guarantee. To get this deal, you need to enter my code "SURVIVE" The Phonics Museum - Phonics Museum FREE for 2 weeks. Go to PhonicsMuseum.com/SURVIVE to gain access to the freebies to help your child learn to read. ButcherBox - For $20 off your first box and an order of FREE bacon, go to ButcherBox.com/SURVIVE and enter SURVIVE What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Author and communicator, Lynn Cowell, joins me to talk about raising girls to be both strong and nurturing women. Lynn has raised two girls who are now in their early twenties so she has a wealth of experience and knowledge to bring to the table. We talk about advice for raising girls through the tween phase, how she navigated raising girls that were different from each other, how to help girls understand that their worth comes from God, how we as moms can help foster our girls uniqueness and how to raise strong and brave women. This conversation will encourage your heart as a woman whether you have daughters or not. Links: Brave Beauty by Lynn Cowell Make Your Move: Finding Unshakable Confidence Despite Your Fears and Failures by Lynn Cowell Sponsors: FabFitFun - Check out FABFITFUN.com and use the code "SS" so you can save $10 off your first box, making it only $39.99. Hello Fresh - Check out HelloFresh.com/Surviving30 and enter code "Surviving30" to receive $30 off your first box What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Brett Trapp, author of the Blue Babies Pink blog and podcast, joins me. His podcast was one of my top recommendations for last year. Brett has a gift of storytelling and his podcast was just that. It is a story of growing up gay and Christian in the south. Brett joins me around the table to tell his story. The conversation isn't a theological debate. It isn't question of whether its right or wrong. It's simply his story. What I've noticed in my life is that when we hear someone's story, empathy follows. Sponsors: FabFitFun - Check out FABFITFUN.com and use the code "SS" so you can save $10 off your first box, making it only $39.99. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

It's that time again for another crossover episode with my friend, Melanie Dale. I just love getting to sit down with her and talk about life. Each month we pick a topic and have a conversation about it. Then, you get to listen to one part here on Surviving Sarah and another part over on Melanie's podcast called Lighten Up with Melanie Dale. So don't forget to head over to her podcast and listen to the other half. With spring having sprung—at least for the south—we thought it would be a good time to talk about personal growth and self-care. In this part of the conversation, we talk about how we are doing on personal growth goals that we set in January, how we incorporate self-care into our week, what it looks like when we don't take care of ourselves and how we can learn to pay attention to our bodies and minds so that we don't crash. BioClarity - You will get your first month for only $9.95 plus free shipping! That's a $20 savings and it comes with a 100% risk-free money back guarantee. To get this deal, you need to enter my code "SURVIVE" FabFitFun - Check out FABFITFUN.com and use the code "SS" so you can save $10 off your first box, making it only $39.99. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Denise James, joins me around my kitchen table. She is an expat living in a small town in Southeast Asia. She homeschools her 6 kids. In her "spare" time, she produces a podcast and co-runs a blog made for expat woman encouraging them to take root where they've been planted. After hearing that she loves Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake, I knew we would be fast friends. Denise reached out to me when she was state-side to get together and talk podcast shop. After chatting with her, I knew that I would love to be a megaphone for what she's doing. Because I believe there are women just like her, whether they are living stateside or not, that are looking for community. We talk about what it's like raising her family overseas, how loneliness affects so many women, how to find friends and community, what community looks like overseas, the challenges and benefits of raising her family overseas and what God has purposed in her. Sponsors: FASTer Way To Fat Loss - click this link to check out the program and then when you sign up Surviving Sarah will receive a kickback Care.com - To save 30% off a Care.com Premium membership— visit Care.com/SURVIVE when you subscribe. LOLA - For 40% off your first order, listen to this episode for coupon code. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Author, blogger and speaker Elizabeth Oates joins me for Episode 121. Her family tree was plagued with generations of divorce, addiction, abuse, abandonment and brokenness. But Elizabeth has experienced God's redemption and restoration which is why she has such a passion for women to experience hope and healing. We talk about what its like raising 5 kids, her passion for foster care, how the enneagram has helped her to understand her story, what it was like to experience such dysfunction growing up, what that dysfunction caused her to believe about herself and God, and how it affected her early years of marriage. Sponsors: Song Finch - use the promo code SURVIVE for 10% off your personalized song from scratch. To listen to the song I created for my mom, click here. FASTer Way To Fat Loss - click this link to check out the program and then when you sign up Surviving Sarah will receive a kickback What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

KariAnne Wood joins me around my virtual kitchen table. And I can't tell you how much I wish we were able to sit around my actual kitchen table because this girl is golden. You can't help but like her. She is such a nice person and she makes you feel so special. One thing I love about her is how great a storyteller she is. I learned in this conversation that she talks to furniture way and is a thief—you'll want to listen to this one! KariAnne is a home decor/life style/DIY blogger. She has authored two books—So Close To Amazing and The DIY Home Planner. We talk about what it was like to jump out of her comfort zone, how to find your decorating style, what has helped her embrace who God made her to be, and what she has learned about God through decorating. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Today, my fun friend, Melanie Dale, joins me around the table for another Crossover Episode. Each month we pick a topic and have a conversation about it. Then, you get to listen to one part here on Surviving Sarah and another part over on Melanie's podcast called Lighten Up with Melanie Dale. We decided to have a little chat about marriage. We talk about how we met our husbands (spoiler alert: Melanie's story is vaguely similar to Ross and Rachel); we talk about what we wish we had known about marriage, what to do when you don't agree on something and what we are currently learning about marriage. Sponsors: FASTer Way to Fat Loss - If you are looking for a great way to change the way you treat health then follow this link. I first did the this program back at the beginning of February and saw amazing results! Weight loss, inches lost, better sleep, more energy. Listen to the other part of our conversation: Lighten Up with Melanie Dale crossover show with Surviving Sarah What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Kathleen McCarthy Goff Weber joins me around the kitchen table where we get to talk about fashion. You guys know that I love fashion—I love getting dressed. Its like a creative outlet for me. Kathleen owns a boutique in Nashville called K. McCarthy. She has an background of both fashion and counseling. You don't meet many people with those twos boxes checked on their resume. Listening to her, you'll see how uniquely wired she is to combine those two passions—fashion and helping people. We talk about what that looks like for her, how she came to own a boutique store, advice on how to love the you that you are, spring trends and trends that are dying. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Sponsors: Song Finch - use the promo code SURVIVE for 10% off your personalized song from scratch. To listen to the song I created for my mom, click here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

My friend, Mo Isom, joins me again around my kitchen table. She sat around my table over a year ago where we talked about her story and book, Wreck My Life. You can listen to that on Episode 34. Mo is a married to Jeremiah and they now have 2 little girls. She is a New York Times bestselling author and communicator. There is something about Mo that is contagious—and I'm not talking about germs here. Her energy, excitement and passion for Jesus, life and others is truly contagious. Her latest book, Sex, Jesus and the Conversations the Church Forget, was released last week. We had a candid conversation about it. We talk about why she felt called to be the voice to speak about sex and Jesus, how sexual sin speaks to our identity, why we struggle to know how to talk about sex, why the "how far is too far" question is the wrong question, false sex-pectations and what true love really is. There is a lot of great truth packed into this conversation. And side note, if you have a teenager this would be a great episode for them to listen to. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Sandra Stanley joins me again around my kitchen table. She was on the show awhile back—Episode 23—and it has since been one of my most popular conversations with listeners. Sandra is a mother to grown kids, wife to megachurch pastor, Andy Stanley, author, communicator and a woman who is passionate about foster care and coming alongside young mothers. Sandra recently released a devotional called Breathing Room. Do you ever feel like you can't enjoy anything because you are doing everything? Do you sometimes feel like your pace in life is causing exhaustion? Well, you aren't alone. In this episode, we talk about what steals our breathing room, how we trade our peace for progress and what role fear plays in it all along with some practical ways to create breathing room in your life today. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Be sure check out the show notes for all of my takeaways from our conversation, links to anything we talk about and ways to connect with Sandra. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

It's time again for our special crossover episode with Melanie Dale and her show, Lighten Up with Melanie Dale. And today, we tackle the topic of body image—because that isn't relatable to anyone. When I was in my early twenties, I truly thought that women in their 40's didn't deal with this struggle. That is was just a adolescence or twenty-something problem. But news flash, I still want to be attractive. I still struggle to base my worth on something that changes. And that's why we felt like it was a topic worth talking about. We talk about what shaped our view of bodies in elementary school, triggers for the struggle, what helps us to maintain a healthy view of ourselves, how we feel about our bodies at 40 and how our past affects who we raise our daughters. Be sure to check out Melanie's podcast to hear the other part to our conversation. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

My friend Clay Scroggins joins me around the table. He married to Jenny (who is a faithful Surviving Sarah listener) and they have 5 kids. Clay is the lead pastor for North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA. Many of you may have heard of that church because Andy Stanley started it. He wrote a book last year called How To Lead When You're Not In Charge. And let's be honest, so many of us are leading somewhere—in our home, in our work, in our church, in our schools. Each one of us has the ability to leverage influence yet many of us are stuck waiting to be given the authority to lead rather than tapping into the influence that we have. So we talk about the difference between authority and influence, the challenges that keep us from tapping into our influence, how to survive working for someone you don't respect, what to do when you crave more influence, and how understanding our identity is crucial in cultivating influence. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Hannah Brencher joins me. She is a TED speaker, author and online educator with a heart for building leaders. She is passionate about helping others live good and full lives. You may know her for the social movement she created in 2011 called More Love Letters where she wrote love letters for strangers. That small act on her part has spread to over 70 countries, all 50 states, and over 100 college campuses. I enjoyed this conversation so much. And you won't be surprised to hear us talk about the enneagram and how her unique wiring is connected to what does. We talk about what it looks like to be in process, how to stay focused on the process rather than getting caught up in what's next and what helped her walk through a season of depression. Please give me 3 minutes of your time to take a survey to help me create a better podcast experience for you...plus you can enter to win a $25 amazon gift card! What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Today, Josh Shipp joins me for a really amazing conversation. This was one of those conversations where I just got lost and forgot that thousands of you would be listening. This is a conversation between two parents who both work or have worked with teenagers for many years and have seen the power of another caring adult in a kid's life. Josh is an author, global youth empowerment expert, and acclaimed speaker. A former at-risk foster kid turned youth advocate is renowned for his documentary TV series by A&E that followed his ground-breaking work with teenagers. I have been wanting to have a conversation with Josh about teenagers since I launched the podcast so I was thrilled when this day arrived. We start by talking about the personalities of our kids. And I've been thinking so much how important it is that we understand our kids' wiring so that we can figure out how to communicate with them—especially if they are teenagers. We talk about doing the hard work of parenting, why kids need a caring adult in their lives, and how to better understand teenagers. If you have teenagers or work with teenagers or have kids who will eventually be teenagers, then you will certainly enjoy this conversation. We talk about moving from an air traffic controller in the early years to a coach in the adolescence years. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

If you've been listening to the show for awhile, then you know that Melanie Dale and I are good pals. After being guests on each others shows, we wondered how we could hang out more because we simply laugh together. So that's when this idea was born. We decided to do some crossover episodes for you guys. So every month, you will hear us talk about a different topic. But here's the fun part: One part will be on her show, Lighten Up with Melanie Dale and the other part will be on my show, Surviving Sarah. We will pick a topic and talk about how we need to lighten up about it and then how we are surviving it. And today's episode is all about friendships. We talk about on Surviving Sarah how we can survive friendships--finding them, keeping them and what to do if we lose them. And head over to Melanie's site to listen to ways we can lighten up about friendship. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

I was happy to welcome Ashleigh Slater back to join me around my kitchen table. She was my second guest 2 years ago. We have a conversation about braving sorrow. We talk about loss—loss of jobs, houses, dreams, control, and even life. Loss can make for a hard season that we sometimes end up walking through alone. We sometimes don't feel like we have the permission to grieve losses. We compare our losses and feel like ours isn't worth grieving. She talks about her "weeping years" where she walked through a number of losses in a couple of years. And what she shares what she learned about herself, her community and her God because of it. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

I am excited to share Anna LeBaron's story with you today. If you haven't heard of her, she is a survivor of a Polygamist cult. Her father was a notorious polygamist and murderer. She grew up unlike most of us. Most of us have never been on the run from the FBI. Filled with murder, fear, and betrayal, Anna's story is shocking. It's a story of a fatherless girl and her unwavering search for love, faith, and a place to call home. Anna expresses the power of vulnerability and shares her story of surviving a Polygamist cult. She shares how she found Jesus and how she was able to take off the shame of being her earthly father's daughter and embrace the unconditional, ever secure love of her heavenly Father. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Today's guest is Kristy Dickerson. She's the CEO and co-creator of the STARTplanner and author of the new book, Start Balancing. If you've listened to the show for awhile then you know that I love planners. So getting to talk with Kristy was so enjoyable. She is a successful entrepreneur, business woman who is first and foremost a wife and mom. We sat down in her office to talk about how she ended up creating a business around a planner. And as you listen, you'll hear advice for creative people who run businesses, how to fit health into your lifestyle, ways to maximize your time and productivity and how to set smart goals. If you want to continue the conversation, you can find me @sarahwbragg on Instagram or twitter or SurvivingSarahPodcast on Facebook. BE sure to check out today's show notes over at SurvivingSarah.com for ways to connect with Kristy, takeaways from our conversation and links to everything we mentioned. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

My good friend, Merica Stum, joins me around my kitchen table again. She is a married to Jake and they have 3 boys. She is the Director of Girls On The Run for Southeast TN. We had so much fun last year on Episode 55 so I asked her to come back. I think we will just have to make this an annual thing. We do sort of a year in review. We look back at 2017—what we learned, what surprised us and what we read. And then we look forward to 2018 about some of our goals and even some things we dread. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Amber Lia joins me for Episode 106. She is a mom to 4 boys as well as an author and owner of a production company in Los Angeles. Amber and Wendy Speaks have released a new book together called Parenting Scripts: When What Your Saying Isn't Working Say Something New. I don't know about you, but parenting has been the hardest job of my life. I am always trying to hit a moving target. And what worked yesterday doesn't always work today. Many times, I find myself in a situation where I just don't know what to say. And that is exactly why they wrote this book. So I give her a few different scenarios from her book and ask her to help us know what to say. We talk about how to motivate your kids to do what they need to do; what to say when your kid argues and talks back; what to say when your kid faces disappointment; and what what to do if you and your partner are on different parenting pages. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. You can read all my takeaways online here. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Christy Wright joins me for Episode 105. She is the creator of Business Boutique, a Certified Business Coach and a Ramsey Personality with a heart for helping women step into their God-given gifts. Trust me, when you hear this conversation, you will see how passionate she is about empowering women. If you are a woman who has a side hustle or started a business or has an idea, you will certainly enjoy this episode. Christy gives us advice on where to start, what to do with our fear of failure, how to make your business your own, how to manage your time and how to not kill your creative idea. Takeaways From Our Conversation: What is something that is keeping you back from starting your business or moving forward on an idea? I think for me, the fear of failure and perfectionism are traps that I often fall into. Yes, failure is a possibility, but it shouldn't keep me from moving forward. Have you ever stopped to trace your steps to see where you've been and how God has prepared you for what you are doing now? Start with the end in mind. Think about where you want to be in 5 years and then take steps to get there. Don't let perfection keep you from starting. And yes, fear is a possibility, but don't let it keep you from starting. Fear doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. It means you're doing something bold. Fear will creep up every time you do something new. Do it scared. Fear is from the enemy not from God. If we want a miracle the requirement is something impossible. The requirement for a miracle is doing something impossible. Sometimes what we want doesn't match our feelings. Act how you want to feel. Make your business your own. Comparison is your enemy. Time management is personal. Be willing to say no to things. Be selective about how you spend your time. Figure what matters to you. We say yes when what we mean is no. Don't focus on letting that person down. don't focus on the no. focus on the yes. What are your priorities? You don't need to be everything. In the season you are in, what makes the cut? Everything is not created equal. If everything is important, nothing is important. Choose to be present in the moment. Are you focused on what you are notdoing? Think about what you did get to. Driving to somewhere that you love. Don't look behind. Look forward. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Alex Kuykendall joins me for Episode 104. She is mother to 4 girls ranging from ages 6 to 15. She is a writer and co-host to The Open Door Sisterhood podcast and retreat. I invited her to join me on the show to talk about her recent book, Loving My Actual Christmas, because the reality is that many of us don't love the Christmas we have. We have expectations that go unmet during this time of year. Christmas isn't always a merry season. We can have disappointment or pain from loss. Maybe its a grieving season. Maybe life doesn't look like what you hoped. And Christmas can accentuate our pain, grief and disappointment. How do we step into our real circumstances and try to enjoy Christmas in the midst of the pain? With that in mind, Alex conducted a Christmas experiment. An experiment on what it would look like to find hope, joy, love and peace during the Christmas season in the midst of her real life circumstances. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Natalie Ard joins me for Episode 103. With the turn of the holiday season, it was the perfect time to chat with her about what she does. She is a mother who quickly became an entrepreneur after creating a family tradition product called Star From Afar. She is the owner of Star Kids Company where she creates toys and games that help kids play with a purpose. We talk about why she created Star From Afar, tactical ways to make this Christmas meaningful and how is manages being a working mother. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

I was so happy to have Melanie Shankle join me on the show again for Episode 102. Many of you may know her as Big Mama online. She is an author, speaker, wife and mother. You may remember her from Episode 50 where we chatted about friendship. This time, she joins me at the table to talk about small things. You see, she wrote a book called Church of the Small Things which talks about learning to love the ordinary life you have. Do you feel like you aren't doing enough or that what you are doing matters? If you've ever answered yes to those questions, then this episode and her book is for you. In this conversation, we talk about enjoying your ordinary life, how God uses ordinary and how to be faithful where you are. Takeaways From Our Conversation: This message about ordinary really struck home with me. One of my takeaways, was the idea of being faithful where you are. God put me in this season with these roles for a reason. I want to be like the mother of the boy who had the fish and bread. Doing the tasks that seem insignificant matter. So this week, I want to look around at my ordinary and ask God to help me see the beauty. How can you start to find contentment your ordinary life? It begins by recognizing that as chaotic as it can seem, all of this is all fleeting. It can all change. It starts with a perspective change. Stop waiting for you life to begin. Take stock of your life. I bet all of what you have that is chaotic is what you prayed for. Stop comparing what we have to what we thought we wanted or to what others have. Sometimes we can struggle with thoughts like "Am I enough?"; "Does this life matter?"; "My life isn't glamorous." But you never know how God will use those simple acts of faithfulness. Get up and be faithful to do what is in front of you. We can feel like a beige person driving a mini van, but the daily faithfulness matters. We can make an impact when we just love the people around us. We start to think that the big things are what are noticeable, but its really the little things. This can be a great season of ordinary. "Don't underestimate how God is using all of those little things." Are you going to trust God with what you have right now? Before you go further in the journey, you have to be able to trust God with what you have now. God is preparing you for the bigger things in the small things. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier. A new episode every Tuesday... just subscribe.

April Christina Barron joins me for Episode 101. She is a talented vocalist, communicator and therapist who's passion is to encourage, inspire, and offer hope to women in their relationships with God, themselves, their children, and with others. And she'd tell you that her greatest accomplishment would be overcoming the challenges of being an un-married, teenaged mother. She has successfully raised two amazing young men, one of whom, at 22 years old, is currently staring in a lead role in the nation's hottest musical, Hamilton, An American Musical, in Chicago, Illinois. Having overcome every obstacle and societal statistic thrust upon single, teenaged mothers, April pursues every opportunity to offer hope and encouragement to other women who face seemingly insurmountable odds. She shares her story of becoming a single mother as a teenager—what that was like and what pressures she faced and how she eventually learned what it looked like to lay aside the condemnation and walk in the freedom of grace. She also gives some advice to raising teenagers and how the church can support single parents. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Cue the confetti because today is Episode 100! And last night friends of the show gathered together at my home in Atlanta to celebrate this milestone with me. Before we jump into the today's conversation, I just wanted to say thank you for listening. There are women all around who feel like they are alone, as they survive whatever life looks like for them. And this podcast is a place where I hope that women realize that they are not alone. Whether you are single or married; ave children or not; being your own boss or working for someone else, I hope that you find the voice of someone who understands exactly where you are. So with that, Hannah Davis joins me for Episode 100. She is a fitness expert whose mission is to empower women and men to become healthier and happier through strength training and nutrition. She believes that those components affect happiness and our ability to serve others. We talk about the balance between health and appearance, some misconceptions about fitness, daily essentials that you need to incorporate into your habits and how to retrain our why behind fitness. Takeaways From Our Conversation: I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Hannah. I think the biggest takeaway for me was the need to connect my health to serving others. I'll just admit here that my fitness goals have never been connected to others. They have always been so that I look better. Health is rarely the objective, but fitting in a smaller size usually is. So, I'm going to work on redefining the why behind health for me. Daily essentials that you need to incorporate into your habits: eat a nutritious breakfast drink more water move 10k steps a day; 10 minute circuit training (her YouTube channel) Hannah wants to help me AND YOU redefine with healthy means. The holidays are upon us and we thought it would be the perfect time to prepare our bodies and minds for what lies ahead. Let me introduce the 12 day Holiday Hustle to you. The 12 day Holiday Hustle with Body By Hannah is geared to keep you on track with your health and fitness goals through what can sometimes be a stressful holiday season or a season full of too much merriment! This challenge provides you with a simple nutrition plan to follow, exclusive, short, beginner or intermediate workout programs from Hannah, a supplementation option for those with weight loss or energy goals, exclusive Surviving the Holidays tips from life expert, Sarah Bragg and daily mindfulness homework. This challenge is only $9.99 until November 17th and and challenge will begin on Tuesday, November 28. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Jeannie Cunnion joins me for Episode 99. I have been so excited to share this conversation with you because it was so refreshing and encouraging for me personally. If you haven't heard of Jeannie before, then you should know that she is a mom of four boys who range from teenager to toddler. She is the author of Parenting the Wholehearted Child and her latest book, Mom Set Free. We sit down and have an honest conversation about freedom and motherhood. We talk about the pressures we face in parenting, the things that we need to be set free from and what God has set us free for. There were some moments in this conversation that really have redefined my role as parent and reignited an understanding of the gospel. Takeaways From Our Conversation: God is using our kids to sharpen us to become more like Him. I think that I knew that in theory but I hadn't thought about how God chose these kids specifically for a reason to sharpen something in me. And if I could start my day viewing them as a gift that God has placed in my life to sharpen me—to make me more like Him—then maybe that would change my heart. And I think that applies to anyone listening whether you are a mother or not. Think about the most challenging person in your life currently. Maybe that person is God's gift to you to sharpen you to become more like Him. So when we are in the heat of the moment, frustrated or discouraged, may we remember to ask: what is God's invitation to me in this situation? Parenting is more about what God is doing in me than me creating these great kids. Moms get stuck in so many places and patterns because of the pressure we are under. The gospel has the power to free us from any place where we feel stuck. We feel pressure to be perfect, to be in control, or to transform our kid's heart. The enemy is using that pressure to steal our joy in parenting. Jesus is the one who calls our kids to faith. We can get frustrated when we do all the "right" things yet not see the results. It is Jesus who produces righteous character in our kid's life. What is hard for me isn't hard for God. God works all things together for good--that good doesn't mean better or an upgrade. The good is that we are conformed more into the image of Jesus. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Jim Burns joins me for Episode 98. I first met Jim many years ago when I worked for Saddleback Church in CA. He is someone that I could have conversations with about parenting, relationships, marriage and faith for hours. He is the President of HomeWord—an organization that exists to equip parents, marriages and families and he the Director of the HomeWord Center for Youth and Family at Azusa Pacific University. He speaks to thousands of people around the world each year and has close to 2 million resources in print in 30 languages. You can see why I like to talk to him! I asked Jim to join me around the table to talk about a subject that many of us feel very awkward about. We have an hour long dialog about the topic of sexuality and our kids. We talk about when you should have the infamous talk, what you should know about the "M word", pornography and sexual identities. Alright. I just went ahead and said all the awkward words. Now that I've done that, pull up a chair and join the conversation. Takeaways From Our Conversation: I think that this topic is one that most of us don't feel adequate or prepared for as parents. The biggest takeaway is not waiting for one moment or one age to have that conversation but to start sooner than later weaving it into a normal part of your life with your kids. Start talking about sex from ages 3-5. The more you talk about these things hopefully the more comfortable to have these conversations as they grow. Moms of littles, this is the best time because it is not awkward to your kids. I highly recommend Jim's books to initiate the conversation. That is what we used and it has opened the door to so many natural conversations. The number one place that older kids get their sex ed from is the internet so you are going to have to have conversations with your kids about this. Age of the first exposure of pornography is age 11. If you catch your child looking at porn, don't make a big scary deal of it. Talk about healthy positive sex. And then talk about some of the things that aren't healthy. If you see it, here's what you should do. You almost have to desensitize them to it. We hurt for these people. When our kids are caught or your find out, make sure you are not a one topic parent in your reaction. Get a perspective. Talk with others. 10% will struggle with gender confusion; 1.5-2% are homosexual. It's not healthy to our kids to blast one sexual sin over another. There are 17 references to sexual sin, only 3 deal with homosexuality yet we tend to focus on that one issue. We need to partly normalize that. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Jonathan and Wynter Pitts join me for Episode 97. I was so happy to invite Wynter back on the show and loved getting a chance to chat with her husband, too. Wynter is the Founder of For Girls Like You and the author of several tween books. Jonathan is the executive director of The Urban Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans. They recently wrote a book called She Is Yours—Trusting God as You Raise the Girl He Gave You.You see, they have four daughters. So their house is loud, messy, busy and fun. They fully understand what many of us are walking through as we raise our daugthers. We waste no time and dive right in to the hard stuff. We talk about what to do if we have a hard time viewing our kids as gifts from the Lord. We talk about the power of prayer when it comes to raising our kids. And we talk about how to help them develop their relationship with God, with their parents and with the world around them. Takeaways From Our Conversation: I think one of my favorite parts of the conversation about influence. I know this is true for me that so often we worry about the influence that others will have on our kids. We wonder if we should change schools or churches or sport teams. Scott and I just had a conversation about this very thing last week—fearful that one of ours would succumb to peer pressure as a teenager. But Wynter said to think more about what God can do through her—how she can impact and influence the world rather than worrying out how the world may influence her. This requires a shift in perspective. Notice the ways that your child has a positive influence on another. Give your child opportunities to be a positive influence on others and opportunities to impact the world around them. That is a proactive approach rather than a reactive approach to influence. Parenting is about investing a lot of hard work. Children are the types of gifts that require assembly; they aren't batteries included type of gifts. Ask God to help you see them as a gift. Its hard to see beauty when we are distracted by other things. We often view our kids as distractions rather than gifts. Relationship always requires more than anything else does. So much of it is building into what you are already doing. Look around at what you already have in place and work from there. If we want our kids to love others then we need to give them opportunities to flex those muscles. My best first play is to give her back to the Lord. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Kim Biddle joins me for Episode 96. She is the founder and CEO of Saving Innocence—an organization whose vision is to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children and restore the cultural values of innocence and human worth. This organization is doing amazing things to rescue and restore child victims of sex trafficking through strategic partnerships with local law enforcement, social service providers and schools. Kim has earned degrees, credentials and certifications to do this important work, but after listening to her story its easy to see that her own life—what she survived in her life—truly prepared her for what she does now. We talk about her story of divorce and how that gave her a deeper understanding and empathy for others. We talk about how she found her identity after walking through a season of grief, how Saving Innocence was started and how we can help change the culture surrounding exploitation and human worth. Kim and I met many years ago when I lived in CA. We were both in our twenties—bright eyed and full of expectancy. Hearing what she has walked through since those days is heartbreaking, yet hopeful. There is something so powerful when people decide to be vulnerable about who they are. I think that's why Kim's story will resonate with many of you. Takeaways From Our Conversation: I really appreciated her vulnerability and honesty about her brokenness—what it was like to start over, to feel grief and then to see God confirm her identity and propel her forward to use her past to help others. Free people free people. I think that statement embodies Kim's life. Isn't it interesting how what happened to her in her marriage ended up connecting to what she does now? I love that God can weave a story together. Divorce is such a touchy subject and it is one that can cause you to question everything that you once knew to be true. Having friends around you who just let you be broken without expectation is vital to rediscovering who you are. To find herself again, she started by looking for what brought her joy and made her heart come alive. There is something beautiful in suffering. We don't know how to suffer well and how to walk through seasons of pain. But there is something magical about pain. It reminds us that we are human and that it is okay to be a depraved human in need of God's love. How can we help young women change the way they see themselves? This generation has replaced beautiful with sexy. Your value doesn't depend on how much sex appeal you have. We need some celebrities to step up and shift what its like to proclaim value as heart, mind, body and soul. If we saw each other in a new way—created in the image of God—it would change the way we treat each other and view each other. Each person has a thumbprint of God. When you come out of a season, ask who am I in the image of God? How am I to reflect You in this season of life? Give yourself grace for that journey and give others grace in their journey. "Life is more like art than we first thought." Maya Angelou We are walking out a piece of art. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Kristen Ivy joins me for Episode 95. This was a special guest for me because we have been friends for over 10 years and we started our motherhood journey together. Not only is she a mother to 3 but she is also the Executive Director of Messaging at Orange and the Director of The Phase Project. She has written several books but most recently published 18 books—one for each phase of a kid's life. We talk about how we as parents have a limited number of time to influence the faith of our kids. So with that, we unpack the phase guides by looking at what it means to number the days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom, what sort of things we can do over time in order to discover what really matters and what conversations we need to have with our kids when it comes to health, sexuality, technology and faith. Takeaways From Our Conversation: I bet some of you feel like 936 weeks until graduation feels like an eternity. I know I did. But I bet some of you look at the dwindling weeks make you anxious that you are running out of time. But either way, I bet I'm not the only one who often feels overwhelmed with parenting. That I'm not doing enough. That I've messed them up too much. Or that they will one day be in prison. Am I right? But I love how she took the pressure off of us. Small investments over time is what makes the difference. Its okay if you have a day where you don't feel like you got a lot done because its the collection of weeks over time that makes the difference. It's collective conversations or collective events that builds. I want to take those things that really matter and see where I can make small incremental movement. There is no magic bullet to parenting. Its an art, not a science. Trying to discover who they are and then constantly making adjustments to give them what they need. Its definitely not a formula. And because of that, you need to pause every so often to relearn your kid just in case they have changed. From the time they are born to graduation there are 936 weeks. You can't get more and its moving at a consistent speed. Here's a great way to number your days with your kids--its decorative, too. So what really matters? fun over time matters because it builds connection time over time gives you a history together work over time gives your kids significance stories over time give a kid perspective—they begin to shape their worldview love over time it shows your kids that they are worth something words over time give a kid direction tribes over time give a kid a place to belong There are 4 ongoing, progressive conversations that need to happen over time. Conversations about health, sexuality, technology and faith. The phase guidesgive you words to say to help create those conversations. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Kelly Flanagan joins me for Episode 94. This was one of my conversations. You guys, I took so many notes when I went back to edit this show. In fact, the conversation itself really did feel like a counseling session for me. Kelly is a husband, father, clinical psychologist, blogger, and author of the book Loveable: Embracing What Is Truest About You, So You Can Truly Embrace Your Life. We talk about the idea of being lovable—that you are enough, you are not alone and you matter by unpacking worthiness, belonging and purpose. We talk about how to rediscover your unique worthiness, how to redeem the shame we carry and how there is a loveliness to ordinary. Takeaways From Our Conversation: His words hit me like a ton of bricks when he said that our first task is to be able to delight in ourselves before we can be able to delight in someone else.Boom. I want to see a show of hands how many of us delight in ourselves. I will be the first to raise my hand. Do we think that we are delightful? But this is 100% connected to being able to find delight in other people and to be delighted by someone else. That is definitely something that I want to spend some time working on. We all have a worthy self inside of us. Observe the voice of shame as an event within us and begin to listen to a different voice. Start to listen to the voice of grace. When you hear the shame let it be a reminder to listen for the voice of grace. Our shame is always calling us back to grace. There's loveliness in ordinary and it's okay to be ordinary you. Why do we believe that ordinary isn't enough? We feel like we have to make a difference and get recognition—that's the other side of shame. Let's start by being our ordinary selves. Let's take back that word. When it comes to belonging, you aren't trying to compare or complete but truly to connect. Don't focus on what you can get but what you can give. How does the idea of ordinary help you understand why you matter (or your purpose)? It's rare that our God given passion and reason for being here overlap extraordinary. Embrace those ordinary passions. We all have our one note to play - God has created us all with a note to play that only you can play. When we embrace our worthiness then we have the courage to reveal who we are to people and then as we do we discover where we belong and then through conversation with them and encouragement from them we begin to feel support to do our thing in the world. When it comes to our kids, how can I help foster these (worthiness, belonging, purpose) things in them? Acknowledge your limited ability of what you can do. We can do the best we can but we will make mistakes. We are limited. MAYBE THIS ISN'T SUCH A BAD THING—THINK ABOUT REDEMPTION. God is the redeemer of all things. Abide with our children. We stay with them in the shame. We connect with them through our own. We stress because we don't want to be the reason they have shame because it will ultimately bring me shame. But we need those things to happen along the way so that we can understand our worthiness. Kids don't need perfect parents they need parents who know they aren't perfect. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Courtney Westlake joins me for Episode 93. Courtney lives in Illinois with her husband, Evan, and their two children, Connor and Brenna. She is a writer and photographer with a bachelor's degree in journalism and a passion for storytelling. Her storytelling took on a new life when she began blogging in 2011 after Brenna was born with a rare and severe skin disorder. I asked her to join me on the show to talk about life with Brenna and her book, A Different Beautiful. We talk about how God prepared her for the role of mother to Brenna, how the definition of beauty has changed for her and how she's learned to see people for who they really are. Takeaways From Our Conversation: I loved her advice on what to do when you see someone who looks different than you. She said to "choose connection over curiosity." Connect with them the same way you would connect with anyone. Start with hello. And remember that they are made in the image of God—just like you. We have to retrain our minds to learn to see people for who they really are. We can see people's heart rather than comparing what we look like to what someone else looks like. We can be more focused more on people's stories. "My differences are God's art." There's no such thing as normal. Our frame of reference is our tiny world. Show your kids different cultures and races and sizes and abilities. Everywhere there is different. Everywhere there is uniqueness. And that should be celebrated. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Kelsey Chapman joins me for Episode 92. She is a Creative & Small Businness Coach as well as an Instagram Consultant. As a self proclaimed dreamer and entrepreneur, she knows well that sometimes you need a cheerleader and coach to come alongside you to help you pursue your dreams. If you have a dream but don't know where to start; or if you don't feel like you can even have a dream; or if you want a dream but don't have one; or if you have had to end a dream then you will relate to what we talk about today. We talk about what's needed in following your dream, road blocks to following your dream and what happens if that dream comes to an end. Takeaways From Our Conversation: I bet many of you started this episode and felt like you weren't a dreamer. But I hope that after listening, you feel differently. Our dreams come in different shapes and sizes and look different in different seasons. So no matter where you land on that spectrum, we can all agree that God has purposed you for something. No matter what season you find yourself in, God can weave your dreams throughout. I loved her advice to someone who has a dream, but feels the tensions of following it. I think her advice to just release your work into the world and perfect it later is so sound. Just last week, I was talking with someone who wants to write a book one day. And that was my advice to her. Just start writing. Start thinking about what you want to say. Write it down. Writing a book doesn't start with having all 50,000 words in your mind. It starts with an idea. Sometimes we just need a push to take a step forward—to release something and then perfect it later. Comparison is a real weapon against following your passion project/calling/purpose. You have a unique audience to gift and steward, no matter how big or small it is. Just because someone has more or better, doesn't negate what God wants to do. Look for unexpected people who might propel your dream. Even if a dream doesn't work out, God can always redirect. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

David Thomas joins me for Episode 91. You may remember him from Episode 51 when we talked about raising boys. David has over 20 years of experience counseling kids and families. He's written 7 books including the newest one, Are My Kids On Trackwhich he wrote with Sissy Goff and Melissa Trevathan where they breakdown the emotional, social and spiritual milestones that kids need to reach. We spend our time together chatting about the four emotional milestones: vocabulary, perspective, empathy and resourcefulness. So with that, we talk about how to equip your kids with an accurate emotional vocabulary, how to help them register emotional pain, how to help them problem solve and how failure and fear are actually necessary in building empathy and courage. If you have ever felt overwhelmed with parenting, I think this conversation will put you at ease. Takeaways From Our Conversation: I appreciated his advice as to where to start. I am so thankful that his first step was to celebrate what you are already doing. Because, we all know that parenting can feel overwhelming—even working on your own self care in regards to this topic can feel overwhelming. So the fact that you are listening to this or reading the book or having conversations about this is worth celebrating. I want to give each one of you a high five. So as you start to think through how to help your kids reach these different milestones, remember to celebrate where you are and what you are already doing. Pay attention to what's going on inside of you. You can only pass on to your kids what you already possess. In regulating emotions, model for them the things they don't yet know, that way they see that emotions are normal and good part of life. Give a dedicated space to sort out their emotions. Use the phase "yellow light" as a cue to let your kid know to pause. Consider getting a dog as a means to help them regulate their emotions. We have to let our kids learn to problem solve for themselves. Failure and fear both get a bad wrap. We need to reframe that. These are good things. Fear is the birthplace of courage. You can't be courageous if you never face fear. You want to be a resilient which means you have to stand face to face with failure. You won't be compassionate unless you land on your face sometimes. That is one of the best teachers of empathy. Pray for failure for your kids. What would it look like if rather than praying for our kids to be happy, we prayed for our kids to be strong? (which is an invitation for failure.) Pray for ourselves that we will allow the space for our kids to be resourceful. We are sometimes too busy trying to be their resources. With that, ask good questions in those moments like what do you want to do with that? What's your game plan? What are you thinking? What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

You are joining me for Episode 90 and for this episode we recorded a live show in front of a group of women. There is a non-profit organization who works to be the church and bring a different kind of church to their community in the East Cobb area of Atlanta who invited me to record a live episode with them. The women of East Cobb Gathering get together on a regular basis to connect, grow and enjoy the company of other women from their area. So I sat at the table with my good friend, Katie Peters. She is a wife and mother of 4, recent graduate with a Masters in Pastoral Counseling and Life Coaching and she is the founding director of East Cobb Gathering. The women East Cobb Gathering get together in a regular basis to connect and grow and enjoy the company of other women from their area. We sit down together with a live audience to talk about why we need community to survive. So pull up a chair to the table and join the conversation. Takeaways From Our Conversation: August tends to be a season of starting. Now is a great time to look for community. Maybe your kids are going back to school. Or maybe you are starting a new job. Or maybe you had a life change. And many churches are ramping back up for fall. Now is a great time to look around to see where you can find some women to come alongside you. In fact, I just gathered a group of women at our church to start a community group. It can be awkward but its worth it. We all need someone to be a support or to celebrate with or to lean on. "Your real you is worthy of community." At some point, take a risk and ask someone: what is God doing in your life right now? That's how you start to cultivate deep friendships. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Kathleen Hamer and her son Derek join me around their kitchen table in the Seattle area. I had been wanting to introduce you to them for a long time now. In fact, they were one of the first guests that I listed out when I first brainstormed the podcast. You see, Kathleen was an almost emptynestor when she and her husband, Dan, decided to adopt Derek who was age 5 and his brother, Reggie, who was age 3. And now, Derek just graduated high school. They adopted the boys 13 years ago. And I know so many adoptive parents who are on the front end of adoptive or even in the thick of the middle years of adoption. And just like in so many things, sometimes its helpful to have a perspective who has walked the road longer. And I thought it would be helpful to hear from an adopted son's perspective. You will hear their story of how they found each other, what it was like when he lived on the streets of Kitale, Kenya at age 4, his advice for adoptive families and what it was like when he returned to Kenya years later. So pull up a chair to the kitchen table and join the conversation. Takeaways From Our Conversation: There is something powerful to their story. Isn't it remarkable how God orchestrated their meeting? I think it's always a good reminder that God speaks even to the hearts of little children. It's heartbreaking to think of a 4 year old living on the streets, but God sees. I love seeing the man Derek has become. I'm so thankful that he is willing to share his story. God can make something good out of something painful. The best question to ask yourself is: "What can I do?" It starts with you. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Back in early July, I took the podcast on the road to Seattle. Seattle now is home to so many people that I love and who were influential in my life during my early twenties. So I took the opportunity to fly out there to sit down around the table with a few of them and Neely McQueen was one of them. I enjoy being around Neely so much. She is the real deal--what you see is what you get. She is a wife to her husband, Josh, for 18 years. They have 3 kids--2 biological and 1 adopted from Ethiopia. And she oversees student ministries at Overlake Christian Church in the Seattle area. With over 20 years of student ministry experience, we talk about loving teenagers and advice for parents of teenagers. And we also have a conversation about adoption--why they chose to step into that, what helped her walk through the early days and how adoption changed her. Takeaways From Our Conversation: One of my takeaways was the reminder to be mindful of where you are in life. Take time to remember and look back because time will pass. You need to be reminded in the middle of the eye rolls that they were cute and you have made progress. Sometimes parenting feels like you are walking in quicksand. So taking time to look back and look around truly does help. What's great about teenagers: When they are younger they believe you. They believe that they can change the world. They are more willing to try things. They have less cynicism to life. They feel loved just by your presence. What do you say to parents who fear what is coming? Keep trying. Your kids really do want you and need you. You are their constant. You are their solid foundation. Take small nuggets of time together. Step into their world--their interests. Be intentional. Be willing to push through and make yourself available. "The conversations you avoid become the conversations that are the problems." Don't be unwilling to have the hard conversations. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Suzanne Stabile joins me for Episode 87 and I'm not gonna lie. I was sorta geeking out that she was joining me. Suzanne is an internationally renowned teacher who offers a unique and creative approach to the practice of spiritual formation. She is viewed as a master of the Enneagram and her first book, The Road Back to You was published in 2016. If you haven't read it yet, I can't recommend it enough. I feel like I'm seeing the Ennegram everywhere these days, but maybe you just said, "Enne-a-what? Is that like an email version of Instagram? But the enneagram is a unique way to understand who people are wired and how they see the world. So we have a conversation about the Enneagram—what it is, how to determine what number you are and for those of us who are parents—how to be the best parents for our children based on enneagram wisdom. Takeaways From Our Conversation: I've thought about the different people in my life and how I can better understand who they are so that I can love them better. Because when you begin to understand how God has wired you and others that you are in relation with, then you can develop a sense of compassion with yourself and with others. "We don't really know ourselves by what we get right. We know ourselves by what we get wrong." "Your greatest weakness is also your greatest strength." Be sure to listen to get the coupon code for 20% off of any mp3 or CD on Suzanne's website. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Lisa Lloyd joins me for Episode 86. Sometimes you meet people and you feel like you could have been friends for years. That is exactly how I felt about Lisa. She is an actress, speaker and writer. I was intrigued by her when I saw her book called Chasing Famous: Living the Life You've Always Auditioned For. I can totally relate that life seems to be full of auditions--in friendships, dating, marriage, parenting, and in our jobs. Sometimes we are enough and accepted and sometimes we are rejected. So we sit down to talk about rejection, God's redeeming grace and the idea of chasing fame. Links: Lisa's book: Chasing Famous: Living the Life You've Always Auditioned For My book: Body. Beauty. Boys. The Truth About Girls and How We See Ourselves Coach Mom by Brenna Stull Baby Boot Camp by Rebecca Powell What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Rachel Swanson joins me for episode 85 to have a conversation that I think most women will be able to relate to. Rachel is a wife, mother to 3, former dental hygienist—her smile is amazing—and now life coach, author and speaker. I asked Rachel to join me to talk about what spiritual and personal investments women need to make in their own lives, why women tend to carry so much anxiety and practical ways to help you in the moment when you feel anxious or overwhelmed. Links: Rachel's coloring book: Big and Little Coloring Devotional Takeaways From Our Conversation: One thing that stuck with me was the reasons why we struggle with anxiety. I had never thought about how much fear is the root of all anxiety. The four root causes of anxiety are fear of lack of control, failure, loss and rejection. I can look at the anxiety I face and pin point the root. Knowing the root helps you to be able to pray more specifically. Surviving being a mom of little kids requires some intentional self-care. Go back to the basics of nurturing your soul—prayer and reading your bible and times of stillness to listens to God. talk to god in the car. utilize the power of prayer. Practical tips - sticky notes. Before she goes to sleep, she writes out 3 things she wants to accomplish the next day. She doesn't have to worry about anything more. It helps her to not stress. And cut the guilt and hire the help. When it comes to self-care, figure out something that fills you up - daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly. I recently wrote a guest blog post over at the Parent Cue blog on this very topic What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

PJ Jonas joins me for Episode 84. She is an entrepreneur, wife and mother to 8 kids. She runs a business centered around creating goat milk products and has been featured on the Today Show, The Doctors and in Oprah's magazine. With over nineteen years of homeschooling children under her belt, as well as eight years of running a business, she joins me to talk about the benefits of teaching kids to work, how to differentiate between what's good and best, and some practical tips for managing a household or business. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Sherry Quinley joins me for Episode 83 to talk about lessons on life, marriage and parenting. Take a minute and think of someone older than you who you love gleaning wisdom and advice from. Think about the questions you would ask them. Think about what you admire about them. Sherry is one of those people to me. She and her husband, Chuck, have raised 6 kids. They've been married for 35 years and now have 5 grandkids. When you meet them, it doesn't take long to realize that they love God and love people well. They currently live in Thailand but have lived in the US, Jamaica and the Philippines. Over a cup of coffee, I ask Sherry about what it was like raising kids outside of the US, how to raise brave kids, and how to have a healthy marriage that stands the test of time. Links: MediaLight Simple Parenting, Raising Confident and Cooperative Kids by Sherry and Chuck Quinley Takeaways From Our Conversation: One of the takeaways from our conversation was her advice about first encounters. She said that the first time you see someone whether that is your husband or kid, let that be a positive encounter. That is a struggle for me because usually the first encounter with my kids is before coffee or the first encounter with my husband is when the work day is finished and usually involves some sort of frustration due to said kids during the cooking experience. I've heard people say that women are the CMO (chief mood officer) of the home. We have the power to set the mood for the people in our lives. So, I'm going to work on that. Prioritize your spouse. Make time for them. I liked her advice on how to make intentional time for each other. Have a day date each week and every night sit and have a conversation eye to eye. We often say to our kids, "Be careful," but maybe we need to say, "Be brave." Push them forward. Don't pass your own fears onto your kids. And when you don't feel like you can do that, surrender your fear to the sovereignty of God. God is writing a story on your kids' lives. As a couple, determine what your core values are and then build your family around that. Seasons are always changing in parenting. So, just ride the wave. The wave goes up and the wave goes down. In the season with our kids, sometimes you are up and sometimes you are down. Don't beat yourself up when you make mistakes. Just ride the wave. And have fun. We need to remember to play. Life doesn't have to be so serious. What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.