Don't Mom Alone Podcast

“Good fences make good neighbors” is a line from Robert Frost’s Mending Wall, but the poem goes on to say, “Before I built a wall I'd ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out”  So often in our lives we feel the unrest of chaos or dysfunction in our relationships, but we don’t know exactly what we need to wall out or wall in. My guest this week, Lysa TerKeurst faced a new season of life and wanted to enter it with wisdom and strength - caring for others and herself in each of her relationships. Her personal journey led to her newest book, Good Boundaries and Goodbyes, a guide for each of us as we navigate relationships, practice setting healthy boundaries and even sometimes need to say goodbye.  Connect with Lysa TerKeurst:  Website:  https://lysaterkeurst.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialLysa  Instagram:  @lysaterkeurst  Links Mentioned:   Good Boundaries and Goodbyes : Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are by Lysa TerKeurst    Setting Healthy Boundaries with Family :: Dr. John Townsend [Ep 250] Leslie Vernick and Difficult v Destructive Relationships - https://leslievernick.com  Therapy and Theology Podcast  Related Episodes: Setting Healthy Boundaries with Family :: Dr. John Townsend [Ep 250] Forgiving What You Can’t Forget :: Lysa TerKeurst [Ep 304] 5 Schedule Sappers and How to Stop Them :: Lysa TerKeurst [Ep 45] Uninvited :: Lysa TerKeurst, Kay Wyma and Courtney DeFeo [Ep 131] Featured Sponsors:  Find links to this week’s sponsors and unique promo codes at dontmomalone.com/sponsors.

Grief has been called the unwanted visitor - it shows up when you don’t want it and it often stays longer than we would want. In the midst of seasons of suffering or grieving it’s so easy to feel isolated and to be isolated, the weight of bringing our real selves into community feeling like another burden to bear. Whatever dreams we might have had of how our life we go or what it would look like for us to serve God and others seem to be an impossibility.  Meet my guest this week, Lindsey Wheeler. For over a decade Lindsay and her family have fought through her chronic illness and fought for her special needs daughter. She has felt the sting of isolation and the deep relief and joy of true community. In the midst of it all she has found a way to serve others and share God’s gentle love for them by sitting with them in their grief. Through her small business, Bottle of Tears (see discount code below), she reminds others they are seen in their grief - by her, by God, by a loved one that would send one of her precious vintage bottles.  Connect with Lindsey Wheeler:  Website:  https://www.bottleoftears.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bottleoftears  Instagram:  @bottle_of_tears  Links Mentioned:    IF: Gathering  DMA listeners special code for Bottle of Tears: DONTMOMALONE20 for 20% off any order through January 31, 2023. Related Episodes: Adopting Special Needs :: Candace and Alice [Ep 213] Life Giving Faith in Every Circumstance :: Lisa Appelo :: Summer of Mentorship Week 2 Be Vulnerable, Find Your People :: Jennie Allen [Ep 354] Featured Sponsors:  Find links to this week’s sponsors and unique promo codes at dontmomalone.com/sponsors. 

“Deck the Halls with Chaos and Unmet Expectations” - not the traditional words to the song but maybe more accurate?  Advent is celebrating Jesus coming into our everyday life, meeting us humans in the spaces where we are. My guest this week, Mindy Rives, reminds us that our activities to celebrate Advent should be just that - woven into our everyday life. But so often we get buried in “failed” activities or the season zooms past us.  Mindy’s excellent planning tool, Advent Prep Club, will help you find all sorts of activities from free or inexpensive things to more involved activities, with plenty of space to add in your holiday traditions.   Connect with Mindy Rives:  Website:  https://adventprepclub.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adventprepclub  Instagram:  @adventprepclub    Links Mentioned:    DMA Discount Code for 15 % off Advent Prep Club: DONTMOMALONE   Related Episodes: Celebrating Advent :: Tsh Oxenreider [Ep 305] Christmas Traditions with Little Ones :: Jacki Rucksdashel [Ep 142]  Santa or No Santa :: Ep 306 Featured Sponsors:  Find links to this week’s sponsors and unique promo codes at dontmomalone.com/sponsors. 

The Chosen has taken the world by storm. It’s the largest fan supported entertainment project of all time with over 408 million views on its app alone. It’s a show about the Bible, about Jesus written from the unique perspective of the people Jesus chose to be around. It showcases Jesus’ incredible love and puts us the viewer right into the daily life of Jesus’ disciples and friends.  Join Heather as she speaks with cast members and writers and more on The Chosen’s impact on their own lives and people around the world.  Connect with The Chosen Series:  Website:  https://watch.angelstudios.com/thechosen  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InsideTheChosen/  Instagram:  @thechosentvseries  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChosenSeries  TikTok: @thechosentv  Links Mentioned:    Unfiltered: Gen Z Reacts to The Chosen  Buy your tickets starting Oct 25th for the Season 3 World Premiere on Nov 18th  Related Episodes: Media, Imagination, & the Kingdom of God :: Erick Goss [Ep 136] Doubt, Questions & Your Teen’s Growing Faith :: Mary Jo Sharp [Ep 375]  Featured Sponsors:  Find links to this week’s sponsors and unique promo codes at dontmomalone.com/sponsors. 

Do you view other moms as collaborators or competitors? Whether it’s our achievements or our difficulties we often compare ourselves to other moms rather than come alongside them (or even celebrate them - gasp!).   My guests this week say it this way -  “[we] are committed to choosing collaboration over competition and running far from that scarcity mentality that there's just not enough at the table. Instead, we're just building a bigger table.”  Jessica is the founder of Noonday Collections and her business partner Liz Bohannon founded Sseko and they are joining forces to become the world’s largest fair-trade fashion selling brand. They encourage us that joining together as moms doesn’t deplete our resources but actually multiplies them.  Connect with Liz & Jessica:  Website:  https://www.noondaycollection.com  https://ssekodesigns.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noondaycollection https://www.facebook.com/ssekodesigns  Instagram:  @jessicahonegger   @lizbohannon  @noondaycollection @ssekodesigns Twitter: @noondaystyle  Links Mentioned:   Become an Ambassador! (Get a heart to heart necklace AND join Liz, Jessica and I for a virtual happy hour!!) Sign up here and in the drop down menu on how you were connected select “Don’t Mom Alone”.  Noonday Collection https://www.noondaycollection.com   The Best of You: Break Free From Painful Patterns, Mend Your Past, and Discover Your True Self in God by Dr. Alison Cook Related Episodes: Winning Together as Co-Laborers :: Heather MacFadyen[Ep 367] Be Vulnerable, Find Your People :: Jennie Allen [Ep 354] Relationships You Need to Be the Mom You Want to Be :: Heather MacFadyen [Ep 341] Friendship is Hard :: Amy Weatherly and Jess Johnston [Ep 350]  Featured Sponsors:  Find links to this week’s sponsors and unique promo codes at dontmomalone.com/sponsors.  Moms making a difference: join our bakery project. Click here to contribute to our goal of raising $12,400 to equip a bakery for 125 women in Guatemala.

It’s been pointed out that if you want to make anything scary or negative, put “teenage” in front of it. For example, teenage driving, teenage parties, teenage sex, teenage thinking.  One of our main jobs as parents is to help our kids grow into functioning adults who make their own decisions. In order to do that, we have to give our kids freedoms to practice making their own decisions in meaningful ways.  Dr. Ken Wilgus is a father, author, and licensed psychologist with many years of helping parents and young adults navigate the teen years. He tells us that our teens want to know they can actually grow up in our house - to begin experiencing the freedom (and responsibility) of being an adult while still under our care. Though he isn’t promising us an easy ride, Dr. Wilgus encourages us that if we do that it will actually foster more attachment and connection with our teenagers.  Connect with Dr. Ken Wilgus:  Website:  http://www.drwilgus.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/feedingthemouthPodcast  Instagram:  @feedingthemouth    Links Mentioned:   Feeding the Mouth That Bites You: A Complete Guide to Parenting Adolescents and Launching them Into the World by Ken Wilgus, PhD.  Feeding the Mouth That Bites You Podcast    Related Episodes: Doubt, Questions, & Your Teen’s Growing Faith :: Mary Jo Sharp [Ep 375]  Understanding Your Developing Teen :: Dr. Nell Bush [Ep 351]   Compassion Causes:  Join our DMA community and help 125 women in Guatemala become financially independent by funding the equipment for a bakery!! Click here to join us and raise $12,400.  Featured Sponsors:  Find links to this week’s sponsors and unique promo codes at dontmomalone.com/sponsors. 

What does it mean to have the Holy Spirit? To encounter or experience the Holy Spirit? How does he speak to us? Does he speak to us?  Western cultures tend to operate under the assumption that if we can’t explain it, it isn’t real. My guest this week gives us hope beyond what we can understand. Author and pastor Max Lucado encourages us that God wants to guide us and speak to us and reminds us that the Holy Spirit was given to us as believers to guarantee our arrival one day in heaven. He shares some of his own experience and what it’s like to hear from God by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you are looking for empowerment in motherhood and strength for difficult days and decisions, Max Lucado is encouraging you to “open yourself to the possibility that the greatest power in the universe is alive and well accessible to you wherever you are.” Connect with Max Lucado:  Website:  https://maxlucado.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maxlucado  Instagram:  @maxlucado Twitter: @maxlucado YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MaxLucadoOfficial  Links Mentioned:   Help is Here: Finding Fresh Strength and Purpose in the Power of the Holy Spirit by Max Lucado  Cru Spiritual Gifts Quiz   Related Episodes: You Are Never Alone :: Max Lucado [Ep 298] Parenting in the Power of the Holy Spirit :: Jeannie Cunnion [Ep 347]  Featured Sponsors:  Find links to this week’s sponsors and unique promo codes at dontmomalone.com/sponsors. 

How do you feel when you are in between stages of life? Excited? Nervous? Afraid?  Tweens - those kids in between childhood and adolescence - are capable, growing into their own thoughts and ideas and preferences, but not quite as opinionated as teenagers.  In this “in between” there is plenty of room for curiosity and character development if we will stay connected to and interested in our kids.  My guest this week is Charissa Lopez (she’s gotten married since she was last on the show as Charissa Fry), a therapist and parent coach, and she encourages us that healthy attachment can lead to healthy individuation (that process of our kids distinguishing themselves from us).  She helps us see that for the entire time we are in relationship with our kids they need comfort and encouragement and connection with us. Though we still have authority over our kids we, as parents, are transitioning out of such a hands-on role in their lives and Charissa helps us think through puberty and friend groups, and our tweens’ spiritual growth.  Connect with Charissa Lopez:  Website:  https://charissalopez.com  Special Resources for DMA Listeners from past episodes: https://charissalopez.com/resources/regulation-pack/ Links Mentioned*:   **For resources mentioned below, parents should read the book first. Don’t feel like you have to read every word to your child. Just use the parts that work for your family and skip the rest. Or discuss why some people believe differently than you.* Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté  It’s So Amazing!:A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies and Families The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Younger Girls, Revised Edition The Care and Keeping of You 2: The Body Book for Older Girls Guy Stuff: The Body Book for Boys Birds and Bees Ministry with Mary Flo Ridley and Megan Michelson Related Episodes: Connecting Through Play :: Charissa Fry [Ep 319]  The Window of Tolerance :: Charissa Fry [Ep 260]  Self-Differentiation and Why it Matters :: Nancy Houston [Ep 335] Featured Sponsors:  Find links to this week’s sponsors and unique promo codes at dontmomalone.com/sponsors.

What do we do with ourselves when our kids need less of our minute to minute attention? How do we fill the space given to us when kids go to preschool or elementary school?  If we aren’t intentional as we step into this next phase of motherhood it can become a place of confusion or lost identity. As we focus on different Ages & Stages of our children’s development during this series we are taking an aside this week to parent ourselves if you will.  My guest this week, Kara Trochta, has a special place in her heart for the moms in the middle - whose children aren’t all launched into adulthood but who aren’t asking for their juice boxes to be opened 1675 times a day anymore. Through her own journey of soul searching and learning to dream again she has created a program to walk moms through this process of realigning who you are and where you are headed.   Connect with Kara Trochta:  Website:  https://www.karatrochta.com/session/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karatrochtacoaching/  Instagram:  @karatrochta  Links Mentioned:    Book Your Free Middle Motherhood™️ Life Audit Session to get clarity and create purpose and passion in this next season of motherhood. www.karatrochta.com/session Grab your Free Guide: 5 Steps to Writing Your Next Chapter in Motherhood www.karatrochta.com/free  Related Episodes: Sunday Planning :: Retha Nichole [Ep 349] Manage Your Life with Guilt-Free Confidence :: Christy Wright [Ep 192]  Creating Family Culture :: Amber O’Neal Johnston [SOM Wk 4] Featured Sponsors:  Find links to this week’s sponsors and unique promo codes at dontmomalone.com/sponsors. 

What is your favorite elementary school memory? A teacher you loved? Playing on a favorite team? Parenting elementary school kids can sometimes feel like a breath of fresh air - kids are more capable, they can get their own snacks, help out around the house, and more. But in every stage of childhood our kids are developing and it’s important we give them the tools to do so.   My guest this week is pediatrician, author, speaker, and mom, Dr. Meg Meeker. For over thirty years she has been helping kids and their parents navigate childhood. In this episode she encourages us to let our elementary kids slow down and grow self-esteem and empathy by being and doing with us. We cover a range of topics from identity formation to sensory issues to extra curricular activities.  Connect with [Dr. Meg Meeker]:  Website:  https://www.meekerparenting.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/megmeekermd/  Instagram:  @megmeekermd Twitter: @megmeekermd  Podcast: https://www.meekerparenting.com/podcast  Links Mentioned:   Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters on PureFlix Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know by Dr. Meg Meeker  Related Episodes: Creating Digital Safe Spaces :: Chris McKenna [Ep 360] Shaping Your Family Culture :: Kimberly Amici [Ep 294] Featured Sponsors:  Thrive Market. Get convenient, high-quality, affordable groceries delivered with Thrive Market! Join Thrive Market today and get $80 in free groceries! Visit ThriveMarket.com/DMA.  Rothy’s. Find your new favorite shoes and get $20off your first purchase at rothys.com/DMA. Thrive Causemetics. Right now, you can get 15% off your first order when you visit thrivecausemetics.com/DMA.