Today I want to talk to the mamas of little’s. The mama’s who are in the throes of newborn, toddler, kinderville. These years were exhausting and hard. I think many times I didn’t realize other people were experiencing the same things as I was, and I wish I had shared more of my experience. Because as I am now on the other side, I see so many needed the encouragement I did. 

 

I hope for those of you who are in these sweet holy stages, that this episode would be an encouragement to you.

 

8 things I talk about:

1. Embrace the suck

2. It’s going to be ok

3. Expect Interruptions

4. Find Help

5. Do NOT compare yourself to others

6. You are the Best Mom for you kids

7. Start Small

8. Remember

If this was an encouragement to you, please leave us a review and subscribe to our podcast, it means the world. 

We know that the bond between a father and daughter is important. Today I have on dad and daughter duo and they talk about their new book Girl Dad!

 

Working together as a dynamic father-daughter duo, Jay and Rae Anne Payleitner are delving deep into what it takes to be a Girl Dad, sharing how to build lasting relationships and the steps it takes to prepare daughters for every season of their lives in their new book Girl Dad: A Father-Daughter Duo Discuss Truths that Impact a Girl’s Heart, Mind, and Spirit (Salem, May 9, 2023). 

 

Girl Dad is not just for the baby girl in her crib or toddler hosting a tea party or a teen getting her first car; it’s for every stage of the father-daughter relationship. Rooted in scripture and filled with personal insights and experiences, the Payleitners show how to build lasting relationships, becoming an essential guide for any dad who wants to strengthen his connection with his daughter. 

 

 

Grab their book here: 

Learn more here: 

 

Be Love. Do Good. is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual guidance to help you grow into the perfectly imperfect parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Bonnie Gray is a Soul Care mentor and the author of Breathe: 21 Days to Stress Less and Transform Chaos to Calm. So many of us have felt the weight of the last few years and how it has led us to anxiety and depression. All human beings have nervous systems and emotional needs designed by God to help us flourish and heal when we take action. Gray’s goal in Breathe is to help believers detox stress through soul care, science, scripture, and prayer. This is not a book about ideas, but refined practices that readers will be able to use in their everyday life. Breathe empowers readers to practice biblical mindfulness, which is the true source of transformative peace over secular mindfulness.

 

We go deep today, and I think you will gain so many things you can put in practice this week. 

Learn more about Bonnie here:

Get her book Breathe: 21 Days to Stress Less and Transform Chaos to Calm. 

Take the SOUL CARE QUIZ

Be Love. Do Good. is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Have you ever read a book you couldn’t put down? I am an avid reader and one of the best series I have ever read is written by my guest today, New York Times Best Selling author Karen Kingsbury.

Karen Kingsbury, #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, is America’s favorite inspirational storyteller, with more than twenty-five million copies of her award-winning books in print. Her last dozen titles have topped bestseller lists and many of her novels are under development with Hallmark Films and as major motion pictures. 

 

Today I have the privilege of talking to Karen and her son Tyler Russell who recently wrote a new book for their children’s books series, Being Baxters. 

This series follows the beloved characters I fell in love with so many years ago as children and is written for children ages 8-12 years old. 

 

Here are some things we talk about:

 

Their mom/son relationship and what mom’s mean to their sons. 

 

How we can nurture and encourage our sons. 

 

What it looks like to be intentional when it comes to building a lasting relationship. 

 

How do we encourage our kid’s dreams and speak life into them. 

 

Karen has some amazing parenting advice, and Tyler talks to us from the perspective of sons. It is a beautiful interview. 

 

Learn more about Karen here: 

Grab their new book here: 

Follow Tyler Russell on instagram

 

Today I talk with Laura Smith, parent and author of the 5-Minute Devotions for Teens: A Guide to God and Mental Health 

This devo removes the stigma on mental health and advises Christian teens what they can do when they are depressed and anxious. Scattered throughout the book are tips to help teens maintain good mental health practices such as meditation, disconnecting from social media and technology, saying affirmations, and much more.

Today with social media and added pressures, teens are dealing with mental health more than ever. Today’s conversation gives us the encouragement and tools we need to come alongside our kids who may be struggling. Laura reminds us to ask for help from others and that we can’t do this alone. 

 

Get Laura’s book: the 5-Minute Devotions for Teens: A Guide to God and Mental Health 

Learn more about Laura here

 

If your teenager is struggling with suicide call the suicide hotline 988

 

Be Love Do Good is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Three-time GMA Dove Award-winning worship leader, singer-songwriter, author and podcaster Christy Nockels releases her first full-length studio album in over five years, This Is The Hour.

 

I remember listening to Christy Nockels and her husband Nathan when they were Watermark when I was in college and how much their music meant to me. I was so fortunate to be able to speak to Christy about her new album, why she wrote it, and the events that she personally had to go through before she could release it to the public. 

 

We talk about finding God’s presence, and how that is everything. 

What it’s like to walk away from fame and what she learned in the process. 

How does God meet us in painful places.

How to find the glorious in the small moments. 

 

As a worship leader for over 25 years, Christy’s heart is to simply lead others to connect and communicate with the living God. Her new album carries a storyline that God has already used in a deep and personal way in her and her producer-husband Nathan’s lives. They have experienced these songs spiritually and even emotionally, and they have already been a healing balm to their own hearts. 

 

Listen to her new album This is the Hour here:

Read her book: The Life You Long For.

Learn more about Christy here. 

 

Be Love. Do Good. is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual guidance to help you grow into the perfectly imperfect parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Research tells us eating dinner with our family during the week is beneficial in so many ways. But how do we ACTUALLY do this when we have multiple kids in different activities and eating together seems like a pipe dream.

 

My friend Christy Ogden, mother of 5, knows a thing or two about figuring out how to get her family all together for a purpose, and she gives us lots of ways to do just this in our interview today.

 

She talks about practical ways we can get around the table with multiple kids and busy schedules and why it has mattered so much. She gives us ideas of intentional questions we can ask, and how to foster open communication with our kids.  She even wrote a book about it.

 

In her book, Around the Table , she weaves in her own memories of life at their table with her family and hosting multiple people and events over the past twenty years. The main theme is that the table should be a place of gathering people together and fostering relationships. In it, she shares both the joys and the heartbreaks of her own life in a very candid way. But she also gives a lot of practical applications for how others can foster these kinds of interactions in their own family. 

 

You will love this interview and get some inspiration to get your family “around the table.”

 

Get Christy’s book here

 

Be Love. Do Good. is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual guidance to help you grow into the perfectly imperfect parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Crystal Paine, New York Times bestselling author and best known as the Money Saving MomⓇ Founder, who has reached millions with practical advice that has changed families for the better. As a bestselling author, founder of a widely popular enterprise, top podcast host—and busy mom of six—Crystal Paine should be exhausted. Or at least overwhelmed. But she’s not. In fact, she’s thriving.

 

For the first time ever, Crystal is opening up and teaching on something moms have been asking her about for years: TIME. In her new book, The Time-Saving Mom: How to Juggle a Lot, Enjoy Your Life, and Accomplish What Matters Most (March 7, 2023), Crystal shares the strategies and guiding principles she lives by to maximize her time and energy while balancing many responsibilities, staying sane, living meaningfully, and loving life.

 

You will love our conversation and get some real life tips you can use this week to prioritize what matters most. 

 

Get to know Crystal here

Buy her book here

 

Be Love. Do Good. is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual guidance to help you grow into the perfectly imperfect parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

I don’t know about you, but saying sorry is hard, really hard! Especially to our kiddos.

Today I share a story with you about why I needed to say sorry to my kid and the emotions behind it. I talk about my tendency to control things because the underneath emotion is fear, I am not adequate as a parent. 

 

If you have ever felt controlling, inadequate, or need to tell your kids you are sorry, this short 10-minute podcast is for you.

Give us your thoughts in a podcast review.

 

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Grab our children’s book

 

Be Love. Do Good. is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual guidance to help you grow into the perfectly imperfect parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Today I talk with author Ashlee Gadd who wrote the book Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood. 

 

You might think margins in parenting? What the heck is that? How do we even do that, with all the responsibilities of parenting.

 

Ashlee is a creative and lost that part of her when she was in the throes of motherhood, she talks to us about how to find and pursue those passions before motherhood and why it impacts our family for good so much. 

 

Some things we talk about:

Mom guilt

Creating Margins

How do we continue our passions when the busyness of kids come along?

Why is having a community in your life important?

What happens when we don’t ask people to help? 

 

After this podcast you will feel a much-needed permission slip to pursue your God-given creative gifts alongside motherhood.

 

Learn more about Ashlee here:

Grab her book here: 

Read her blog here: 

 

Please leave us a review if this has been an encouragement to you!

Grab our children’s book about loving everyone here:  

Be Love. Do Good. is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual guidance to help you grow into the perfectly imperfect parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org