#116 Parenting with Freedom

#116 Parenting with Freedom

by | Sep 9, 2014 | Podcast | 0 comments

All of the parenting books, the intentional planning, and the “I’m going to be a great parent” attitude meant nothing the minute Ellen had her firstborn, Erin. None of the discipline strategies worked the way they promised. So Ellen began the adventure of finding ways to understand the different hearts of her children. Only then, was she able to understand their needs so she could be the parent she really wanted to be.
 
Ellen Schuknecht (Erin’s mom!) joins us on So Here’s the Thing this week with amazing advice for every parent out there. Whether your child is compliant or strong-willed, you will want to have a pen and paper with you when listening! We cover topics such as:
  • Getting to the root of disobedience
  • Strategies to focus on the heart for a more positive long-term impact
  • Letting go of the fear of parenting failure
  • Why traditional parenting advice may not be working for you kids

We want to give away two copies of Ellen and Erin’s new book, Free to Parent (more info on the book below) to our listeners. Leave us a comment and tell us what was most freeing in what you heard on the podcast today.

OnlyGodCanChangetheHeart

FREE DOWNLOAD

In our book, we talk about “The Veritas Valient”  — a long-term vision checklist of where we see our kids in twenty years. Download a free version of this list and tack it to your fridge so you can keep the long-term vision for your kids in mind.

Click here to download.

Meet Our Guest

Ellen Schuknecht

Ellen Schuknecht

Ellen Schuknecht has been working as an educator for more than 35 years, with experience ranging from early childhood education, to high school advising to family ministries counseling.  She currently serves as the Director of Family Ministries at Veritas Academy in Austin, Texas where she mentors parents, teachers, and students on a daily basis.  She uses her blog, www.familywings.org as well as her many speaking engagements as a platform to help parents learn how to lead their children to Christ in a way that’s not only authentic, but that also builds the relationship between parent and child.  Ellen has been married to her husband Glen for 39 years and lives in Austin, Texas near her three grown children, their spouses and– her pride and joy– her eleven precious grandchildren ranging in age from due-in-February to 8 years old.

#116 Parenting with Freedom

#115 The Search for “Home”

by | Sep 2, 2014 | Podcast | 0 comments

Heartache. Searching. Loneliness. An overwhelming need to be exquisitely loved.
 
Can you relate? Our guest this week, Emily Wierenga, shares her journey in searching for “home”. She was raised in a Christian home but never felt truly loved. She longed to know she fit in with her own family, turned to an eating disorder and eventually felt healed just to turn back to the eating disorder years later.
 
Her story will touch your heart, inspire you and fill your heart with hope. Her heart for her family, her adopted family of Uganda and the way she lives out the love and home she has found is special and I am so excited to introduce her to you.

To find out more about Emily’s work and her non profit visit thelulutree.com

Would you like to win a copy of The Atlas Girl? Leave a comment below about what home feels like to you.

Hewasprotectingme

 

FREE DOWNLOAD

Emily would love to share with all of our listeners, the first two chapters from her book Atlas Girl. Just click on the image to the right to download it today.

Poignant and passionate, Atlas Girl is a very personal story of a universal yearning for home and the assurance that we are known, forgiven, and beloved. Readers will find in this memoir a true description of living faith as a two-way pursuit in a world fraught with distraction. Anyone who wrestles with the brokenness we find in the world will love this emotional journey into the arms of the God who heals all wounds.

Click to Download. 

Meet Our Guest

Emily Wierenga

Emily Wierenga

Emily T. Wierenga is an award-winning journalist, columnist, artist, author, and blogger at www.emilywierenga.com. Her work has appeared in many publications, including Prodigal Magazine, A Deeper Story, Christianity Today, Dayspring’s (in)courage, and Focus on the Family. She speaks regularly about her journey with anorexia. She lives in Alberta, Canada, with her husband, Trenton, and their two sons.

#116 Parenting with Freedom

#114 School Supplies, Starbucks and… Debt-Proofing your Everyday Spending

by | Aug 26, 2014 | Podcast | 0 comments

Where does all the money go? It can be frustrating when you are trying to save money but every time you turn around there is something you weren’t planning for- school supplies, birthday gifts, and oh wait, is that Christmas decor in Hobby Lobby!

Our guest Mary Hunt, author of Debt-Proof Living, joins us with practical, do-able and inspiring tips on how to take the stress out of the finances. If you are drowning in debt, almost debt free or anywhere in between, you’ll want to hear Mary’s EASY tips on getting where you want to me- financially free!
 
Mary shares:
  • her experience of getting out of debt
  • how to get started
  • tips on staying motivated
  • the key to getting started

Listen in and leave a comment below to win her book, Debt-Proof Living. What is holding you back from becoming debt-free?

Debt-free-attitude

* We discussed making our own Starbucks inspired coffee and we want to share all of our great recipes. Just visit Kathi’s blog.

FREE DOWNLOAD

Download the free Debt-Proof Living Quick Start Guide and get on your way to financial freedom. The guide includes several resources, links to the Rapid Debt Repayment Calculator and Manager, freedom account manager and more. It’s free so check it out!

 

Meet Our Guest

Mary Hunt

Mary Hunt

Mary Hunt is an award winning and bestselling author, syndicated columnist and sought-aftermotivational speaker.  She is a frequent guest on radio and television, she has appeared on dozens of television shows including “Dr. Phil,” “Good Morning America,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “Dateline.” 

Mary is the founder of Debt-Proof Living,  helping to provide hope, help and realistic solutions for individuals who are committed to financially responsible and debt-free living.

#116 Parenting with Freedom

#113 Living out Your Passion and Your Purpose

by | Aug 19, 2014 | Podcast | 0 comments

God sometimes asks us to do things that seem crazy big and beyond our scope of “ableness” (and let’s be real, willingness!).

Things like:

  • Starting a business
  • Creating a ministry
  • International adoption

What happens when we faithfully jump in with both feet? Jessica Honegger, founder of Noonday Collections, joins us on So Here’s the Thing to discuss her journey of listening to the prompting God put on her heart. From adoption, to job creation, to everyday willingness to see Jesus in the big and small, Jessica’s journey will inspire you. If you have a passion and you don’t know where to begin, listening to this podcast is it!

You will gain some practical tips on:

  • How and who to ask for help
  • When to know God is saying go for it
  • Bringing your entire family along for the journey
  • Being real with yourself, your purpose and the demands of raising your family

GIVEAWAY

Win a pair of earrings from Noonday!

You have a passion for a reason! What small change can you make to make a big difference in somebody else’s life whether it be buying from micro businesses, Operation Christmas Child, or living out the purpose God is calling you to? Leave a comment below for a chance to win one pair of these gorgeous ear rings from Noonday!

_CWP6703-l _CWP6853-l

 

WalkintheHolySpirit

 

Meet Our Guest

Jessica Honegger

Jessica Honegger

Most little girls had lemonade stands. Jessica, on the other hand, had jewelry stands.

But at age 16, she traveled to Kenya where she walked through the Nairobi slums. She came home from the trip a bit of an activist. Then in 2010, Jessica and her husband went on a trip to Uganda. It was then that Jessica and her husband decided to grow their family through adoption. She launched Noonday Collection in order to raise money to bring their son and third child home from Rwanda, and the rest is history!

#116 Parenting with Freedom

#112 The Cure for the “Perfect” Life Part 2- Performancism and People-Pleasing

by | Aug 12, 2014 | Podcast | 0 comments

In part two of my interview with my co-author Cheri Gregory, we talk about how the last two of the bullies from our book The Cure for the Perfect Life 12 Ways to Stop Trying Harder and Start Living Brave, Performancism and People Pleasing, follow us around and beat us up daily, and what you can do about it.

Do you:

  • Change your mood to match the mood of those around you so you don’t upset them with your happiness/excitement/bad day/ etc?
  • Do more so you can seem like more to those around you?
  • Have a long to do list out of fear of not being what you want others to perceive you to be?

If you can relate, you may be being bullied by people-pleasing or performancism or both! It’s time to live braver and stop trying harder.

PeoplePleasing-vs-Authentic

FREE DOWNLOAD

Let’s just call these Bravery on a sticky note! Download, print and use these adorable sticky notes to spur you on against the “P” bullies in your life.

TIP: To get “sticky” notes, 1) print the page, 2) place blank sticky notes (the full adhesive with the one non-stick edge work the best for printing on top of the printout), 3) and reprint on TOP of the new page, 4) peel and stick.

Click to Download.

Meet Our Guest

Cheri Gregory

Cheri Gregory

Cheri Gregory is a Certified Personality Trainer; contributor to multiple books, including Wired That Way and 21 Ways to Connect With Your Kids; and frequent speaker for MOPS groups, women’s retreats, parent workshops, and educational conferences. She’s been married to her college sweetheart, Daniel, for twenty-five years and they have two young adult children, Annemarie and Jonathon.

She blogs about expectations, “baditude”, and hope at www.CheriGregory.com. 

#116 Parenting with Freedom

#111 Holy, Messy and HGTV Our Interview with Jen Hatmaker, Author of Interrupted

by | Aug 7, 2014 | Podcast | 0 comments

She had all of her “Christian” ducks in a row…. until God swept them all to the side.  Jen Hatmaker was a Christian speaker and author, married to a PASTOR for heaven’s sake who spent every day of her life doing the church thing and doing it well. But then, Jen prayed a prayer: “God, raise up in me a holy passion.”

And that’s when her whole life got completely messed up.

In this episode of “So Here’s the Thing” Kathi and Erin talk to Jen about her book, “Interrupted: When Jesus Wrecks Your Comfortable Christianity” and discuss how that one simple prayer led her to flip her life upside down… and do everything from serving the poor to letting HGTV invade her home.

Tell us in the comments below how Jen’s experience of being interrupted has inspired you to pray for a holy passion or what is keeping you in your comfortable Christianity. Two winners will be randomly chosen and will receive two copies of Interrupted.

 

JesusActionFigure

FREE DOWNLOAD

This printable is a great reminder that HE is indeed serious about all of this! Print it out for you, your friends, your friends friends… you get the idea.

Click to Download.

Meet Our Guest

Jen Hatmaker

Jen Hatmaker

Jen Hatmaker is the author of 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess and A Modern Girl’s Bible Study series. With a heart for her generation, she speaks at conferences around the country and writes for numerous sites and outlets. She and her family are featured in an 8-episode series on HGTV called “My Big Family Renovation” airing July 2014. She resides in Austin, Texas with her husband Brandon and their five children. To learn more about Jen, check out her speaking schedule, and follow her blog, go to www.jenhatmaker.com.