We're getting super ~meta~ this week and sharing an episode reflecting on all of our past Habits and Holidays episodes! We're breaking it all down, taking a step back, and reminding ourselves (and maybe you, too!) of why all of this matters.

Join Clayton, Chris, Brian, and Lindsey, for an episode to encourage you as you engage with God and one another in your habits and holiday practices all year long.

Read more on our blog, and learn more about our products at www.goodkind.shop

Recommended Resources:

⁠When, by Daniel Pink⁠

⁠Everything Belongs, by Richard Rohr⁠

⁠The Chronicles of Narnia Series, by C.S. Lewis⁠ (If this isn't new to you, take it as a cue to make sure you have the whole set, and consider starting to read it to your kids!)

It's time for a Top 5 episode, where we sit down and learn from a friend about an area we're both growing in related to spiritual life. And we're so excited to share this conversation between our founder, Clayton Greene, and Amy Gannett!

Amy is a mom, entrepreneur, and church planter with so much wisdom to share. Today, it's all about the top five moments in your day to capture a meaningful moment by initiating to the spiritual with your family.

It sounds complicated, but it can be so, so simple. It's all about finding the moment, paying attention to it, and practicing small steps over and over and over again.

Top 5 Moments To Engage Spiritually With Your Kids

1. Wake up time - Set the cultural tone in the home with the way you greet your kids. What's the first thing they hear from you? And how does it help them relate and connect to you?

2. Meal time - Conversation + food = an opportunity for meaningful connection. There's a vulnerability about eating together that invites conversation. And food gives you the energy for it! Pay attention and create a habit of spiritual conversation over shared meal times.

3. When we have wronged one another - No matter who has wronged someone else or been wronged, it's a critical time to repair and restore relationships.

4. In the Car - Take advantage of the driving time, or walking/scootering time if your in a more urban setting, and invite spiritual conversation and open-ended questions into this time as a regular rhythm. And don't forget that silence and solitude is a spiritual practice too, in case you find yourself in a moment of quiet or at a loss for words. 

5. At bedtime - Bookend the days, morning and evening, with even a small nod to the spiritual. By being present with your kids, you are teaching them about the presence and heart of God!

Learn more and engage with Amy below!

⁠Bible Study Schoolhouse⁠

⁠Tiny Theologians Instagram⁠

⁠Tiny Theologians Blog⁠

⁠Amy's Instagram⁠

Clayton and the Seminarians are back with an episode that feels like friendship, but focuses on community. Think they're the same thing? Take a listen and find out.

Just like any spiritual practice, engaging in community isn't always easy, but it can be easier than you think. Join us!

Learn more about us and the products we make at www.goodkind.shop.

Resources:

Messy Beautiful Friendships, by Christine Hoover

Made For People, by Justin Whitmel Earley

Life Together, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We're rounding the corner into fall, and here to help you find your September stride. It's the time of year for returning to all of your regular rhythms and routines, and we think it's a great time to focus on setting some new goals, too.

Join your friends Chris, Clayton, Brian, and Lindsey for a look at the month ahead and all of the ways we'll engage with God and one another.

Random Holidays:

Monday, Sept. 2 - Labor Day, Calendar Day

Friday, Sept. 6 - Fight Procrastination Day

Thursday, Sept. 12 - National Chocolate Milkshake Day

Thursday, Sept. 19 - Talk Like a Pirate Day

Wednesday, Sept. 25 - World Dream Day

Saturday, Sept. 28 - Ask a Stupid Question Day, National Good Neighbor Day

Freebies:

1. Lowe's Home Improvement is giving away FREE flowers for reward members (free to join)! The only catch is you need to register ahead of time! ⁠Sign up now⁠ so you can pick up your freebie in store on September 13th-14th!

2. Get ⁠unlimited $1 Frosty⁠s at Wendy's now through Sept. 15.

Join us with Advent Blocks and other spiritual habits at ⁠www.goodkind.shop⁠.

It may not be on your list of "favorite" spiritual practices. But it's a biblical one, and transformative, too!

Clayton, Chris, and Amy are back with another episode in this series where we're taking spiritual practices and breaking them down into their lowest common denominator so that we can practice them with more consistency.

Generosity is tricky. But despite the history you have with it, or the misconceptions you may hold, we think there's something to uncover in the way God designed this spiritual practice for us. Grab a chair and join us!

The heat may be all the way turned up, but the summer is winding down, and soon we'll be in a new season altogether!

Join Clayton, Chris, Brian, and Lindsey on the podcast for some easy and fun ways to make this August meaningful.

Random Holidays

August 3 - Clean Your Floors Day

August 6 - National Friendship Day

August 7 - Simplify Your Life Week

August 9 - National Book Lover's Day

August 10 - Garage Sale Day

August 12 - Middle Child Day, National Bowling Day

August 15 - National Back to School Prep Day

August 20 - National Lemonade Day

August 24 - National Waffle Day

Freebies

August 20 - Red Robin is giving away free samples of their speckled lemonade to celebrate National Lemonade Day.

August 24 - Members of the Regulars Club will receive a special treat by way of a coupon in their inboxes for a little “waffle cheer” on National Waffle Day. Club members can redeem the printed, paper coupon at a local Waffle House to receive a FREE waffle with one topping.

Happy Christmas in July!

It might not be the time of year where you're used to thinking about Christmas. But we think it's a great time to grab a pool floaty and your family and think through what this year's Christmas season will look like.

Plus, we LOVE Christmas. And we love all of the opportunities the season gives us to redirect anticipation toward Jesus' birth.

So our team compiled a list of 5 activities to make the season more meaningful, and we know that just a little bit of preparation now will reap huge rewards once Christmas rolls around.

Plus, we'd love it more than anything if you'd join us this year with Advent Blocks. It's what started us on this whole journey of celebrating the GoodKind habits and holidays. And we think you'll love it!

www.goodkind.shop

Top 5 Activities for a More Meaningful Christmas

1. Make space to decorate. 

Enjoy the lights and tree (no judgment on if it is real or artificial!) but also put something up central in the home that is about Jesus. We think Advent Blocks is just as good as a decoration as it is a family tradition. 

2. Make something homemade. 

Christmas crafts are the best! There are tons of options online, but we also have several suggestions for church leaders to use along with Advent Blocks! Sign up here for the local church program for crafts, games, and coloring pages for the whole church to use together! 

3. Read a book together. 

Repetition is key. And the Christmas story is a beautiful one to craft a family tradition around. Pick a devotional that you will plan to read together year after year. 

4. Sing! 

There are so many great Christmas carols, jingles, and songs to celebrate the season with. We even wrote one ourselves!

5. Give intentional gifts. 

Schedule time to shop together with your kids. Schedule a time to wrap those gifts. The togetherness makes it so special. But before you do any of that, schedule a time to make your list, and make it meaningful. Last year, we even suggested cutting some people out! Trust us, being intentional about the whole gift-giving process may feel like extra work, but it is so worth it to have the confidence that goes with the intentionality! And they will feel it too! 

It's that time of year! We all have vacation on the mind. And we've already argued that, if we pay attention, vacation can be a spiritual practice.

But now, mom and influencer, Kiara Ruth is here with us to lay out some practical steps to make vacation meaningful.

Each of us took away a new idea, and we think you will too! Join us, and get ready for your best vacations yet!

Top 5 Ways to Make Vacation Meaningful

1. Margin, margin, margin. 

    A - Take advantage of the travel time to have meaningful conversations. 

    B - Give yourself extra time at the end of the trip to re-enter daily life. 

    C - Schedule some "unscheduled time" together and see what happens! 

2. Immerse yourself in local culture. 

3. Invite your friends. 

4. Have a sit down dinner with the GratiKube. 

5. Capture the memories in a way you'll remember/revisit. 

If you just read the title of this episode and had some questions, you're not alone. This week, Clayton, Chris, and Amy are discussing all things vacation. Is it a spiritual practice? Is it possible that vacation is actually something that's kind of difficult, and we need to break it down a bit to make it easier than you think?

It's the perfect time of year to think on vacation, as your family may be getting ready to pack up the car and head somewhere sunny and warm.

We think that with just a few small shifts, vacation might just be the spiritual interruption that you (and your family!) are craving.

It's July! The best month of the year for taking a hall pass.

"What's a hall pass?" Great question.

July is when the heat of summer is all the way dialed up, in terms of heat, summer schedules, and the mountains of pool and sweat-induced laundry. It's time to take a break. Whether or not you have a vacation scheduled this month, we're giving you permission to take a break. Find space to slow things down, give yourself grace, and make a small shift in the ways you engage with God and one another.

Pull up a chair and join Clayton, Chris, Brian, and Amy for some summer shenanigans!

Random Holidays

Monday, July 8 - Be a Kid Again Day

Saturday, July 20 - Moon Day

Tuesday, July 23 - National Sprinkle Day

Sunday, July 28 - National Parents’ Day

Freebies