Jason joins me again in the studio to talk about his relationship with Immanuel this first Christmas without Kara, how he is engaging his grief, and what it looks like to choose joy.

This week, Jason joins me in the studio to talk about community-building, grief, processing loss with children, and this first Christmas without Kara.

This week Caitlin and I discuss loneliness, specifically loneliness at Christmas, and what it means that God came down to Earth to walk with man. Immanuel, God with us. Also, even with the hope of Immanuel, how do we just get through a rough, lonely day? Caitlin shares her experience and how she has learned to do small practical acts of faith, leaning into a God who has shown great faithfulness to her.

On this episode of MFP, we introduce my baby sister, Caitlin, and talk to her about celebrating Christmas in a foreign country with her German husband who grew up in Kazakhstan, what traditions they’ve chosen to adopt into their family, and what she has learned about Christmas from her in-laws. Listener, beware: You are about to fall in love! 

This is the one. This is the podcast that, when I listened to it the first time, broke me. There was something about distance separating me from the day we sat down to record this, listening in my living room with nothing else to do instead of sitting in the studio in front of a microphone following an outline. The stories felt fresh to my heart, the tears in the girls’ voices stung, Kara’s absence an ugly, glaring hole. But I will listen to this one again and again, for it is sitting with these women that brings Kara to mind so vividly and reminds me of her reach and influence so clearly. She changed my life; I’ll never be the same.

As a grand finale to the Just Show Up series over the last several weeks, Jill and I asked a few of the girls to join us in a roundtable discussion about what it looked like to learn how to show up for Kara and do friendship with someone who was dying. These are some of the women you’ve seen in Kara’s pictures, rubbing her feet and laughing with her, sharing her table, caring for her children, just doing life together. I am not sure how to describe this time that we spent together talking about our gatherer who wasn’t there; Cristy made me laugh so hard I cried, Justine made me cry so many tears that my sniffles had to be edited out. Etcetera. I looked at Heather and Shellie and praised God for the woman who brought these friends into my life. And Jill—what a gift she has been. This was a healing time for us, a time of sadness that was overshadowed by joy. 

You asked for it!! This week on the Mundane Faithfulness Podcast, Jill and I answer questions from you, our readers and friends. We don’t have all the answers, but we share our experiences and what we’ve learned from showing up effectively and not so effectively… 

This week in the studio, Jill and I talked to none other than the wise, beloved, nurturing, queen of community, Mickey! She FaceTimed in from her vacation to talk to us about what it looks like to show up, to build community, to love others, and to trust God in all of that. Jill and I cried the entire time—it was a reminder of the hours we spent sitting at her feet being mentored and cared for by her. Many of you have expressed a desire to know more about her and hear from her. We hope this encourages and blesses you.

For those of you who don’t know Mickey yet, she is a friend of the Tippetts’ who traveled here from out of state again and again throughout Kara’s cancer to love on the entire family and walk that hard with them. She was here for several months at the end of Kara’s life, serving them and always looking for ways to love them. And us girls, for that matter. Despite her own pain and grief, she was always available to us, loving on us, listening to our hearts, crying with us, offering us more coffee, cuddling our babies (and offering them their first French fries!). She is a gift straight from the Lord, as we are grateful that she took the time to talk with us.