My guest today is Sara Ernst. Sara is a nature lover, a singer, a musician, an artist, a poet and a writer. She is the whole package! She is a wife and mom too, and lives with her family in Virginia.

A childhood experience with a tricky person, her love of music and wanting to help protect kids all unexpectedly led her to write a song and a book that teaches and equips young children to use their voice to protect themselves. Her book, her music and her work are fantastic and so helpful to many families. You are going to come away with so many practical, helpful tips for keeping your kids safe from tricky people. I am really glad to have Sara on the show today!

Some links from today’s show:

Visit Sara’s website here

Follow Sara on Instagram here

Find Sara’s music here

Find Sara’s book, Shout No! here

Download the Shout No song and coloring sheet here

Find Sara’s book, Poetry for the Wild and Curious Ones, here

Find Greta’s book here

Some of my favorite quotes from today’s episode:

*”Parents don’t want to talk to their kids about tricky people because they want to protect their kid’s innocence. But we have to tell our kids that tricky people exist so we can give them to tools to protect themselves from the tricky people.” Greta Eskridge

*”I wanted to write something gentle yet effective that would equip kids from an early age and would give the words to shout no and run away from tricky people.” Sara Ernst

*”We can react to our experiences by simply moving on, or we can let them fester and turn to bitterness or shame or we can say, “I wish that wouldn’t have happened, but I’m going to do something positive with it now.” Greta Eskridge

*”When we tell our kids not to cross the street without us we don’t go into graphic details about what can happen if they get hit by a car. We just tell them, “you could get hurt” because that is all they need to know. It is the same with giving our kids information about predators. We don’t give them scary information; we give them empowering information.” Greta Eskridge

*”Music is sticky!” Sara Ernst

*“Teach your kids that anyone can be a tricky person, because most abuse happens with people the children know. And teach them how to respond to tricky people.” Sara Ernst

*” We are empowering our kids not making them afraid.” Greta Eskridge

Today’s episode is extra special to me because I got to talk to Mary Jo Hoffman, someone I have followed online and admired for more than 10 years! Mary Jo is an artist whose art form is taking photographs of found nature on black or white backgrounds. As an avid nature collector myself, I absolutely loved her beautiful art and became a fan instantly.

Mary Jo is a rocket scientist turned artist, blogger, and now author of the book, Still, the Art of Noticing. She married to a James Beard award winning food writer, a mom to 2 kids, and she lives in St. Paul Minnesota.

Mary Jo’s art has made her into a “noticer”. Collecting pieces of nature and photographing them daily has made her slow down and really notice all the beauty there is in the natural world, no matter the season. We have a great discussion about her art and her book and the ways we can help our kids become noticers too, even though they are growing up in a world that doesn’t really celebrate slowing down. I know you’ll come away inspired by this episode. And maybe you and your kids can start a habit of noticing nature and loving the beauty of nature, just like Mary Jo has.

Some links for you from this episode:

To see the art of Lisa Congdon, the artist who was an inspiration for Mary Jo, go here

To learn more about the 72 micro seasons in Japan, go here

Find the Beatrix Potter book here

Find Mary Jo’s book here

Read Mary Jo’s blog here

Follow Mary Jo on Instagram here

Some favorite quotes from this episode:

*“The natural world drew me in first not as a source of beauty to observe, but as an expression of mathematics, and physics: I loved natural shapes for the trial-and-error perfection of their function; I loved seed pods for the ingenuity of their dispersal mechanisms; I loved the algorithms of spirals, saw toothed leaf tips, and the shapes of trees that imitated the shapes of rivers and their tributaries.” Mary Jo Hoffman

* “We don’t value slowing down very much as a culture and we miss out as a result.” Greta Eskridge

*”As the project progressed, so too my definition of seasonality was redefined. I noticed not big sweeping changes in temperature and light, but daily changes. I noticed the exact day the sap began to run. The day the first catkins exploded. The day the lilacs opened. And the day the first orange maple leaf appeared. And I captured it all, one high-resolution image at a time, for ten years. The attentiveness required to make an image a day led to a depth of understanding I had not expected. The more narrow and deep I went, the more my world expanded.” Mary Jo Hoffman

*” Kids don’t know the names of anything in nature anymore. How do we grow tomorrow’s stewards of the environment if the kids don’t have an attachment to it?” Mary Jo Hoffman

*” Learning names of things in nature makes you care about them more. Because then you have a relationship and connection beyond, that’s a pretty flower.” Greta Eskridge

*”How do you raise creative kids? You model it every day.” Mary Jo Hoffman

*”Give your kids space and time for creativity.” Greta Eskridge

*” Part of being a noticer is having childlike wonder.” Mary Jo Hoffman

*” Owning the responsibilities of sharing the awe and wonder of the natural world is one of the duties of being a parent.” Mary Jo Hoffman

*” Look for micro joys in your life!” Mary Jo Hoffman

If you haven’t already, please take a minute to subscribe to this podcast. I’d also be so very grateful if you leave a 5-star rating and write a quick review.

Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster.

Thank you for listening and being part of my team.

I love you guys!

Greta

In this episode I got to talk to my internet friend turned real life friend, Erin Loechner. Erin is a homeschooling mom to 3, a wife, a gifted writer and an incredibly creative, brilliant, unique person. I adore her.

In this episode Erin shared with us about her brand-new book, The Opt-Out Family: How to Give Your Kids What Technology Can’t. Erin’s book is a call to action and an invitation for every parent. It calls them to sit up and take notice of how the algorithm is coming after our kids, and then invites them to do something about it. The book is full of compelling research and helpful, practical ideas for helping your family opt out.

What makes Erin’s book even more compelling is that she is actually living that life with her family. Four years ago Erin left her successful career as a social media influencer, shut down her social media accounts and opted out. She knows what she is talking about. I really enjoyed this conversation with Erin and I learned a lot. I know you will too.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from this episode:

*I wanted to model for my daughter what it looked like to have a vibrant career and life without social media.

*If my kids say, “I don’t like how social media makes me feel, but I don’t know any other way. I want to be able to say, I’ve got another way. Let’s do it together.”

*You can’t know the opportunity missed but you can know the fruit gained.

*This is the world our children live in, where playground swings become selfie props. It is not an accident. It is the work of the algorithm. It is the work of a machine, a mission and a great strategy dreamed up by people in board rooms who make a living by stealing a life.

*We are no longer asking why we would opt out. We are asking how we opt out.

*It’s not enough to say no to devices. We have to say yes to something better.

*We parents can do it better than the tech guys!

*Our kids just want to be with us. It’s really so simple.

*There is a powerful message being sent to parents that our kids don’t want to be with us, especially as they grow up. Then we get afraid and think we have to compete, to be cool, to be better than Tik Tok. But when we slow down and just spend time with our kids, even our teens, we find out that they really do want to be with us.

*Start here: Give your kids your eyes.

The 2 books Erin and I talked about are: The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio (here) and Grandma Gatewood’s Walk (here) Chase joy and go read them now!

Find Erin’s book here

Visit her website here for additional resources and helpful info.

If you haven’t already, please take a minute to subscribe to my podcast.

I’d also be so very grateful if you leave a 5-star rating and write a quick review.

Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster.

Thank you for listening and being part of my team.

I love you guys!

Greta

Friends! This episode is so fantastic. We are talking girls and puberty in a positive, uplifting way. This is such a needed point of view surrounding this topic.

My guest, Megan Ziegenfus, is the creator of Body Talk Basics. It is a course that includes videos, a book, and guided conversations about puberty for moms and daughters to experience together. I have read and watched this course and I loved it. I am so glad to have resources, to share with my daughter and yours, that celebrate how incredibly and beautifully designed the female body is. The course also makes sense of how our bodies work and explains those things in an easy to understand and straightforward way. I can only imagine the next generation

You’ll love this episode and come away with some great things to offer your daughter and probably yourself too!

Here are some of my favorite quotes from this episode:

*I saw a need for this to be a bonding conversation between moms and daughters instead of just a transfer of information.

*The conversation, even the awkward part, is where the bonding occurs. It is an opportunity for the parents to show the kids, “I love you so much I am willing to sit in this challenging space with you. I want to be with you.” It builds trust and communication.

*It’s empowering to learn how our body works and the incredible purpose behind it.

*These conversations about puberty are a part of creating a healthy sexual culture.

*So many moms say, “I didn’t know how healing this course would be for me.”

*Deep down, girls want to be told how their body is working and that it is designed with a beautiful plan in mind.

*You’re giving your daughter a gift when you say, “look how amazing you are! God designed you this way. He made me this way and you’re here because he made me this way.” We have to celebrate this!

Be sure to check out Megan’s website here and follow Megan on Instagram too. Her account is a lot of fun and really helpful.

You can use the promo code: GRETA for a discount on the course. Sign up here.

*Please take a minute to subscribe to this podcast. I’d also be so very grateful if you leave a 5-star rating and write a quick review.

Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster.

Thank you for listening and being part of my team. I love you guys!

Greta

Today’s episode is tender and contains topics that can be challenging if you have walked through, or are walking through, pregnancy loss. But this episode also has the potential to bring a lot of hope and healing wherever you are on your journey. You will feel less alone if you have walked through miscarriage or still birth. And if you haven’t, you’ll come away feeling better equipped to come alongside someone who has. It is my prayer that through the conversation in this episode, God will meet you where you are with His kindness and care.

Today I talk with my new friend, Jackie Gibson, an Australian living in Philadelphia with her husband and children. Jackie is also the author of the book, You Are Still a Mother: Hope For Women Grieving a Stillbirth or Miscarriage.

I read Jackie’s book in one sitting. Even though I experienced a miscarriage 14 years ago, her book deeply ministered to my heart. I felt so seen and comforted and so equipped to help my fellow mama’s who experience this kind of grief. I can’t recommend this book enough, whether you have walked through pregnancy loss yourself, know someone who has, or just want to have resources to refer to when loss comes.

Jackie shares her own story of losing her daughter at 39 weeks to still birth. And then we discuss the hardship of suffering, and the way Jesus comes alongside us in suffering. We also cover a lot of other topics, like how we can share about loss after it happens, the strange feeling of shame that can happen after pregnancy loss, how we can help moms who are experiencing loss, PTSD and trauma after pregnancy loss and so much more.

My tears were near the surface through this whole episode because I have such a tenderness for every other mama who has lost a baby. I hope you’ll listen to this episode knowing that if you are hurting you are not alone, and in my heart I am giving you the biggest hug.

Here are some quotes that really stood out to me in this episode:

*This is a club no one wants to be a part of.

*Miscarriage can be such a very lonely grief.

*We need to invite people into our grief and ask them to walk through it with us and pray for us. But for some reason we have this fear in doing that and part of that is this shame that we have done something wrong or that our bodies have failed us.

*I’d been a Christian for many years, but in those moments, I felt like I met Him (Jesus) again for the first time.

*God can give us gifts even in suffering.

*Even though your arms are empty, your heart still carries your baby wherever you go.

*To write names down or to say them, when these mothers rarely get to hear their babies named or acknowledged, means so much to a grieving mom, whether it is fresh grief, or it’s been years.

*Our babies have dignity and value no matter their size because they were made by God.

*From the very start, their lives matter and they are worthy of both grief and honor. GE

*It is never too late to remember your baby and to mark that little one’s preciousness. JG

*This is a story about Him and how He is always good, even in the darkness. JG

*The moon is still round even when we can’t see it, and God is still good, even when we don’t feel like He is. JG

*Are we going to keep believing in the darkness what we have seen in the light? Lilias Trotter

More about Jackie:

Jackie’s husband wrote a book about loss for kids as a result of talking to their son through the loss of his baby sister. It is called, The Moon is Always Round.

Jackie isn’t on social media, but please share her book and this episode with friends who need the comforting and helpful message she brings.

If you haven’t already, please take a minute to subscribe to this podcast. I’d also be so very grateful if you leave a 5-star rating and write a quick review.

Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster.

Thank you for listening and being part of my team.

I love you guys!

Greta

I loved talking with today’s guest, Molly Stillman. I first met Molly through reading her book and just fell in love with her. So, getting to talk to her about her book and her life was really, really cool. Molly is a fantastic writer and you should all read her debut book, If I Don’t Laugh, I’ll Cry: How Death, Debt and Comedy led to a Life of Faith, Farming and Forgetting What I Came Into This Room For. You should also check out her blog and her podcast, Can I Laugh on Your Shoulder?

One of my favorite parts of the book and this episode is learning about Molly’s mom. She was a writer too. You can check out Molly’s mom’s book here: Home before Morning: The Story of An Army Nurse in Vietnam by Lynda Van Devanter.

There are so many other great parts to Molly’s story—some very, very hard and others so funny and wildly entertaining. I know you will love Molly just like I do.

Here are a few quotes from the episode that I especially loved:

*”Every broken, messed up story has a purpose and its possible to gain everything if you’re willing to surrender it all to Jesus and that’s the best reason to tell your story.”

*”I learned that oftentimes people don’t need to hear our condemnation for the mistakes we’ve made, but instead our commendation for getting the help we so desperately need. I learned that encouragement, even from strangers, can provide the strength, energy and emotional stamina to do hard things. I learned that prayer is powerful and when we offer to pray for someone, even when it seems uncomfortable, we could be planting a seed that we may never see to harvest. And on the flip side, when we accept prayer, it has the power to change hearts.”

*It is never too late to apologize for something.

*Joy is an essential part of thriving.

*Chase joy by slowing down.

So much good stuff, right? Be sure to read Molly’s book, and check out her blog and podcast.

Please take a minute to subscribe to this podcast. I’d also be so very grateful if you leave a 5-star rating and write a quick review.

Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster.

Thank you for listening and being part of my team.

I love you guys!

Greta

*Don’t forget this is your last chance to sign up for my webinar, Parenting in the Digital Age. You are going to get help with so many of the issues facing parents today—whether your kids are 3, 13 or 23. Sign up here.

In this week’s episode, I get to talk to Kristen Miele from Sex Ed Reclaimed. I love the mission of her organization: to empower and encourage families to have consistent, honest conversations while accessing God-honoring sexual health education because God calls us to disciple the next generation. And her vision is just as powerful: to break the cycle of silence about sex in the Christian world. Gosh how we need Kristen’s voice and message in our world today! 

Here are some key takeaways from this episode:

*Sex is good and it is God’s gift, so we don’t have to be afraid or embarrassed to talk about it.

* It’s a work of the devil to shut us up about sex and to add shame to it.

* The world is constantly talking about sex. They are discipling our kids on the topic so we need to step in and add God to the conversation.

* Sex is an opportunity to talk about Jesus. (Yes! This is my favorite.)

Some tips Kristen gave are so helpful:

*Our kid’s questions are an opportunity for discipleship. So answer their questions honestly.

*Only give them as much information as they need—just a little bit at a time.

*Think about the expression on your face and the tone of your voice when you answer their questions. Don’t panic! Instead be warm and welcoming.

*Invite your older kids to look at the world around them and answer the question, “is that working for them? Are they joyful, peace filled, and hopeful?”

Be sure to check out the courses at Sex Ed Reclaimed.

There are courses designed for families, home school students, Christian schools and churches and for ages 3-18.

You can get curriculum samples on her website.

Kristen generously gave my podcast listeners a discount of 15% off. Just use the code: CHRISTIANPARENTING

Please take a minute to subscribe to this podcast. I’d also be so very grateful if you leave a 5 star rating and write a quick review.

Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster.

Thank you for listening and being part of my team.

I love you guys!

Greta