The Global Mom Show: The Podcast for Moms with Global Worldviews

It’s no secret that traveling with your kids is one of the best ways to expose them to the world and all its cultures. But for some of us, that just doesn’t always seem possible. We have financial challenges, scheduling challenges, limited vacation days, and on and on. There are many reasons why traveling just doesn’t seem practical or possible. Our guest today never imagined herself as a world traveler. She was stuck in a cycle of living paycheck to paycheck and being unable to ever get ahead. That’s when she heard about a job overseas that might allow her to live a little more freely.

Tanai Benard is a mom of three kids who lives in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. She calls her family 4 Deep Around the World, and they spend as much time as they can exploring new places from Paris to the Philipines. Tanai has found a way to live her dream and change her life, and now she’s encouraging other moms to take the travel plunge. But she doesn’t say you have move around the world to do it. Even traveling up the road to a nearby city or natural landmark is okay by her. As long as you are exploring, you are learning and growing, and that’s what travel is all about.

Listen in as we talk about how she made the big move overseas, what her family thought about her move, what a day looks like in Abu Dhabi, how her kids have reacted to the move, her philosophy on travel, and where she’s been lately. You’ll also find out more about her Facebook Group: The Wandering Moms, and where she’s headed next.

Here are some links from the show: 

Secret Flying.com

Wandering Moms Facebook Group

Connect with Tanai: 

Blog | Facebook |

Today’s sponsor for the podcast is Thrive Market. Thrive Market is a wholesale buying club for healthy and organic food. The company is committed to the highest quality products at 20-50% off regular prices! Head HERE to get a one-month FREE TRIAL! 

Did you know you can also shop at Amazon and have a portion of your purchase go to support The Global Mom Show? Just head to www.theglobalmom.com/amazon and do your shopping there–at no extra cost to you! Thanks!

Thanks for listening! As always, you can find Mary Grace on twitter @theglobalmom or on Facebook and  Instagram at The Global Mom Show.

To subscribe to my e-newsletter:  Text GLOBALMOM to 444999 

The post 24: Moms, You Can Travel the World, with Tanai Benard appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

Ocotber 16 is World Food Day, a day when the world stops to raise awareness about hunger and food security worldwide.

Today, I chatted with Angela Schug about World Food Day and the Hunger Free project at World Vision USA.

Angela Schug is a product team leader in the product marketing division at World Vision in the United States.  In this role, she engages Americans to provide resources that support World Vision’s work in hunger, health and disaster response.

Angela has been with World Vision since 2004.  She began her marketing career at the DLR Group, an architecture firm in Portland, Oregon.  She also served with the Peace Corps in Niger as an environmental educator, training Nigerien farmers on improving the care and management of their land, using better tools and technology to increase crop yields and accessing better quality seeds.

Angela has a bachelor’s degree in international studies and French from Whitworth University . She is married, has three children and lives in Portland, Oregon.

Angela shares about her own experience in the Peace Corps in Niger. We talk about the statistics surrounding hunger worldwide, and we talk about what World Vision is doing to make a difference in communities around the world.

I’ve been a supporter of World Vision for many years, so it seemed natural for me to contact them to find out more about World Food Day. However, there are of course many organizations dealing with this issue, and you can find more of those here:

www.worldfooddayusa.org 

Today’s sponsor for the podcast is Thrive Market. Thrive Market is a wholesale buying club for healthy and organic food. The company is committed to the highest quality products at 20-50% off regular prices! Head HERE to get a one-month FREE TRIAL! 

Thanks for listening! As always, you can find Mary Grace on twitter @theglobalmom or on Facebook and  Instagram at The Global Mom Show.

To subscribe to my e-newsletter:  Text GLOBALMOM to 444999 

The post TGMS #023 What We Can Do for World Food Day, with Angela Schug appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

Mothering changes us. For my friend, Ludmila, it has made her more empathetic to children, more open to relationships, and it has intensified just about everything. Ludmila is a friend from my graduate school days (as are many of my guests on this show). She and I shared an apartment with Katie Chandler (from TGMS #03), and the three of us spent many hours discussing international development and ways we could impact big things like poverty, literacy, and human rights. Today, the three of us are moms, and I think we’ve realized that as much as we can do on a big scale, what matters equally as much is what we do in our own homes. Raising kids who embrace others and seek to create positive change in the world is one of our deepest desires.

Ludmila and  I talk about her multicultural background, her studies in the US, and her work in Moldova as a lawyer and development worker. In the second half of the episode we talk more about how being a mother has changed her and what she hopes for her son, Bogdan. Why she and her husband decided to stay in Moldova when many have left the country. And we talk about why she chose to wait to travel with her son until he was three years old.

Ludmila’s Bio: Ludmila Ungureanu is a development professional from Moldova, a small country located in South Eastern Europe. Ludmila is the founder and CEO of the Center for Social Excellence from Moldova, a start up non-profit organization that will help vulnerable families, children, and youth break out of the cycle of poverty and build a sustainable future for themselves. Before founding the Center for Social Excellence, Ludmila worked with development organizations that focused on human rights, justice sector reform, and poverty reduction. These included United States Agency for International Development and the American Bar Association and their rule of law reform programs in Moldova, Catholic Relief Services and their poverty reduction programs, and the RADA Institute, a local organization that worked on building capacity of non-profit organizations. In the last 15 years, Ludmila worked in Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Kirgizstan, and Belarus. She speaks three languages, has a law degree from the State University of Moldova and has a MS in Management from the SIT Graduate Institute in the United States. Ludmila has a six-year old son – Bogdan and is married to Sergiu Talpa, an economist working in the private sector.

 Ludmila at an outdoor cafe.

Don’t forget to share your birth stories with us! Whether at home or abroad, birth stories connect us. We’d love to hear your story, and you can share it in two ways:

Today’s sponsor for the podcast is Thrive Market. Thrive Market is a wholesale buying club for healthy and organic food. The company is committed to the highest quality products at 20-50% off regular prices! Head HERE to get a one-month FREE TRIAL! 

Thanks for listening! As always, you can find Mary Grace on twitter @theglobalmom or on Facebook and  Instagram at The Global Mom Show.

To subscribe to my e-newsletter:  Text GLOBALMOM to 444999 

The post TGMS #022 Mothering in Moldova with Ludmila Ungureanu appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

Birth stories are so much fun, and today we get to hear from Lisa Ferland, the editor of two anthologies of birth and parenting stories, Knocked Up Abroad and Knocked Up Abroad Again (currently available on Kickstarter ). Lisa is a US citizen who has lived abroad in Sweden since 2012, working as a writer, editor, publisher, and public health consultant. She is currently raising a Lego lover and a Pippi Longstocking fanatic who enjoy behaving like Swedish children with the added bonus of American Thanksgiving holidays.

Today Lisa and I talk about her experience of giving birth and parenting in Sweden. She shares her amazing birth story, and how she got the idea to edit an anthology of birth stories from expat moms around the world. She and her contributors are in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign for the Knocked Up Abroad Again book, which runs until October 17, 2016.  The book shares stories from 26 mothers around the world who talk about birthing and parenting in different cultures.

Links from the episode: 

Knocked Up Abroad book

Knocked Up Abroad Again book

Childbirth Wisdom

How Much Do Parents Matter?, the Atlantic

Connect with Lisa: 

Website | Facebook | Twitter

To subscribe to my e-newsletter:  Text GLOBALMOM to 444999 

Would you like to share your own birth story? Whether at home or abroad, birth stories connect us. We’d love to hear your story, and you can share it in two ways:

Today’s sponsor for the podcast is Thrive Market. Thrive Market is a wholesale buying club for healthy and organic food. The company is committed to the highest quality products at 20-50% off regular prices! Head HERE to get a one-month FREE TRIAL! 

Thanks for listening! As always, you can find Mary Grace on twitter @theglobalmom or on Facebook and  Instagram at The Global Mom Show.

The post TGMS #021 Birth Stories from Abroad with Lisa Ferland appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

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The post TGMS #020 Raising TCKs, writing, and having a career in your suitcase, with Jo Parfitt appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

This is a solo show today, where I dive in to the world of being an expat. I give you a little glimpse back into my own expat experience, and I share some resources to help you through all the transitions.

Links from the show:

Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds

Summertime Publishing

Expat Book Shop

The Expatriates

The Expats

Once Upon an Expat

Knocked Up Abroad

Wall Street Journal Expat Book List

Global Living Magazine

Tandem Nomads

Parenting Abroad

Small Planet Studios

Re-Entry: Making the Transition from Missions to Life at Home

Rocky Reentry blog

Velvet Ashes

Relocation Health Coach, Kylie Bevan

Naomi Hattaway- I am a Triangle and other helpful thoughts for repatriation

Additional Helpful Links: 

Parenting Abroad in an on-demand world

Telegraph Expat News

Connect with me:  iTunes | Stitcher |Facebook | Twitter

The post TGMS #019 Resources and Good Reads for Expats with Mary Grace appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

Have you ever browsed your library’s new releases or searched the displays at bookstores wondering which book is right for you? After I moved back to the States after several years living abroad, many of the titles I came across simply didn’t resonate with me. Even books recommended by friends seemed shallow and one-dimensional. There are a few really good books that I’ve connected with in the past few years, and those were hard to find. I have a theory, that global moms like different books! It may be because our personalities seek out adventure and are already drawn to complexity. Or, it may be that after experiencing travel, cultural differences, and real international issues, we can’t identify with books that only tell a simplified story. Anne Bogel is a book lover who hosts the podcast What Should I Read Next? Each week, she listens to readers’ picks for three books they love, one book they hate, and what they’ve been reading recently. Then, she complies a list of three literary suggestions based on their current choices. She calls it “Literary Matchmaking,” and it’s so much fun. When I discovered her podcast a few months ago, I knew she could help me hone in on some global-mom book choices that I would want to curl up and read right away. And she did! Listen in on our conversation as we discuss why global moms are looking for something different, what they are looking for, and what ideas she has for how to find the perfect book.

You can find out more about Anne on her blog Modern Mrs Darcy, and you can listen to her podcast there or on iTunes or Stitcher.

Great books often have a richness that the not so great books lack. They have complex characters…they are often deeply rooted in the time and place they are set in…If you find a good book, you are halfway there–maybe 70%”

Books, Blogs, Talks, and Movies Mentioned in this episode: 

Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese

The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri

The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri

In Other Words, Jhumpa Lahiri

Before We Visit the Goddess, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Wednesday Chef, Louisa Weiss’ blog

My Berlin Kitchen, Louisa Weiss

In a French Kitchen, Susan Hermann Loomis

Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi

The Upstairs Wife, An Intimate History of Pakistan, Rafia Zakaria

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseni

The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

TEDx Talk We Should All Be Feminists

TEDTalk The Danger of a Single Story

The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

Ghana Must Go, Taiye Selasi

TEDTalk Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, Ask Where I’m a Local

At Home in the World, Tsh Oxenrider

Give Your Child the World, Jamie Martin

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Isabel  Allende

Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan

Echo, Pam Munoz Ryan

The Motorcycle Diaries (movie)

The Geography of Bliss, Eric Weiner

Life from Scratch, Sasha Martin

Global Table Adventure, Sasha Martin’s blog

Bill Bryson

Thanks so much for listening! If you liked this episode, please share it! Also, leave us a voicemail (see the red Send Voicemail button on the right hand side of the page?) We’d love to hear from you.

The post TGMS #018 Books for Global Moms with Anne Bogel appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

This marks week two of our series on BOOKS! I’m so excited about this episode, because my guest, Valarie Budayr, offered us lots of ideas for books and extension activities to do with our kids. Valarie is the daughter of Swedish immgrants who grew up in Portland, Oregon. She married an Arab Muslim from Lebanon, and together they’ve built a multicultural family based on give and take, sharing, and prioritizing global learning. Books have always been a big part of Valarie’s life, and today she’s a children’s author, book publisher, and the co-founder of Multicultural Children’s Book Day. (With Mia Wenjen of Pragmatic Mom). She blogs at Jump into a Book, where she offers book lists and reviews as well as fun activities you can do with your kids. We talked about so many books today, that I might have missed a few below!

Links from today’s show:

Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie

Pippi Longstocking

Starry River of the Sky, by Grace Lin

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin

Grandfather Tang’s Story

Jason Lee, Lee & Low Books

Kid Lit TV

Multicultural Children’s Book Day

The Wild Book, Margarita Engle

The Firefly Letters: A Suffregete’s Journey to Cuba, Margartia Engle

Esperanza Rising,  Pam Munoz Ryan, with extension activites

The Dreamer, Pam Munoz Ryan

Latin American Month (Hispanic Heritage Month Booklist)

Pragmatic Mom, Mia Wenjen

Jump into a Book

Multicultural Children’s Book Giveaway

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Mama Panya’s Pancakes, published by Barefoot Books

Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

The Story of Ruby Bridges

She Stood for Freedom:The Untold Story of a Civil Rights Hero, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland

Brown Girl Dreaming

Red Kite, Blue Kite

World Diverse Book List

India book list

Navajo Code Talkers

Audrey Press

Dragons are Real

A Year in The Secret Garden, by Valarie Budayr

Connect with Valarie: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

The post TGMS #017 Jump into a Multicultural Book with Valarie Budayr appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

This week Mary Grace starts a new series on books! She talks with the founder and CEO of Barefoot Books, Nancy Traversy, about how the company began, and how it has changed over the years. Nancy shares her kids’ favorite books as well as gives us a sneak peak into a new book that’s coming out soon.

Check back for more show notes to come…

The post TGMS #016 Living Barefoot with Nancy Traversy appeared first on The Global Mom Show.