Practically Joyful Mom

Ep. 70: Confidence in Being a Mom Part 2

January 21, 2023 03:15 - 20 minutes - 18.7 MB

Have you ever felt like a failure as a mom? Ever felt like all the moms around you have it more figured out than you? It’s easy to lack confidence as moms partly because we put pressure on ourselves to be at the end of our motherhood journey where we’ve already learned all the lessons even when we’re just starting out. Motherhood is a journey and we can have more confidence when we remember that growth, not perfection, is our goal. The journey of motherhood can also feel exhausting when we t...

Ep. 69: Confidence in Being a Mom

January 13, 2023 12:35 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MB

Have you ever felt like a failure as a mom? Ever felt like all the moms around you have it more figured out than you? It’s easy to lack confidence as moms partly because we put pressure on ourselves to be at the end of our motherhood journey where we’ve already learned all the lessons even when we’re just starting out. Motherhood is a journey and we can have more confidence when we remember that growth, not perfection, is our goal. The journey of motherhood can also feel exhausting when we t...

Ep. 68: For When You Feel Overwhelmed

October 21, 2022 11:06 - 22 minutes - 42 MB

Do you ever feel crushed under the weight of a to-do list a mile long? Or feel discouraged by all the areas in life you want to grow in? The feeling of overwhelm can leave us feeling powerless and unable to do anything. But today I'm talking about one perspective shift and strategy that has helped me to move forward even in the midst of feeling overwhelmed.

Ep 67: When You Find Yourself Constantly Trying to Get Your Kids Busy So You Can ”Get Stuff Done”

September 30, 2022 11:00 - 23 minutes - 32.6 MB

Do you ever feel like you spend a huge part of your day just getting your kids occupied so you can accomplish "adulting" tasks? When you are with your kids, is your to-do list constantly running through your mind? Listen to today's episode for some inspiration to shift your perspective and practical ideas to spend more time enjoying your kids and still get done what needs done.

Ep. 66: The Power of Sympathy

September 23, 2022 11:00 - 19 minutes - 27.4 MB

When we are tempted to "I told you so" our kids, it can be so powerful to instead take a step a back and give them our sympathy. I recently had an exchange with one of my kids where giving them my sympathy had such a deeper impact than any lecture or "I told you so" could have.

Ep. 65: When You Just Want a Do-Over on Your Day

June 10, 2022 23:27 - 21 minutes - 29.6 MB

We've all had those days where it seems like everything is going downhill, including our own attitudes. But whether it's 7:00am and it's already been a long day or it's almost bedtime and you're counting the minutes, it's not too late to turn the day around. Today's episode is full of perspective shifts and practical ideas for redeeming a difficult day.

Ep: Are You Walking in the Rain or Just Getting Wet?

May 06, 2022 11:00 - 17 minutes - 23.6 MB

We all face rainstorms in life, both physical rain and just challenging seasons. How we approach these rainstorms matters deeply. Are you embracing your rainstorms and choosing to see them as times to adventure and splash in the puddles, to grow in character and endurance? Or are you just miserably waiting for the rain to stop?

Ep. 64: Are You Walking in the Rain or Just Getting Wet?

May 06, 2022 11:00 - 17 minutes - 23.6 MB

We all face rainstorms in life, both physical rain and just challenging seasons. How we approach these rainstorms matters deeply. Are you embracing your rainstorms and choosing to see them as times to adventure and splash in the puddles, to grow in character and endurance? Or are you just miserably waiting for the rain to stop?

Ep. 63: When Your Kids Don’t Want to Listen to You

April 29, 2022 11:00 - 11 minutes - 16.2 MB

One of the common struggles of parenthood is those phases when our kids seem to really be struggling with listening to what we ask them to do. There are often many factors at play in these situations but today we will be discussing one powerful tool for helping out kids actually WANT to listen to us.

Ep. 62: Why Having Fun With Our Kids Matters and How to Make it Happen

April 15, 2022 17:22 - 22 minutes - 20.2 MB

Fun is like currency with our kids. When we invest in fun times with them they feel closer to us and are more likely to listen to what we have to say about important issues. It can seem overwhelming to plan fun with our kids if we feel pressured to make it elaborate or Pinterest perfect. But having fun with our little can be much simpler and easier than we think and at the same time incredibly rewarding.

Ep. 61: Helping Our Children Approach Their Days With Purpose

April 08, 2022 11:00 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MB

How often do we tell our kids to “have fun” when we drop them off to school or anywhere else? While fun is a wonderful part of life, it’s not necessarily our highest goal in life. In today’s episode we’ll discuss some simple tweaks in how we talk to our kids to communicate our family’s values and help them view their days through a different lens.

Ep. 60: For When You Don’t Know What to Do

March 12, 2022 01:10 - 12 minutes - 11.1 MB

Have you ever felt like you just don't know what to do? Maybe it's about a big decision like a move or maybe it's in the middle of a challenging situation like the oh-so-fun moment when your child has a meltdown in the grocery store. Press play for a perspective shift and practical tips about these moments when we feel unsure of how to move forward.

Ep. 59: Real Growth Takes Time

February 25, 2022 20:12 - 18 minutes - 17.3 MB

Olympic athletes don’t just train once, but over and over to reach a high level of excellence. Expecting our kids to change after we talk to them one time about an issue isn’t realistic either. Nor is it realistic to expect ourselves to grow by leaps and bounds in any area without consistent practice over time. Excellence takes time. Training takes time. But the good news is that we aren’t alone in our efforts to grow and help our children to do the same.

Ep. 58: What Story Are You Telling?

February 04, 2022 12:00 - 16 minutes - 15.5 MB

What if someone wrote a biography of your life? How would the story of this time in your life read? Would it be full of grumpiness and complaining or would it be a story of how you brought light and joy even in the midst of a difficult season?

Ep. 57: Training Our Hearts Towards Gratitude

November 19, 2021 19:53 - 16 minutes - 15.6 MB

It can be easy to let the month of Thanksgiving become all about doing and not about gratitude. Today we’re talking about why it matters to create or strengthen a habit of gratitude and how we can do it.

Ep. 56: The Best Parenting Advice I have Ever Gotten

November 12, 2021 21:47 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MB

We live in a time when parenting advice is everywhere. There are many valuable tricks and tips out there and learning from other parents is a great way to build up our own parenting skills. But we all have those moments in parenting when we find ourselves thinking, “I don’t know what to do!”. In those moments (and all the time) one of our most powerful parenting tools is to pray for wisdom.

Ep. 55: Doing Your Own Work

November 05, 2021 11:00 - 17 minutes - 15.9 MB

In a world of social media and lots of comparison it can be so easy to feel as though we aren't doing a good enough job at anything or as though our work isn't important. Today we are talking about how determining what your own work is and sinking yourself into it can be much more satisfying and fulfilling than constantly comparing your life and work with others.

Ep. 54: How to Get Your Kids to Actually Apologize

October 22, 2021 20:00 - 16 minutes - 15.2 MB

We would all like our kids to know how to apologize and to do it when needed but it doesn't always seems so easy. Today's episode is all about why knowing how to apologize matters and how to help our kids learn.

Ep. 53: Motivation to Get Outside and Practical Ideas to Make it Happen

October 15, 2021 11:00 - 21 minutes - 19.6 MB

As the weather gets colder and cloudier, it can be easy to retreat from the outdoors into more time inside. It’s normal to spend less time outside when it’s not warm and sunny but there are still great benefits to getting outside most days - for us and our kids. Today’s episode is all about the wonderful benefits of time outside and practical ideas to make it happen.

Ep. 52: Choosing the Story You Tell Yourself

October 08, 2021 11:03 - 19 minutes - 18.3 MB

We all have a choice in the stories we tell ourselves about our days. We can choose to tell a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day" sort of story or we can choose to tell ourselves a story of beauty and goodness. We can narrate to ourselves the same day in two radically different ways. And our choice in how we tell the story affects how we feel, how we act towards others and even the trajectory of our day.

Ep. 51: Why You Shouldn‘t Try to Just Stop a Bad Habit

October 01, 2021 11:00 - 19 minutes - 18 MB

Bad habits are hard to break. Whether it's nail biting, being glued to your phone or yelling at your kids, it's incredibly difficult to just try to stop a bad habit. We will have much more success when we think about replacing the negative habit with something more beneficial and intentional. This applies not only to our own lives but to our kids as well.

Ep. 50: Intentional Car Conversations With Your Kids

September 17, 2021 19:13 - 18 minutes - 17.3 MB

Car time can often feel like wasted time but we can choose to reclaim these moments to prepare our kids for wherever we're going. Conversations about appropriate behavior and about loving the people we will be around are a great way to make this time worthwhile instead of wasted.

Ep. 49: Adapting to Your Season

September 10, 2021 20:01 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MB

We all go through seasons in life, some are easy and some are challenging. Part of being a practically joyful mom is choosing to adapt to the season we are in rather than trying to live like it's summer when we are in the midst of a winter season.

Ep 48: Giving Our Kids the Gift of Eye Contact

September 03, 2021 19:01 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MB

It can be so easy to run through our days without really looking at our kids, really pausing and giving them our eyes and our attention, seeing them clearly and letting them know that they are important to us. Eye contact is a powerful tool to connect with our kids, strengthen our relationships and increase cooperation.

Ep. 47: What's in Your Heart?

August 27, 2021 11:00 - 16 minutes - 14.9 MB

What’s in our hearts matters because it is what will come out in our words and actions. It can be easy to focus on our children’s behavior because it’s what we can see but what’s in their hearts is where that behavior comes from. The same is true for us as moms, what’s in our hearts is what comes out.

Ep. 46: Making the Most of Your Little Time Pockets

August 20, 2021 11:00 - 21 minutes - 20.2 MB

Moms are busy. Our days are often very full but there are also little pockets of time sandwiched between diaper changes and school drop offs, between messy meals and trips to the park. We often end up turning to time wasters during these little moments because we think we can't accomplish much in 5 or 10 minutes. But what if we chose to use those little time pockets to invest little by little in the things that matter most to us?

Ep. 45: Consistency - Why it Matters and How to Grow in it

August 13, 2021 11:00 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MB

The little things we do regularly have a much greater impact than the things we do once in a while. If we want to grow in an area, consistently making small investments can have huge effects. But it’s not always easy to consistently do the things we want to do and it can be easy to get caught up in an all-or-nothing mentality rather than choosing imperfect, but consistent action. Listen in to today’s episode for encouragement about building consistency in your life in the areas that matter m...

Ep. 44: Welcome Back and Walking Together!

August 06, 2021 11:00 - 20 minutes - 19.1 MB

I’m so happy to be back with you after taking July off to rest and recharge! We are all designed to have people walking beside us to encourage us, to help us grow and learn. Today we are talking about ways we can support each other and how to walk together even in the messes of life.

Best of PJM: You Can Find Happiness Right Where You Are

July 30, 2021 11:00 - 18 minutes - 17.4 MB

We all have a nemesis. A thing we spend more time dreading than doing. Maybe it’s dishes or laundry or clipping your child’s nails. But we don’t have to stay stuck in a place of letting dread of these tasks drain our energy and drag us down. We can make some simple shifts in our perspectives and practices to choose joy even in the mundane tasks of everyday life.

Best of PJM: Stop Dreading the Dishes

July 23, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MB

We all have a nemesis. A thing we spend more time dreading than doing. Maybe it’s dishes or laundry or clipping your child’s nails. But we don’t have to stay stuck in a place of letting dread of these tasks drain our energy and drag us down. We can make some simple shifts in our perspectives and practices to choose joy even in the mundane tasks of everyday life.

Best of PJM: Two Simple Perspective-Changing Practices to Bring More Joy to Your Days

July 16, 2021 11:00 - 19 minutes - 18.2 MB

As moms we have the power to affect the mood of everyone in our home: “If Momma’s not happy, nobody’s happy.” But instead of focusing on our ability to sabotage the mood of our entire family, we can flip this negative saying on it’s head and dare to say, “If Momma chooses joy, everyone’s happier.” When we start and end our days with these two simple practices, we shift our focus away from the frustrating, negative and disappointing parts of our day and choose to focus on the good, the lovel...

Best of PJM: Soul Care- More Than Just Self Care

July 09, 2021 11:00 - 18 minutes - 17.2 MB

Self care is good. But we can sometimes get the wrong idea about what will really fill us up. We can end up thinking that if we could just get a massage, just go get a pedicure, just eat chocolate, or just watch a movie, it would fix what’s wrong in our lives. Massages and chocolate are good. But these things won’t necessarily nurture our souls. We can do all sorts of skin-deep self care for our bodies, but end up neglecting soul care. Sometimes when we are soul deep weary what we nee...

Best of PJM: For When Everything Feels Heavy

July 02, 2021 11:00 - 18 minutes - 17.2 MB

Are you feeling weary? This year has been full of things that make us weary, worried and weighed down: a global pandemic, social isolation, political division, racial injustice, natural disasters. Add all of those things to the day to day burdens of motherhood - sleepless nights, never ending diapers, laundry and dishes, financial concerns, work stress, worries about our children and their futures, the list goes on and on. Is it any wonder that we feel weary? That life feels heavy? The good ...

Ep. 43: Called to Kindness

June 25, 2021 20:06 - 20 minutes - 19.1 MB

Being interrupted is hard. And as moms, we’re interrupted all the time. I talked last week about how Jesus was willing to be interrupted and showed compassion even to those who interrupted him. This week, I’m talking about what this practically looks like in our daily lives and how it can bring wonderful and unexpected blessings.

Ep. 42: Your Kids Are More Than Just a To-Do List

June 18, 2021 20:02 - 18 minutes - 17.1 MB

It can be so easy in the tension of everyday life to view our kids as just a list of tasks that we need to complete to take care of them - changing diapers, packing lunches, buying food, scheduling doctor's appointments. When we take time to remember that our kids are little human souls we can connect more with them and see the work we do to care for them as deeply meaningful ministry rather than a never ending to-do list.

Ep 41: Real Hope

June 11, 2021 19:54 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MB

There are a lot of things we find ourselves hoping for in motherhood. I hope the baby sleeps through the night. I hope my kids eat the dinner I'm cooking. I hope they don’t fight with each other in the car today. And while it’s not bad to hope for these things, we need a hope that is more secure than just hoping our current challenge is resolved. Because the thing is that there will always be new challenges in motherhood. So putting our hope in our changing circumstances can actually leave u...

Ep. 40: Practically Joyful Kid - First Interview Episode!

June 04, 2021 11:00 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MB

Today, my 7 year-old son is joining me on the podcast to talk about summer and about the things that bring joy to our family. It can be so easy to get caught up in trying to give our kids the most exciting experiences and the best activities that we forget what they most want is our attention and our love. Listening to this perspective from a seven year-old helped remind me that we can choose joy for our families in very simple ways.

Ep. 39: A Practically Joyful Summer

May 28, 2021 21:10 - 18 minutes - 16.8 MB

Summer! It can be so easy to try to cram so many activities into the summer months and have the "perfect" summer. This usually leads to lots of disappointment and frustration when things go differently. On the other hand, we can find ourselves in September wondering where summer went and why we didn't do any of the things we wanted to. Today we're talking through some practical ideas and perspective shifts for a more practically joyful summer.

Ep. 38: You Are Seen and Loved

May 21, 2021 13:52 - 10 minutes - 9.68 MB

It can be so easy to feel unseen and unappreciated in motherhood and this past year has made many of us feel especially isolated. You matter and what you are doing matters. You are loved.

Ep. 37: Invest in What Matters

May 14, 2021 11:01 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MB

We all have a finite amount of time energy and attention to invest in things around us. So often we are pulled towards giving our time and attention to distractions or things that will not matter in the long term. But we can choose instead to consistently invest in the things that really do matter. And when we do, our investments will matter and build the things we actually want to grow in our lives.

Ep. 36: The Importance of Fun

May 07, 2021 19:57 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MB

We all have times where we get stuck in "serious mom mode". Where we aren't having much fun and we're not fun to be around. Today we're talking about why fun matters and some easy ways to incorporate fun into our lives.

Ep. 35: Worth Working For

April 30, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MB

Last week we talked about the importance of taking time to rest and today we're talking about the importance of working hard for the things that matter. There are things in each of our lives that require hard work to build and invest in and are absolutely worth it. In a world of "easy buttons" and "life hacks" we can forget that many of the most rewarding and valuable things in life are worth working hard for.

Ep. 34: It's Ok to Take Time to Rest

April 23, 2021 11:00 - 17 minutes - 16 MB

We all need rest but it can be so hard to let go of all of the things we feel like we need to be doing. This episode is full of encouragement to take time to rest and ideas for ways to make it happen.

Ep. 33: When You Just Don't Feel Like It

April 16, 2021 18:15 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MB

We all have those moments or days or weeks, when we just don’t feel like it. We just don’t feel like praying, like cracking open our bibles. We just don’t feel like reading another board book, like talking about Thomas the train characters for hours. We just don’t feel like listening to our husbands talk about their stressful days when we’ve had a long day ourselves. But we don't have to let not feeling like it stop us from acting lovingly towards those we care about. Today's episode ...

Ep. 32: When Your Day Doesn't Go Like You Planned

April 09, 2021 16:44 - 20 minutes - 19.2 MB

We all have those days. Where things go differently than expected. Where everything seems to go wrong. Today's episode is all about shifting our perspectives and our practices on those days where nothing seems to go as planned.

Ep. 31: A Joyful Easter

April 02, 2021 11:00 - 14 minutes - 13.1 MB

We can feel a lot of pressure to make holidays memorable and exciting for our families. It is a wonderful thing to celebrate and enjoy Easter together but we can let go of the pressure for perfect crafts and activities. One of the ways we can make Easter deeply meaningful for our children is to deeply connect with the story of redemption and salvation and to let our children see how much joy we take in the fact that Jesus gave himself to rescue us. Our excitement and delight in the Easter st...

Ep. 30: It's Ok to Be Different

March 26, 2021 11:00 - 20 minutes - 18.7 MB

As moms we can face a lot of pressure from society to follow the latest trends, to do what everyone around us is doing. But it’s ok to be different. Like snowflakes, we are each unique and distinct and have different paths in life. Let’s dive into why it’s ok to be different and how we can focus on our own journey.

Ep. 29: You Are Not Alone

March 19, 2021 14:40 - 16 minutes - 15 MB

As moms we can often feel alone even when surrounded by our children. Today, I encourage us all to remember that we are not alone, that God is with us wherever we go, even if that is just in our own homes. The reality of Jesus walking with us through our days helps us to remember that we are not alone and our everyday lives really do matter.

Ep. 28: Helping Your Kids Remember Who They Are

March 12, 2021 12:01 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MB

This week, we are going back to lessons from Moana. The theme of identity and knowing who you are is woven throughout the movie and is a topic that can really benefit our families. When you have a strong family culture and identity, your children are more likely to be excited about family activities and have a solid place to come back to when they inevitably get off track.

Ep. 27: You Can Find Happiness Right Where You Are

March 05, 2021 12:00 - 18 minutes - 17.4 MB

In our modern world full of marketing, social media and comparison, it can be all too easy to live in a mindset of “I’ll be happy when . . .”. But this outlook on life leaves us feeling disappointed and discouraged and causes us to miss out on all the beauty around us in the moment. Listen today for some perspective shifts and practical ideas to find happiness right where you are.

Practically Joyful Mom

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