Julia’s story as a Catholic woman

The origin story of Julia’s new book, Start Talking to Your Kids about Sex: A Practical Guide for Catholics published by Ave Maria Press

Why we can’t wait until puberty to start talking about sexaulity with our kids

The barriers that hold us back from conversations about sexuality

Why it’s important to use accurate medical terms when teaching kids about their genitals (and how it can help prevent abuse and neglect!)

Explaining where babies come from to our little kids

What to do if you’re worried you missed your chance to share about human sexuality with your kids

How Julia lives out the feminine genius in her ordinary daily life (hint: it involves legos!)

Pick up a copy of Julia’s new book, Start Talking to Your Kids about Sex: A Practical Guide for Catholics

Visit Julia’s website

Follow Julia on Instagram

Subscribe to Naptime Notes and get early, ad free access to all the Letters to Women episodes for just $5 a month

Who taught you about human sexaulity as a kid? What were those conversations like for you and how did they shape the way you think about sex and intimacy today?

Have you had a hard time starting conversations about sex with your kids? What barriers might be holding you back from anticipating and initiating conversations about human sexuality with your kids?

Was there anything in this conversation with Julia that struck you as a parent? Is there anything you’ll change in your approach to conversations about sexuality with your kids after listening to her advice about sharing with kids the goodness of their body?

What did you think about Dr. Julia’s advice to use accurate medical terms to teach your kids about their body? Was that modeled for you growing up, or would using medical terms instead of nicknames be a change from your experience as a child?

What is your vision as a parent for conversations with your kids about sex? What would you love those conversations to look like as your children get older, and what can you do today to start laying the foundation for continued conversations with your kids about sex?

Erica’s story as a Catholic woman

The origin story of Erica’s new book, Living the Seasons

Where to start if you’re feeling overwhelmed when it comes to living the traditions of the church in your home

What liturgical living has looked like for Erica in different seasons of life

How to build a domestic church that helps your children enter into the rhythms of the year

How Erica lives out the feminine genius in her ordinary, daily life as a mother

Pick up your own copy of Living the Seasons

Explore the Be a Heart store

Follow Be a Heart and Erica on Instagram

Subscribe to Naptime Notes and get early, ad free access to all the Letters to Women episodes for just $5 a month

What did living liturgically look like for you growing up? Do you have any favorite family traditions that you continue as an adult?

Does living liturgically intimidate you? If so, what is one small way you can be more aware of the rhythms of the church calendar this year?

What is your favorite season of the church calendar? How do you enter into it in your own home?

What are some ways you can celebrate favorite feast days in your own home?

It’s tempting to compare our liturgical living to some other woman who “has it all together”—even if that woman only exists in our imagination. She remembers all the feast days, hosts the big Michaelmas party, and everything always looks Pinterest-perfect and beautiful. How can you resist the urge to compare when it comes to the way you live liturgically in you homes and what does it look like to confidently celebrate in a way that works in whatever season of life you find yourself in? 

Ann’s story as a Catholic woman

The story of Springs in the Desert

The importance of language around the experience of infertility

How infertility impacts marriage and Ann’s advice for processing emotions and grief in the shared experience of infertility

The importance of community in the experience of infertility and the resources that Springs in the Desert offers

How to live in the present moment during the experience of infertility

Simple ways of generosity and how you can be fruitful in your marriage

What spiritual motherhood means in your life

Ann’s advice for couples receiving a diagnosis of male infertility and how wives can support their husbands through that diagnosis

How Ann lives out the feminine genius in her daily life

Springs in the Desert

Springs in the Desert podcast

Listen to A Letter to the Mother Wondering about Foster Care and Adoption, featuring Kimberly Henkel, co-founder of Springs in the Desert

Today’s episode is sponsored by Rooted for Good - use the code LETTERS20 to save 20% at checkout

Become a paid subscriber to Naptime Notes and get early, ad free access to all the Letters to Women episodes for just $5 a month

Has your experience of infertility left you feeling alone, or like you don’t belong? What is one practical resolution you can make today to connect with other women experiencing infertility?

How has infertility impacted your marriage? Have you struggled with objectifying your spouse or reducing sex to a means to an end of conceiving a child together?

In your experience with infertility, have you given in to despair or the belief that God has forgotten you, doesn’t love you, or is punishing you? How can you reject those lies, and who in your life can speak truth over you that you are a beloved daughter of God who is remembered and known?

How do you deal with the stress of experiencing infertility? What are some healthy ways that you can process the emotions around this cross and

Do you find it challenging to take things day by day in your experience with infertility? What are ways that you can surrender the past, trust God with the future, and be present to the now?

Abby’s story as as Catholic woman

The origin story of Abby’s new book, A Catholic Guide to Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss: Compassionate Answers to Difficult Questions

A brief overview of miscarriage, still birth, and infant loss, and what the postpartum experiences can look like for mothers in each experience

Abby’s favorite question to ask her clients as a bereavement doula

What the Catholic Church teaches us about our hope for Heaven for children we’ve lost through miscarriage, still birth, or infant loss

How to grieve together and separately as loss parents

How to wrestle with the reality that God is all powerful, all good, and yet our babies still die

Whether or not you can flush during a miscarriage

How Abby lives out the feminine genius in her ordinary life as a mother

Pick up a copy of Abby’s new book, A Catholic Guide to Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss

If you want to learn more about Abby’s work as a sociologist, explore her website here

If you want to learn more about Abby’s work as a Catholic bereavement doula, explore this website

To discuss grief ministry training with Abby, reach out to her through Haven Bereavement Doulas

Today’s episode is sponsored by Monks Bread - use the code LETTERS10 to save 10% at checkout

Become a paid subscriber to Naptime Notes and get early, ad free access to all the Letters to Women episodes for just $5 a month

Have you lost a child through miscarriage, still birth, or infant loss? What has your experience of mothering your child or children who have died look like for you'?

How has losing a child through miscarriage, still birth, or infant loss impacted your relationship with the Lord? What are some moments of desolation and consolation you’ve experienced during the grieving process?

Have you felt angry at God during your grieving process? Have you felt guilt for feeling anger? How did hearing Abby share about allowing ourselves to grieve and be angry impact you?

Today, how are you parenting the child or children you’ve lost? What are some ways you can honor the memory of their short life here on earth while looking forward with hope to

What are some ways that you can support friends and family who are grieving the loss of their child? What does it look like as a Church and parish community to support grieving parents?

Johanna’s story as a Catholic woman

Why Johanna created the Interior Kingdom as an emotional regulation program for her family and what Catholic families will find inside the program

What the Catholic Church teaches about emotions and what it looks like to grow in our awareness of our emotions as adults

The things that set Interior Kingdom apart from the calm kits and calm down spaces you’ve seen on Instagram

How to become curious about the triggers (unmet needs!) in your parenting

The reason that Interior Kingdom is for every family, regardless of your kids’ ages, abilities, and temperaments

How Johanna lives out the feminine genius in her daily life as a Catholic mother

Explore the Interior Kingdom program (and use the code LTW25 for $25 off the program now through April 10, 2024!)

Today’s episode sponsor is Rooted for Good! Use the code Letters20 for 20% off your order at checkout

Check out my monthly newsletter, Naptime Notes

What have been some moments of disregulation in your motherhood? And on the flip side, what have been some moments of peace, regulation, and rest in your parenting journey?

When you were a child, what did your parents teach you about emotions? Do you feel confident in your understanding of emotions or is there room for growth?

What are some of your triggers (unmet needs) in your motherhood and how can you begin to meet those needs and invite the Lord into those unmet needs?

Have you ever felt guilty for anger in your motherhood? How did Johanna’s explanation of anger impact your understanding of emotions you may have labeled as “bad” before?

How can learning more about your emotions as a mother impact the way that you parent and live out the feminine genius in your daily life?

Kimberly’s story as a Catholic woman

How Kimberly and Greg discerned the Lord’s call to foster care and adoption

The origin story of Springs of Love, Kimberly and Greg’s ministry that encourages, educates, and equips Catholics to discern and live out the call to foster and adopt

The differences between foster care and adoption

Spiritual maternity and the adoption triad

Kimberly’s advice to couples hesitant to discern foster care or adoption because of the cost

Why open adoptions can be healthy for everyone involved in the adoption triad

Find Springs of Love online

Watch the Springs of Love video series

Ten Myths about Adoption from the Springs of Love website

Check out my monthly newsletter, Naptime Notes

Have you felt called by the Lord to discern growing your family through adoption or fostering children? What has that discernment looked like for you both as an individual and in your marriage?

What myth surrounding adoption that Kimberly mentioned in the show is something you’ve believed to be true before?

Romans 8:15 says that “You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we call ‘Abba, Father!’” How does reflecting on this theological reality of adoption in all of our lives as children of God through baptism impact the way you think about adoption and foster care?

What are ways that you can accompany birth mothers and families in the adoption triad?

Does your parish community support adoptive and foster families well? What are things you can do to encourage a culture of life for families who are called to foster or adopt?

Grace’s story as a Catholic woman

The origin story of Natural Womanhood and their mission to help women work with their body, not against it

What authentic women’s healthcare looks like and how we can grow as women in accepting our fertility as a gift

What the Catholic Church teaches about using Natural Family Planning and family size

Grace’s advice for couples in seasons of discerning adding another child to their family

What to do when you’re not on the same page as your spouse about having more children

How Natural Womanhood is helping mothers of pre-teen girls learn about ther bodies, cycles, and fertility

How Shelby lives out the feminine genius as a mother

Discover Natural Womanhood online

Natural Womanhood podcast

Charting Towards Intimacy podcast hosted by Ellen Holloway

Check out the sponsor for today’s episode, Interior Kingdom! Use the code LTW15 for 15% off the full Interior Kingdom program.

Check out my monthly newsletter, Naptime Notes

Have you ever felt angry or ashamed of your cycle as a woman? What were some messages that you received about your body as a girl, especially around your fertility and cycles?

Do you feel pressure to have a certain number of kids as a Catholic woman? Or for your family to look a certain way? What are some ways you can grow in confidence about how the Lord is calling you specifically to mother?

Are you and your spouse of one heart and mind when it comes to having children? What advice that Grace shared in this episode about discerning a family with your spouse struck you?

If you’re a mother to a daughter, how have you approached conversations with her about fertility and puberty? Are there things you want to change about how you talk about those subjects after listening to this episode?

What dreams do you have for your family and your motherhood? How can embracing your fertility as a gift impact those dreams?

Why so many of us feel at war with our bodies as mothers

Defining the postpartum season

The pressure women feel to “get their body back” or “bounce back” after giving birth

What body checking is and why (and how!) to reduce that habit in your life

Compassionate closets

What is happening on a biological level to our bodies during the postpartum season

How to prioritize consistent and adequate nutrition

Habits to form in our lives as women during seasons of change to remind ourselves that our body is good

How Shelby lives out the feminine genius as a mother

Tune into Shelby and I’s first conversation on the Letters to Women podcast, A Letter to the Woman Struggling to Believe Her Body Is Unconditionally Good

Visit Shelby’s website to learn about her work as a nutrition therapist

Subscribe to Shelby’s substack, Good Body Notes

Shop Good Body Nutrition on Etsy

Learn more about Catholics Online, the sponsor for today’s episode

Check out my monthly newsletter, Naptime Notes

Have you ever felt at war with your body? What are some moments you’ve noticed postpartum discomfort in your own story as a woman?

In what ways has motherhood impacted the way that you view your body? Do you feel a tension between being in awe of what your body is capable of and discomfort or frustration with your postpartum body?

As a mother, have you felt pressured to “bounce back” after giving birth? Where have you received those messages from and how have they impacted the way you view your body today? 

Do the clothes in your closet honor the reality of your season of life? What would getting dressed in the morning look like if your closet had pieces in it that honored your postpartum experience as a mother?

What are some practical ways you can begin to be more gentle and compassionate when it comes to the way you view and talk about your body as a mother? Make one resolution today to help you remember that your body is good.