Mom To Mom Podcast

The podcast is turning one and to celebrate we’re passing the mic to you. Over the last few weeks, we’ve invited you to share with us some of your burning questions: things you’ve always wanted to ask a mom a little further along on the journey. And you took us up on the offer. Dozens of questions poured in and today, we’re gonna try and tackle as many as we can.

Today, on the Podcast, we have a special guest, author Kristen A. Jenson. She’s here joining us to help give us some tools to have hard conversations with our kids in order to protect them from porn. Kristen is the author of the Good Pictures Bad Pictures series of read-aloud books including the best-selling Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids and Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr.: A Simple Plan to Protect Young Minds.

What’s the crazy dream God has dropped in your heart, the wild adventure He’s inviting you to join? What is He asking you to do that you know you couldn’t possibly do on your own? In fact, if you try to do it on your own, you're pretty much guaranteed to fall flat on your face? Has He given you a wild, preposterous, secret, scary, or enchanting dream or idea? That’s what we call a God Dare.

For the mom who struggles with anxiety and depression, the holiday season can magnify feelings of loneliness, despondency, and hopelessness. The holidays can be a trigger for past wounds and losses. So today, we want to have a raw discussion around the table about our own struggle with anxiety and depression and share some physical and spiritual tools that have helped the three of us during some dark times in our lives including the holidays.

Some of us LOVE the Holidays and everything that comes with it. And then some of us wish we could wake up and have the house decorated, everything wrapped, the food cooked and the festivities planned. Because, let’s just be honest… As a mom, the Holidays can be a tad bit overwhelming. It’s not that we don’t love our families or the special memories, but the hype and the expectations, the lists and the to-dos can sometimes overtake us.  So, today, consider this Episode to be your sanity saver.

If your child is between the ages of 6 and 23, born between 1995 and 2012, then they are part of what’s called I-Gen or Gen Z. Seventy-four million Americans or 24% of the population fit this category. They are the generation that has never known life without the internet and they are the most smart-phone addicted generation in history. Though there are pros and cons to the digital world, the cons are winning. What are parents to do? How do we reach the most isolated, loneliest generation in history?

Every grandparent has influence over their grandkids, whether good or bad. Let’s be honest: some of us did not grow up with examples of Godliness in the far reaching branches of our family tree. But, that just means that the inheritance can start with us. We can be the start of a generational line of faith. We can be a Lois. As Deuteronomy 4:9 says, let us make the Lord and His faithfulness known to our children and eventually to our children’s children.

Entertainment puts on airs and shoots for the making of good impressions; hospitality opens arms and doors wide and allows us to live transparently for Christ. When we practice hospitality, we live out our real, messy, and redeemed lives before strangers and brothers alike.  Today, we look forward to creatively covering the Hospitality basics and breaking apart the myths that may keep us from living out a calling to live with welcome arms and open hearts.

October is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month--a time each year set aside for us to remember and encourage those who have lost a child through miscarriage or early on in infancy. So today, we want to honor those mothers who grieve and also provide some helpful tools for those friends and family members who want to lovingly support a mother whose arms ache from the loss of her baby.

The words quiet and morning can feel like a weight. In most of our homes, things are only quiet for what feels like 2 seconds in any given 24 hour period. And for some of us, meeting God in the afternoon or evening ends up being much more meaningful.  We're joined today by Asheritah Ciuciu, author of Bible & Breakfast.  She's come to share some great encouragement for spending time in God's Word.

Friendships are important for all of us and maybe even more so for our children as they begin to navigate growing up and start to figure out how to relate to others in a kind, Christ-like way. As children grow, their friendships will too and issues are likely to arise as they learn to deal with all different types of attitudes and upbringings that might be different from what they are used to.

It’s that time of year again! When we line up backpacks, lunch bags, piles of notebooks and return to a routine of academia, more structure and new beginnings for our kids. Back to School Season always brings a mix of emotions for moms. We're excited to have more routine after some much-needed summer flexibility. We're happy to see our kids back to learning and growing and we crave the newness of another school year.

The busyness of fall will be here before you know it. And while you won’t be able to control every part of those chaotic days, you can take charge of a few things. You can control what you can control. Meal planning is one of those easy wins. By just putting a few systems in place, you can not only save your sanity, but also your time, your budget, and in some ways, your waistline and health because a plan will help you eliminate the need to eat out or eat easy.

We all know a great and godly marriage takes work. And it's also fair to say that motherhood is a full-time job of its own as well. It's a delicate balance. How DO we find the time, the space, the energy, and the focus to keep both relationships healthy and strong? Is it possible?

As the old saying goes, “More is caught than taught.” And there aren't too many examples of that proverb that carry more weight than character. Mamas, whether we want to admit it or not, little eyes are watching us. And they are going to parrot back, not just what we say, but what we do. So it goes without saying that if we want to raise kids with character, we have to lead by example.

It’s summer, school is out, and now it’s your chance, mama, to take a little “me” time. You’ve been making lunches, carpooling, driving the kids to soccer or ballet or violin lessons or whatever your children might be interested in every week for months on end so, not having to drive endlessly every day is a blessing! However, summer can become just as busy as the school year. We're hoping you’ll have some time to yourself over the next couple of months.

Mothering is no easy task. It requires much of you and can often leave you feeling overworked, understaffed, and pulled at every angle. But couple the never-ending job of mothering with an introverted personality--a personality that craves alone time in quiet spaces--and you add extra layers of guilt, frustration, and overwhelm.

Your children are growing up. They’re heading out of the nest soon and all those years of love and sacrifice, cooking and cleaning, disciplining and discipling, yelling and listening are coming to an unceremonious end. This is your invitation to Act 2, to Motherhood: The After Party.

Because Mother's Day is right around the corner, we thought it would be fun to share some of our top favorite mom tips, recommendations, and ideas for all moms! It doesn't matter which season you may be in right now, this special Mother's Day bonus episode was made with you in mind. From hospitality to busy days, here are our favorite mom favorites! Be sure to check out the show notes for all the links.

The world would like women to believe that faith in Christ pushes women down and makes them “lesser than”--that the church holds women back or more aptly, that Jesus holds women back. Perhaps in an attempt to right that wrong, the current Christian culture has swung the pendulum in the opposite direction, encouraging women to rise up, to demand platforms and blow horns, to power grab for what is rightfully ours. This Girl Power Gospel has invaded the church and is a dangerous message.