For Real with Kimberly Stuart

I’ve had the great joy of counting Tosca as a dear friend for many years, so this conversation was a blast for me. Tosca is the New York Times bestselling novelist of a slew of books in a slew of genres, and she crushes them all, including her newest release, The Long March Home. Tosca is a former ballerina, a former beauty queen, and a former city girl who now lives on a farm in Nebraska. She’s also wise, kind, and one of the hardest workers I know. I think you’ll love getting to hear from her on this episode. Also! I highly recommend pre-ordering The Long March Home and getting some fantastic swag, including a secret epilogue. Follow Tosca for all the details.

Tosca Lee is the New York Times bestselling author of eleven novels including The Line Between, A Single Light, and The Legend of Sheba. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages and optioned for TV and film. She is the recipient of multiple awards including two International Book Awards. Her work has been praised as “deeply human…” “powerful…” and “mind-bending.”

Lee earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Smith College. A former first runner-up to Mrs. United States, she lives in Nebraska with her husband and two of four children still at home. Find her online at ToscaLee.com, Instagram, and Facebook.

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Today we get the chance to hear from a pastry chef. I want you to enjoy the idea of that right now because EVERY DAY should include some wisdom from a pastry chef. Kendall Vanderslice is a baker, a writer, the owner of a beagle named Strudel (I mean, come on), and she is the author of a new book: By Bread Alone: A Baker’s Reflections on Hunger, Longing, and the Goodness of God. I so enjoyed hearing from Kendall, both in her lovely book and in this conversation. She is a woman who has a lot to teach us about the beauty of community, persistence in a broken world, and the many good things that happens when we share our tables.

Kendall Vanderslice is a baker, writer, and speaker, as well as the founder of the Edible Theology Project, a ministry that connects the Communion table to the kitchen table. She is a graduate of Wheaton College (BA Anthropology), Boston University (MLA Gastronomy), and Duke Divinity School (Master of Theological Studies). Her bylines include Christianity Today, Bitter Southerner, Christian Century, Religion News Service, and Faith & Leadership, as well as her book We Will Feast (Eerdmans 2019). Kendall lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her big-eared beagle named Strudel, where she teaches workshops on bread baking as a spiritual practice.

Visit her online at KendallVanderslice.com, Instagram and Facebook.

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Tyson Motsenbocker is an author and musician who, in addition to having the best last name to say out loud, wrote a beautiful book about his 40-day pilgrimage up the coast of California. Tyson’s luminous and beloved mom passed away, and only a few short days after the funeral, he walked out his front door and across the state. Motsenbocker walked hundreds of miles as he started to process his grief and his disappointment with a God who felt suddenly unsafe. Maybe you can identify with a world that looks abruptly and irrevocably different. What on earth is a person to do? I think you’ll enjoy hearing Tyson’s stories of how we walk these roads, what we learn, and how we return home and bring some of the road with us.

After years on the road, Tyson Motsenbocker returned home to the impending death of his 57-year-old hero and mother. He begged God to heal her, but she died anyway. With the death of his mother followed the death of the childhood version of his faith. Shortly before her death, however, Tyson became intrigued by the complicated legacy of Father Junipero Serra, the 18th-century Franciscan monk and canonized saint who dedicated his life to the idea that tragedy and suffering are portals to renewal. Father Serra was a complicated figure – one who built Missions up and down the California coast, spreading Christianity and care, as well as colonizing the native population and stripping them of their traditions and culture.

Tyson discovered Serra's "El Camino Real," a 600-mile pilgrimage route between Tijuana and San Francisco that had been largely forgotten for more than 200 years. Two days after his mother's memorial service, Tyson set out on a pilgrimage of sorts, intending to walk from San Diego to San Francisco along the El Camino, following in the footsteps of the saint. Tyson's journey takes him down smog-choked highways, across fog-laden beaches, past multi-million-dollar coastal estates, and through towering redwood forests. And as he walks, Tyson also wrestles with his faith, questioning the pat answers and easy prayers he once readily accepted, trying to understand how hope and tragedy can all be wrapped up in the same God. The people he meets along the way challenge his understanding of the meaning of security, of what it means to live a meaningful life, and of the legacies we all leave behind.

Where the Waves Turn Back is both part journal and part spiritual memoir and, ultimately, a thrilling and deeply satisfying read that asks questions that will resonate with readers seeking meaning in an utterly disorienting age.

Find him online at TysonMotsenbocker.com and on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube.

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Sissy Goff is a superhero to the mental health world, and she is a superhero to me. If you or anyone you love is dealing with anxiety, particularly kids and teens, please stop what you’re doing and get a pen and paper because this one is a note-taker. And please know as you wrestle with the fall-out from anxiety, you are not alone, your kids are not alone, and there is so much hope. I am so grateful to have had the chance to learn from therapist, speaker, author, and just a wonderful human being, Sissy Goff.

Sissy is the Director of Child and Adolescent Counseling at Daystar Counseling Ministries in Nashville, Tennessee, where she works alongside her counseling assistant/pet therapist, Lucy the Havanese. Since 1993, she has been helping girls and their parents find confidence in who they are and hope in who God is making them to be, both as individuals and families. Sissy is a sought-after speaker for parenting events and the author of twelve books, including the bestselling Raising Worry-Free Girls and Braver, Stronger, Smarter (for elementary aged girls) and her new release for teenage girls, Brave. Sissy is a regular contributor to various podcasts and publications as well as her own podcast called Raising Boys and Girls.You can find more information and resources at raisingboysandgirls.com.

Find her on Instagram and Facebook.

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What a treat of an episode! Jean Stoffer is an interior designer, a businesswoman, a mother of four and grandma of a bunch more, and a debut author. She also has her own show on Magnolia network, and I highly recommend that after you listen to the pod, you ignore everything else on your list today so you can watch every episode of both seasons. Jean and I got to chat about a host of things, and I left our time together an even bigger fan of hers than I already was (Note: Apologies for the gushing every now and then. I can’t help it.). I’m so excited for you to hear my conversation with the absolutely lovely and gifted and real-life gem, Jean Stoffer.

Jean Stoffer is an award-winning Grand Rapids-based independent interior designer specializing in kitchen and bath designs. Each of her designs is custom suited for her clients' lives and how they hope to use their home. Jean is also the founder of Stoffer Home, a retail store featuring beautiful and functional items for the home, and Stoffer Home Cabinetry, the source for Jean's own line of quality, British-inspired flush inset cabinets. In December 2021, the Magnolia Network began airing The Established Home, a TV series featuring Jean and her design work.

Find her online at JeanStofferDesign.com and Instagram.

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Blaine Hogan is a writer, film and creative director, and actor. On this episode, we talk about all of those very unusual jobs, Blaine’s Midwest roots, his work with celebrities like Usher and Arnold Schwarzenegger and as the less glamorous Pepto Bismol man. We also talk about the beautiful life he and God have wrestled back from the grip of abuse, addiction and trauma, a story he tells in his unflinching and poignant new memoir, Exit The Cave, Embracing a Life of Courage, Creativity, and Radical Imagination.

Formerly the creative director for Willow Creek Community Church, Blaine is currently a full-time filmmaker who directs celebrities from LeBron James to Carrie Underwood. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Margaret, and their three daughters. He holds a master’s degree in theology and culture from the Seattle School for Theology and Psychology and has appeared in many stage productions and television shows.

Find him online at BlaineHogan.com and on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

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Welcome to this special Christmas episode of For Real! GUESS WHAT? My mom joins us today, even though she swore she’d never do that again after she stopped by the pod last year. I am nothing if not a persistent firstborn female. My mom is a delight, and I predict you will love her again. I’m honored to be her daughter, and she seems to continue to love me even when I coerce her to talk into a mic. Enjoy this episode and merry, merry Christmas!

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I’m just going to take a big, deep breath about getting to talk with my guest for today. Amanda Held Opelt joins me on the podcast today, and I counted it a privilege to talk with her about her new and debut book, A Hole in the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing. Amanda’s book is part memoir, part history of bereavement rituals, and altogether one of the most stunning books I have ever read, particularly on the subjects of grief, community and faith. Amanda joined me from her home in Appalachia, and I am so grateful for her generosity of time and spirit.

Amanda Held Opelt is an author, speaker, and songwriter. She writes about faith, grief, and creativity, and believes in the power of community, ritual, shared worship, and storytelling to heal even our deepest wounds. Amanda has spent 15 years serving in the non-profit and humanitarian aid sectors. She lives in the mountains of Boone, North Carolina, with her husband and two young daughters.

Find her online at AmandaHeldOpelt.com and on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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Today is such a fun day because I got to chat with Stephen Miller. Stephen is an author, musician, entrepreneur, and YouTube star (to the tune of 750 THOUSAND subscribers, THAT kind of YouTuber), and I love how he and his wife Amanda use that space to tell the great story they’re living with their seven kiddos. Stephen and I talked about how in the world it works to have a bunch of teenagers AND live a public life, how to decide which project has wheels, and what it feels like to be utterly in love with your high school sweetheart, two decades in. I think you’ll love hearing our conversation.

Stephen Miller is a creator and entrepreneur who has grown his platform to nearly one million followers in just a few years through his show The Miller Fam, a channel that displays the beauty of diversity and adoption featuring his large, diverse, adoptive family of nine. With over fifteen years of ministry in some of the nation’s largest churches, Stephen has recorded six studio albums and is the author of Liberating King, Worship Leaders, We Are Not Rock Stars and his latest - The Art of Getting It Wrong.

Find him online at TheMillerFam.co and on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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When an introvert writes a book about neighboring, I feel like we must lean in. Today’s guest is the smart and feisty and true-to-her bones introvert, Shannan Martin. I loved hearing from Shannan how we can ALL use how we were made to develop rich community. Shannan’s new book, Start with Hello (and Other Simple Ways to Live as Neighbors), has ended up to be the kind of book I highlighted, dog-eared, and generally devoured. We dive right into the good stuff, so I’m excited for you to listen in on my conversation with author, Midwest girl, and soup kitchen ninja, Shannan Martin.

Shannan Martin is a mom, wife, and neighbor living in Goshen, Indiana. She is a voracious reader, a wannabe-gardener, a news-geek, a thrift store-stalker, a justice-fighter, and an aficionado of not-too-spicy salsa. Shannan is author of Start with Hello, The Ministry of Ordinary Places and Falling Free. She is a cook at a local non-profit dedicated to feeding her community and falls asleep most nights thinking about breakfast.

Find her online at ShannanMartin.com, Instagram, and Facebook.

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