The Mama Needs Podcast

Have you ever thought about what you want your family to be known for? Or the values that are important to you? Have you ever thought of creating a family mission statement? I know I hadn’t thought about these things much before until I talked to our guest today, Kimberly Amici. Kimberly is a family culture coach, which she will explain about in our episode.

As a wife and Mom of 3 kids, she realized they weren’t doing much to be intentional and she found herself saying yes to everything and no to very little. This led her on a journey to start making changes in her own life and then in the life of her family to create values, a mission statement and what they wanted their family to be about, be known for, how they wanted people to feel when they entered their home and so much more. Kim gives us absolute GOLD today as she describes how she did this and how we can do this too.

The biggest takeaway I got from this episode is that once we set down our family values, those don’t change. What does change is how we accomplish those. During the pandemic or really any big family transition or change, how we work out our family values can keep us rooted and grounded. Kim challenges us to really think about what’s important - what to say yes to and no to. And I loved to hear how Kim and her family lived out their value of playing games during quarantine - I know you’ll love it.

So get ready to get really intentional and really practical with us today - you can also download some free resources in our show notes that come directly from Kim so you can start this process in your own family. Enjoy my conversation today with Kim!

Relevant Links:

Family Culture Discussion Sheet

Sloane Tea

12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Find Kim:

Website: www.buildyourbestfamily.com / www.kimberlyamici.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildyourbestfamily/ / https://www.instagram.com/kimberlyamici/

Do you have a business idea, but you’re not sure where to start? Maybe you have a hobby you enjoy doing and so many people have told you that you should start a business from it, but you’re not sure you’re ready for that next step. We’re covering all of this and so much more in today’s episode with my guest, Erin Alexander!

Erin is a married 30-something with 2 kiddos located in Eastern Washington state. She is the owner of an online agency called Product Powerhouse, which helps female shop owners show up online with confidence and grow the visibility and online presence of their store. She also hosts the Product Powerhouse Podcast, which I was a guest on recently. You can find that link in our show notes at mamaneedspodcast.com.

Erin talks about how she balances work life, home life, mom life and how we both think that balance is actually a myth. Erin gently coaches us through how to do what we love while pushing past the roadblocks that hold us back. We talk about the line between doing what you love because you love it and doing what you love and make it a business. Erin gives us some tips about how to make a business plan. Lastly, Erin tells us all about her 6 week DIY Shopify course just for you to build a shop that you can be proud of and she tells us more about what her agency does and how you can work with her! Enjoy my conversation today with Erin.

Thank you so much for listening today! If you enjoyed this episode, I’d love it if you could take 3 minutes and leave a review on Apple podcasts! Help me spread self-care far and wide by sharing this episode as well. Thank you so much for listening and until next time, you matter, Mama. 

Relevant Links:

“The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It” by Michael E. Gerber

U.S. Small Business Administration

Navigating Supply Chain Issues and Entrepreneurship with Jenn Collins on the Product Powerhouse Podcast

“Hang the Moon” by Alexandria Bellefleur

Find Erin:

Website: www.productpowerhouse.co

Instagram: @product.powerhouse

YouTube: Product Powerhouse

If you ever struggled with self-confidence as a tween or teen or you have a tween or teen girl now, this episode is for you. I’m interviewing Laurel Handfield today, author, Mom of 3 and wife. Her story is straight out of a chick flick movie: Her vacation to the islands turned into an unexpected romance when she met and fell in love with her now husband. After two years in a long-distance relationship, she decided to move to the Bahamas permanently. This led to a shift in focus and a rediscovery of her true passion: writing. Today, Laurel creates coloring/activity books for young girls.

Laurel talks about growing up as a minority in her school, developing an eating disorder, lack of self-confidence, moving across the ocean to the Bahamas, starting a family and how all of that helped her want to be part of a bigger solution: to help girls find their worth and self-confidence. Laurel tells us about her books and what she’s working on now. She also gives us some ways to help relate to our tween and teen girls. 

1. Listen to your daughters.

2. Don’t force a conversation. Let her come to you.

3. Be approachable.

4. Have a natural relationship with your daughter.

Book she mentions: 

“The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle

Laurel’s Books:

“President for a Day” by Laurel Handfield

“My Pretty…A coloring and activity book for girls affirming their inner and outer beauty” by Laurel Handfield

“I Imagine: A coloring and activity book for young girls to encourage their wonderful imagination” by Laurel Handfield

Find Laurel:

Website: Happy Island Press

Facebook: Happy Island Press

Instagram: @happyislandpress

Recently, I was invited to speak at our local MOPS group here in Franklin, North Carolina and I was so excited to be asked and to deliver a message that I hope and pray was encouraging and life-changing. I was able to record it so that you all could hear it, too!

So today’s episode features me speaking to a group of Moms and honestly it’s much like I imagine when I am on here with a guest interviewing, too. I imagine you all listening in the car on your way to work or day care drop off. Or maybe you’re at home and you’re listening during nap time while you fold the clothes. Or maybe you’re listening while you’re on a walk or a run. Whatever you’re doing, my prayer is that this message meets you right where you are and encourages you today in a deep way.

In my MOPS talk, I told a little bit about my story of motherhood and how I felt so inadequate and unprepared and terrified to be a Mom, I shared verses from Scripture that have really helped me in my motherhood journey, how God sees us even when no one else does, how much your work matters and how Jesus practiced self-care and is the ultimate example for us!

Relevant Links: 

MOPS handout

“Surprised by Motherhood” by Lisa-Jo Baker

Mama Needs Box (use code PODCAST at checkout for 15% off any subscription!)

Ok if you are the Mama of a tween or teen girl, or have a special tween or teen girl in your life, this episode is for you. This episode is very close to my heart because I invited my 13-year-old daughter Sadie to join me today in interviewing our guest! My Mama heart was beaming as she shared her own story and even asked Laura some questions! I can’t wait for you to meet her!

So along with my daughter Sadie, our guest today is Laura Fooks, who is the Cofounder + Chief Encouragement Officer of Light Speaks Loudest. Light Speaks Loudest is a seasonal subscription box for teen girls to help them love themselves, love others and love God. Laura and her husband, Aaron, live in Denver, Colorado, with their goldendoodle pup.

In this episode, Laura tells us about her subscription box for teen girls, you’ll hear from Sadie about the boxes she’s received, what she loves and why, Laura tells us why reaching teen girls is so important to her, we talk about the struggle parents can have to find resources that they trust for their teen girls, Laura tells us what trends she’s seeing right now in what teen girls are struggling with and how to approach these topics with our girls in a way that won’t shut them down (heads up, Mamas, listen in to this part because odds are that your daughter is struggling with one or more of these), and lastly, Laura tells us about an exciting mother/daughter project she’s working on right now! If you stick around toward the end, Laura gave us a coupon code for the Light Speaks Loudest Spring box which is on sale now so make sure you listen all the way through so you don’t miss it. Enjoy my conversation with Laura!

Book she mentions: The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun, and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood by Julian Rubinstein

Find Laura + Light Speaks Loudest online:

Website: http://www.lightspeaksloudest.com 

Instagram: @lightspeaksloudest

Know a teen girl who could use some encouragement and hope as she grows in her faith? Listeners can get 15% off your first Light Speaks Loudest subscription box when you use code MAMANEEDS. These quarterly boxes are intentionally filled with things to help your teen girl better love God, herself and others. Just go to lightspeaksloudest.com and enter the code MAMANEEDS during checkout now through March 28 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Did you grow up observing Lent? I didn’t know it existed until I went away to college, but it’s still always been somewhat of a mystery to me, along with the entire Liturgical Calendar. Our guest today is Tsh Oxenreider, and like me, she didn’t grow up observing Lent either. Now, she’s written a book on the topic filled with daily devotions walking you through the whole season.

In case you aren’t familiar with Tsh, she is the bestselling author of several books, including Bitter and Sweet: A Journey Into Easter and At Home in the World, her memoir about her family’s year traveling around the world and living out of backpacks. She’s also a travel guide, teacher, and podcaster, and she lives in Georgetown, Texas, with her husband and three children.

Tsh walks us through Lent, what it means, why we observe it, and how it’s historically been done. There’s so much more to Lent than just fasting and she gives us a breakdown of it all. We talk about how to get started if you’ve decided you want to start observing Lent this year. And Tsh gives us some actual examples that are more outside of the box from her own life, as well as others she knows and how they observe Lent as a family! Enjoy my conversation with Tsh!

Book she mentions: The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

Find Tsh online:

Book: bitterandsweetlent.com

Website: https://www.tshoxenreider.com/

Instagram: @tshoxenreider

thecommon.place (tsh.substack.com)

Ok Mamas, do you browse Pinterest to find crafts to do with your kids? Do you search for easy homeschooling ideas? And if you have ever felt like you couldn’t live up to that standard of the “Pinterest Mom”, this episode is for you. My guest today is Emily Lawson, former teacher turned stay-at-home-mom, turned entrepreneur! She created a business called Sandbox Academy where she put her love for teaching to use by creating activities for kids to do at home and Moms to have easy wins!

We talk about her playbook which is filled with ideas to try at home, we talk about the shame that we as Moms feel when we try to live up to that Pinterest-perfect standard, we talk about some really fun Valentine’s Day activities that are so easy and last, she tells us about a project she just started working on that you will love! Enjoy my conversation with Emily!

Book she mentions: The Sweet Magnolias book series

Find Emily + Sandbox Academy

Website: sandboxacademy.com

Pinterest: pinterest.com/sandboxacademy

Instagram: @sandboxacademy

You guys, I am so excited because I have two guests on the show today - best friends, bloggers and Moms, Amy Weatherly and Jess Johnston. They just co-wrote a book together called “I’ll Be There (But I’ll Be Wearing Sweatpants)” that just released this week! Currently it is the #1 Bestseller on Amazon in Christian Self-Help and these two ladies appeared on GMA to talk about their book! Wow!

We talk about how they became friends, why friendship means so much to them, starting off their very well-known Facebook page called Sister, I Am With You, and deciding to write a book together.

Then we go a little deeper and talk about what’s happened to friendships since the pandemic started, why you can’t be everyone’s chick-fil-a sauce (trust me, you want to listen to that part), why friendship should feel like pulling on your favorite stretchy pants and what Jess & Amy really want you to take away from this book.

These two are so much fun! Enjoy my conversation with Amy and Jess.

Find Amy & Jess:

Amy’s IG/FB: @amyweatherly / Mrs Amy Weatherly
Jess’ IG/FB: @wonderoakblog / Jess Johnston Wonder Oak
Book website: illbetherebook.com
Sister I Am With You: sisteriamwithyou.com / @sisteriamwithyou / Sister, I Am With You

It’s the New Year and many of us are looking to declutter our homes - I know I am! So today’s episode is super timely. I’m interviewing Krista Lockwood, wife and Mama of 5, who teaches decluttering for moms who don’t want to be a full blown minimalist. In 2013 she and her husband moved from Alaska to Florida with only one suitcase each and while she doesn't believe you need to go that extreme she has been able to master the balance of having enough, but not too much.

We talk about how Moms carry the guilt of decluttering, cleaning and making a lot of these hard decisions of what stays and what goes. We also talk about why decluttering is harder for some Moms than others - maybe it’s because of guilt or a change in mindset or because we feel safe with our stuff. Krista tells us to trust yourself and gently coaches us to take 1 step forward to see how it makes us feel. And lastly, she tells us how we can make our homes work for us instead of our clutter ruling over us.

Book she mentioned:

The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous

Find Krista + Motherhood Simplified:

Website: motherhoodsimplified.com 

Instagram: @motherhood_simplified

Facebook: Motherhood Simplified

My guest today is Emilee Connell de Umanzor. She is the founder of SoloHope, a nonprofit organization that empowers women by creating jobs making jewelry, home goods and more. Emilee, her husband and 2 kids currently live in south Georgia with their hearts heavily invested in the beautiful country of Honduras.

Me and Emilee chat all about SoloHope: how and why she started it, what they do and who it impacts. She talks about meeting her husband in Honduras - you definitely want to hear her tell that story as she giggles her way through, it is the cutest! 

We talk about the ornaments that I ordered for our December Mama Needs Boxes and hear stories from Emilee about the artisans who created them and the impact it had - that is my favorite part of this episode. 

Lastly she tells us about a project she’s working on now - she and her husband purchased a 1920s building in their town in south Georgia and are turning it into a storefront full of ethically made global goods. 

I know you will love Emilee - enjoy our conversation together and make sure you find SoloHope and follow along with the good work she’s doing in Honduras.

Books mentioned:

Mark of the Lion Gift Collection by Francine Rivers

No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler

Find Emilee + SoloHope

Website: solohope.org

Instagram: @solohopeorg

Facebook: SoloHope

Personal Instagram: @emileeconnelldeumanzor