No matter your marital status or parenting status, we all have a family of origin. Today on the show, we are going there! 

I could think of nobody better to join me for this conversation than my friend Kristen Hallinan. 

Kristen Hallinan is the host of the Up Until Now podcast and author of Legacy Changer: Heal the Hurt, Redeem Your Story, Create Hope for Your Family. 

Join Kristen and I as we talk about: 

• establishing boundaries with the family who raised you
• practical advice for hard conversations (especially for those of us who may be conflict-averse!)
• codependency and unhealth in family relationships, and what it looks like to heal
• grieving the things you wish were different in your story
• how to handle the temptation to compare your family history with others' 

Connect with Kristen on Instagram: @kristen.hallinan

Get your copy of Legacy Changer on Amazon!

Listen to Kristen's podcast, Up Until Now. 

Visit Kristen's website: kristenhallinan.com

Connect with Kayla on Instagram: @kaylacookwrites

Join the email party (become one of Kayla's email friends) here!

One of my favorites and yours, Jennifer Bishop Smith, joins us this week for part 2 of our conversation on the family you're building!

Part 1 was all about our marriages (go back and listen if you missed it!), and part 2 brings us to the kids we are raising. With four boys, ages 4-15, Jennifer is a wealth of wisdom, and she's here to share it with us today!

Join Jenn and I as we talk about: 

• the most important thing you can do to foster faith in your kids
• how a relationship with Jesus impacts every other relationship we have
• why we can let go of striving and trying to control outcomes
• Jenn's best practical tip for managing your home
• dreaming in a season when your family needs you

Connect with Jennifer on Instagram: @jennbishopsmith

Grab your copy of Jenn's devotional book Oh, For Grace on Amazon. 

Connect with Kayla on Instagram: @kaylacookwrites

Become Kayla's email friend here! (Secret: email friends get all the best stuff first!)

The family you're building starts with your marriage, and I can't wait to start here together with my dear friend, Jennifer Bishop Smith!

Jennifer is the author of Oh For Grace: 52 Weeks to Trusting Him More, a Bible teacher, an educator, and a business owner. She is a pastor's wife and the mom of four sons. 

Jennifer celebrated 20 years of marriage this summer with her husband, Dusty, and she's here to share some of her best marriage advice with us!

Join Jenn and I as we talk about: 

• processing disappointment in marriage (and when you need to reach out for help!)
• the best (and worst!) advice Jennifer has heard about marriage
• advice for our single friends
• a practical, 4 word script you can use to better communicate with people you love, and 
• one question to ask before you get married

This is Part 1 of our conversation. Join us next week for Part 2!

Connect with Jennifer on Instagram: @jennbishopsmith

Grab your copy of Oh, For Grace on Amazon. 

Connect with Kayla on Instagram: @kaylacookwrites

Become Kayla's email friend here!

Welcome to The Bitter & The Sweet podcast! I'm so excited and grateful to get to do this, and to get to do this with YOU!

We kick things off with a little intro from me, what our first series together will look like, and what I found when I went looking for disappointment in the Bible. 

Connect on Instagram: @kaylacookwrites

Become an email friend here!

Welcome to The Bitter & The Sweet Podcast, a show where we tell the truth about grief, joy, and the grace that covers it all. 

Join host Kayla M. Cook every Tuesday for conversations about disappointment and dreams, grief and gratitude, the bitter and the sweet.