This is our Village: a podcast for Christian women

Today we have the immense privilege of chatting to the wonderful, creative and wise Jo Cummings!

Jo Cummings is passionate about Christmas, and she generously agreed to share with us what Christmas looks like for her and her family, tips for making Christmas magical no matter what budget, ways to introduce and maintain traditions within your family unit, and most importantly, how to keep Jesus at the centre of the season.

This is a must-listen for anyone keen to continue developing their families engagement with the Christmas season, and honing their focus on the real reason for the season- the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ.

This week we get to chat to the beautiful Sky Prentice!

Sky is the Children's and Families pastor at The Vine Baptist Church, and ministers to these kids with such passion and understanding.

She is generous and wise and we are so honoured to hear about her journey into motherhood, and glean some practical tips and tricks for navigating the holiday season with children.

We pray this episode leaves families feeling encouraged and equiped to navigate this Christmas season!

This week we have the immense privileged of chatting to Sarah Young and Lauren Mdluli, of Mindfully Woven.

Sarah and Lauren established their business, Mindfully Woven, after partnering up their mutual interest of weaving, and practicing mindfulness.

Both Sarah and Lauren were introduced to the art of weaving, during some particularly trying times, and they quickly discovered just how well weaving lends itself to practising mindfulness; learning to be present, whilst being productive and creative. They were passionate about bringing this to others, and have set up Mindful Weaving Workshops, to help share both creative reflection, and mindful practice.

We're honoured to hear from them today about their journey of establishing Mindfully Woven, and some of the practical tips they use to reset, refresh and be mindful.

What better time, than right now, coming through COVID19 and heading into the holiday season, to start practicing being mindful!

This week we have the privilege of speaking with Sharini McEwen.

Sharini and her husband Jason faced a number of truely heartbreaking challenges, along their journey to parenthood, however, through it all, they maintained a strong dependance on and love for Jesus and amazing hearts of gratitude.

In this episode, Sharini generously shares her journey with us, from facing an unexpected and scary diagnosis, through to infertility, the heartbreaking loss of their first baby and supporting their oldest child with his disability.

Join us as Sharini shares from her heart and experience, with warmth, light and wisdom. We pray you will be encouraged by her faith, joy and attitude and that this episode will uplift and challenge you.

This week we have the privilege of interview Lauren and Mark Donker from Love Salt Light.

Lauren and Mark run an impactful online platform, dedicated to encouraging the enriching of marriages. They share with us about the journey God took them on in developing their online blog, some practical tips that they implement into their relationship and the heart being their movement #growyourlove.

Whether you're in a marriage relationship or not, this episode will help equip you to enrich your relationships, and love deeper.

This week we talk with the beautiful Lauren Mdluli.

Lauren met her husband, Sifiso, while volunteering in South Africa. They have two beautiful children and currently reside here in Australia.

Lauren generously agreed to share with us her experience of navigating a mixed cultural marriage, and her personal journey of becoming antiracist.

Join us as we hear from her heart!

This week we have the honour of hearing from the beautiful Rachel Broomfield (who also happens to be the extraordinary creative behind our branding and logo!)

Having experienced a partial molar pregnancy, subsequent loss and severe Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), Rachel shares about her motherhood journey and how God sustained her through her grief. She shares honestly and vulnerably, touches on the importance of community and support and recommends some great resources and tips.

Join us as we hear from her heart and are encouraged by her faith.

This week we speak to the beautiful Jasmine Crennan, girl mama, boss mama and scripture loving mama!

Jasmine is an incredibly talented creative, part owner of the beautiful children's boutique 'Lulu and Milly' and she is also passionate about scripture and reading God's Word.

She shares with us her journey, encourages, challenges and gives some awesome tips for diving into the Word.

This week we have the honour of speaking to Kimberly Smith- pastor, speaker and author of the book "What We Cannot Be Alone | Understanding Singleness in God's Family"

Kimberly is passionate about helping the Church function as the body of Christ, by making it a place of community for all- but over the years she's identified a point of weakness, which is the attitude around, and appreciation (or lack there of) of singleness. In her book she works to foster communication around this area of singleness, not just for people that are single, but for everyone.

Kim shares with us about the journey that lead her to writing her book, gives us tips on how to navigate the important conversations required to bring about authentic community for everyone, and challenges us to reframe how we view singleness. We absolutely loved this conversation, we loved learning, listening, laughing and we cannot wait for you to be encouraged and challenge by Kim too.

Whether you are a parent or not, single or married, old or young, there is so much to gleam from this conversation!

This week we have the honour of hearing from the beautiful Michelle Kerr about her work with Eden.

Eden is an anti-human trafficking organisation which works front line throughout Asia to bring freedom and restoration to victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, a criminal industry which generates over $150 billion USD every year.

Eden here in Australia was founded by Michelle 4.5 years ago and its mantra is to support and amplify the work of Eden in Asia and to raise awareness of the issue of traffic and exploitation here in Australia. It's an incredibly sad fact that 73% of trafficking victims are found in the Asia-Pacific region, this is in our backyard, this is in our watch.

This is an important conversation, and one we all need to have. Change starts with us in the culture we set within our families, so we pray this conversation helps educate, equip and empower you too.