Struggle Well School

Do you feel like your life is on hold as you raise small children? Might you spend too much time idolizing the wrong things? Find yourself fixating on a clean house? Maybe pointing out imperfections in others? You will never want this episode to end! Ruth shares with us what she has ascertained as a parent to SIX boys over the past 18 years. We talk: resolving conflict, the actual purpose, and the importance of memorizing scripture, why your job is so important, and an overall reminder of where our eyes should be as we train our young ones.

Ruth Chou Simons is an entrepreneur, speaker, and bestselling author of Beholding and Becoming and GraceLaced. She shares her journey of God’s grace intersecting daily life with word and paintbrush through an online shop at GraceLaced.com and her Instagram community of more than a hundred thousand. Ruth and her husband, Troy, are grateful parents to six boys—their greatest adventure.

• social distancing with 7 guys in the house

• normalizing conflict resolution

• the power of preaching to ourselves to control our inner narrative

• applying the gospel to your day-to-day life

• embracing your parenting years as an opportunity to grow

• the biblical foundations for a healthy family

• taking the pressure off family devotions

• self-check - are we praying about it more than we’re complaining about it?

Beholding and Becoming Foundations: 12 Biblical Truths to Shape a Healthy Family

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Are you watching your adolescent struggle with mental health? Are you ever torn between faith and your own mental health recovery? Matt Stanford works right at that intersection. He reminds those of us who have adolescents dealing with mental and emotional health issues to check our preconceived notions at the door. Forgetting where they should be and helping them recover gracefully.

Matthew S. Stanford (PhD, Baylor University) is CEO of the Hope and Healing Center & Institute in Houston, Texas, and adjunct professor of psychiatry at Baylor College. A Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, he is the author of several books including Grace for the Afflicted: A Clinical and Biblical Perspective on Mental Illness and Grace for the Children: Finding Hope in the Midst of Child and Adolescent Mental Illness.

• the church’s response to assisting with mental health issues

• over-spiritualizing mental health

• identifying when your child needs outside help

• steps to getting an accurate diagnosis

• encouragement for moms who have received a hard diagnosis

• removing the stigma of a mental health diagnosis

• how to talk to your child about their diagnosis

• good mental health practices while sheltering in place

Between the World and MeWhite FragilityGrace for the ChildrenGrace for the Afflicted

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Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: a fairytale podcast for kids about extraordinary women from all over the world Everlywell: get 20% off an at-home lab test when you visit everlywell.com/msw and use promo code MSW Little Spoon: get 20% off your first 3 orders when you visit littlespoon.com/msw

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Where do you feel like you fall short? Just a little honest conversation about comparison going on over here today. It only makes sense to get into a rousing game of Would you Rather during our comparison chat and boy, it’s a tough one. Emily praises Katie for being a sandwich artist and Katie encourages Em to become a plant artist… because she has always wanted to be one.

• the ways we struggle with comparison

• how celebrating others helps us understand our own value

• things we don’t care about comparing

• stop comparing - we can’t all have a face as symmetrical as Denzel

• would you rather…

• what’s killing us softly and what’s giving us life

Kindle Where the Crawdads Sing Little Fires Everywhere Papermate Ink Joy Gel Pens Staedtler Marker Pens Sun Bum

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You know, I don’t feel like I’m cut out for this Mom thing. I am angry ALL the time and it can feel completely overwhelming to be in charge sometimes. But the truth is, we have been chosen to be the mothers of our children. The perspective shift for today is to stop thinking about all of the ways you are falling short and to start focusing on how you have already been equipped for this job.

Becky Keife is the Community Manager for DaySpring’s (in)courage, a widely followed online community where authentic women connect deeply with God and others. She is also a popular speaker for MOPS groups and other women’s events, and is the author of the new book, No Better Mom for the Job: Parenting with Confidence (Even When You Don't Feel Cut Out for It.) Becky is a huge fan of Voxer, Sunday naps, and moms in the thick of it. She and her husband live near Los Angeles where they enjoy hiking sunny trails with their three spirited sons.

• enjoying different seasons of motherhood

• when the people you love the most bring out the worst in you

• how vulnerability has helped Becky overcome the shame of being an angry mom

• feeling completely inadequate as a mom

• shifting our perspective from our inadequacies to how God has uniquely equipped us for motherhood

• standing on the promise of James 1:5 - “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

• what God is teaching Becky about being present in the moment with her kids

• resisting the temptation to put productivity on a pedestal

• making a list of the mundane things you’re good at - those are strengths

• calling out the strengths in the moms around you

#45: The One Where We Model the Awkward Race Conversation in Hopes that You Will Have One Too #144: White Girls and Diversity with Nika SpauldingNo Better Mom for the JobNo Better Mom for the Job 5-Day YouVersion devotional

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Prep Dish: try it free for 2 weeks when you visit prepdish.com/msw Little Passports: get 15% off any subscription when you visit littlepassports.com and use promo code MSW Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: a fairytale podcast for kids about extraordinary women from all over the world

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Are you racing towards your goals? Running away every chance you can? I sure do. We could all use a gentle reminder to slow down and listen to what God may be telling us.

This week we are bringing you an exclusive interview with our very own Rebecky! There are no problems this month as we celebrate Rebecca Smith’s vulnerable and sweet page-turner that launched this week. In A Better Life: Slowing Down to Get Ahead, Rebecca tells us many personal stories of how she took baby steps and followed God’s lead to find her purpose. Even though she is one of my dearest friends, I didn’t know the sweet story behind Better Life Bags before reading. I loved each chapter more than the last and I’m so happy she shared her heart with all of us.

Rebecca Smith lives in a low-income area of Detroit, Michigan with her husband, four children, and many miscellaneous pets. She started a custom handbag company in her basement with a mission to hire women who have various barriers to employment. These women are adopted into the Better Life family and given a chance to succeed in life, family, and friendship. 

• an update on Better Life Bags

• Rebecca and Katie - who’s Emily’s sister?

• Emily new home decor

• Rebecky’s southern, tea-drinking grandma alter ego, Honey Bee

• launching a book during a pandemic

• letting your dreams simmer

• avoiding comparison

• feeling like a fraud (it’s not just you)

• God’s “special stickers”

Milk & Honey Tees Ruggable #38: Starting Small and Saying “Hello” with Rebecca Smith

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Noom: sign up to start your trial today at noom.com/msw Purple Mattress: visit purple.com/msw and use promo code MSW to get $150 off any mattress order over $1500 (terms apply) Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: a fairytale podcast for kids about extraordinary women from all over the world

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If you've been encouraged, share this episode with a friend.  The struggle is real.  We might as well do this together! Do you love Mom Struggling Well? Please leave a review here!

It’s every young parent's nightmare and it’s some parents' reality. My guest this week shares with us her family’s story through her son's addiction, overdose, and recovery. She describes what it looks like through the eyes of a faithful mother who did all of the right things but still found herself in the middle of a war. We talk about her struggles with bipolar disorder and her husband's experience with Coronavirus. She has sweet encouragement for all of us moms - we are not alone in these struggles!

Katherine James attended Columbia University, where she also taught undergraduate fiction. Her debut novel, Can You See Anything Now?, won Christianity Today's 2018 Fiction Book award and was a semifinalist for the Doris Bakwin Award. Her new book A Prayer for Orion is out now and is very beautifully written. She lives in West Chester, PA with her writer-philosopher-preacher husband, they have three adult children who are more awesome than everyone else in the world and she prays for them every night.

• coping with the pandemic with your family geologically spread out

• Kate’s husband’s battle with COVID-19, recovery, and what God taught them through it

• Kate’s bipolar diagnosis and journey

• the “shoulds” while going through with depression

• altering the definition of joy from feeling to faith

• how medication has helped Kate

• the misconceptions and guilt of having a child who’s an addict

• predispositions for addiction

• how Kate’s son’s addiction both strained and grew her faith

• the use, shame, repeat cycle

• resources for parents helping a child with drug addiction

HopeForHurtingParents.com Clean by David Sheff You Are Not Alone by Dena Yohe

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Purple Mattress: visit purple.com/msw and use promo code MSW to get $150 off any mattress order over $1500 (terms apply) Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: a fairytale podcast for kids about extraordinary women from all over the world Hope Writers: take the 30-second quiz for writers today at hopewriters.com/msw

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If you've been encouraged, share this episode with a friend.  The struggle is real.  We might as well do this together! Do you love Mom Struggling Well? Please leave a review here!

Will the pools be open? What about the beaches? What are we going to DO this summer!?

We found ourselves asking all of these questions so we decided to get on the mic and talk through it like sisters do! We tried out two new recipes with our kids to pass some time and learned more than expected in that experience. We also talked about what swimsuit trends we may be rocking in our back yards this year and how to make limoncello like the Italians do. This episode was magnifico!

• how Katie’s messy ice cream in a bag experiment lead to the fulfillment of a 10-year dream

• Emily making bread in a bag… without the bag

• dividing chores

• the possibility of summer without pools and beaches

• investing in your outdoor space

• summer swimwear trends

• what’s giving us life and what’s killing us softly

Unlocking Us podcast Ice Cream in a Bag recipe Bread in a Bag recipe Stitch Witchery

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Purple Mattress: visit purple.com/msw and use promo code MSW to get $150 off any mattress order over $1500 (terms apply) Barefoot Scientist: visit barefootscientist.com and use promo code MSW to get 20% off your first order + free shipping Little Passports: get 15% off any subscription when you visit littlepassports.com and use promo code MSW

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If you've been encouraged, share this episode with a friend.  The struggle is real.  We might as well do this together! Do you love Mom Struggling Well? Please leave a review here!

Are you homeschooling by choice or by force? What “counts” as school, anyway? Maybe you just need some basic guidelines to keep your sanity. Erin shares with us 5 things that you can do right now to improve your homeschool experience plus ways to re-frame this unique situation to find the good. One of my favorite parts of this chat is where she shares the practice of placing value on “unique ability time” and I know it got me thinking of ways to switch things up at home for my kiddos.

 Erin Weidemann is the founder of Truth Becomes Her, a brand that equips moms and women with resources to help them step into their unique leadership roles. A sought-after homeschool consultant, certified teacher, coach, and nationally-recognized speaker, Erin’s personal mission is to shift the conversation around feminine values from being beauty-driven, to a focus on inherent worth. As an on-air personality for Air1 Radio as well as host of the Heroes For Her Podcast where she interviews positive female role models who are living out their passions in-line with their personal values. Erin has written eight (wow!) books, is a five-time cancer survivor, and lives and homeschools in San Diego, CA with her husband, Brent, and their daughter, Rooney.

• the goal of Erin’s ministry Truth Becomes Her

• over complicating finding purpose

• 5 things that will help newly homeschooling moms

• why it’s vital to embrace a flexible schedule

• setting boundaries with your kids to help protect your time

• tips for making the most of school time with kids in different grades

• valuing this unique time with our families

Adore by Sara Hagerty Free online Brave Moms conference Heroic Homeschooler Masterclass

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Emily doesn’t look forward to grandchildren and Rebecky has started cussing during quarantine. These are just the down and dirty facts, and we can’t hide them any longer. We talk about conflicting opinions on arugula, the good and bad days during a pandemic, and jaw-dropping chalk art. I would like to formally thank Rebecky for our shiny new explicit rating and for keeping things… fresh around here.

• when the pandemic became real for Rebecky and how she’s handling it

• the confusing line between being cautious and being too cautious

• being a medical health care professional during an outbreak

• how routine has been helping Rebecky shelter-in-place well

• everyone but Emily being obsessed with having grandkids

• how COVID-19 is impacting small businesses, including Better Life Bags

• spending less time on Instagram and more time cooking

Every Plate Change-Your-Life Chicken recipe

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Does someone in your family have a chronic illness? Could you use a perspective shift towards grace when it comes to your children?

I was so happy to hear from my guest today because she has practical ways to get in the bible no matter what your spiritual maturity and that was just the motivation I needed. She shares with us her wisdom on the subject of grace and her family’s journey navigating Crohn’s disease.

Amy Seiffert is an author, writer, and teacher. She currently is on the teaching team at her church, where she directs community groups and team cohesion. Weaving biblical wisdom through her presentations, Amy inspires, teaches, and humbly invites any willing spiritual pilgrim to walk alongside her in the pursuit of truth and the knowledge of God. Amy is married to Rob, and they live in Bowling Green, Ohio, with their three kids.

• the need for parenting skills and relational help Amy sees in her community

• what our kids are doing that is driving us crazy while we shelter in place

• how grace allows us to be honest and allows others to be honest with us

• “gift” and “grace” are synonymous with one another

• how acceptance of grace has affected her parenting

• what we gain by seeing from our child’s perspective

• the fear of grace leading to a lack of authority

• how extending freedom can lead to a better connection with our kids

• tips for getting into the Bible no matter your spiritual maturity

• four writing prompts - God, I feel…; God, I need…; God, You are…; and God, thank you…

• the diet that’s been helping Amy’s family navigate life with a child with Crohn’s Disease

Jesus Storybook Bible Feeding the Mouth That Bites YouNordace backpacks Grace Looks Amazing on You

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If you've been encouraged, share this episode with a friend.  The struggle is real.  We might as well do this together! Do you love Mom Struggling Well? Please leave a review here!