Marriage and Intimacy Tips for Christian Couples: Secrets of Happily Ever After

Today, I sit down with Ralphie Jacobs. She is the creator of one of my very favorite Instagram accounts, Simply on Purpose where she writes about positive parenting, family culture and living with purpose. She opens up with me about her thoughts on sibling rivalry, who inspires her, how to set clear boundaries, what she hopes her kids will learn from her and so much more.In our interview, she mentions the book: The Power of Positive Parenting by Glenn Latham. You can find her on Instagram @simplyonpurpose.  www.instagram.com/simplyonpurposeSend us a text

My interview today is with Lauren Golden, the founder and creator of the Free Mama Movement. Lauren loves helping mamas free themselves from the 9-5 grind. She launched The Free Mama Movement to show working moms that they don’t have to choose between family and financial stability. Hundreds of families today are happier and more fulfilled thanks to Lauren and her online programs. Whether you’re a single mom, a military mom, or a mom in a two-parent family who doesn’t want to sacrifice your time with your babies in order to provide for them, Lauren wants you to know that you don’t have to. Today, as the fearless leader of The Free Mama Movement and a thriving community of over 3,500 women, Lauren is passionate about showing other moms how to start and run a successful freelancing business from home. In her upcoming book, she shares her own story — along with plenty of practical advice for anyone looking to leave the 9-5 behind and make a real living from home. In addition to her self-paced program, Lauren also works one-on-one with motivated mamas who want to get their businesses up and running fast. Her talks on freelancing, building a business, and making over your mindset, and other relevant topics resonate with women around the world.  In our interview today, she opens up about how to achieve the perfect work/life balance, why busy is a dirty word to her, failure, how to deal with criticism, who inspires her an so much more. Trust me when I tell you, you are going to want to take notes on this one.She is most active in her Facebook group: The Free Mama Movement on Instagram @laurengoldenfreemama or online at: www.thefreemamamovement.com.In our episode, she refers to the book: Mindset by Carol Dwek. And, she talks about the book she is writing, which I cannot wait to read when it comes out! Send us a text

In today’s episode, I share 5 things I do everyday to keep my marriage sizzling hot! My husband is awesome and so easy to love. We have a great relationship, but it is far from perfect. That means it takes constant effort and dedication to doing what it takes to keep it going strong. The great thing about these 5 things that I share with you is that they are pretty simple and you can do them without your spouse knowing or participating. Isn’t that fun! They don’t even have to know about it. You have all the control.It is worth every bit of effort I put into my marriage everyday, because it is the most important relationship I will ever have. I hope these things are helpful to you. There are thousands of things you can be doing and everyone has their own advice about marriage, but these are the things that work best for me. I hope they will be helpful and if so, please let me know what you’ve tried and what has worked for you.Send us a text

Today’s bonus episode is my 6-year-old son wanting to follow his dreams and become a podcast host. This is a little 5 minute episode that will make you smile from ear to ear. But…if you don’t think kids are adorable or you don’t have an extra 5 minutes, skip this one.My kids hear me recording, editing and posting each and every episode and sometimes they want in on the fun. I just couldn’t resist sharing this awesome episode that proves my 6 year old is actually listening some of the time and maybe getting something from all of this. Enjoy!Send us a text

My guest on the show today is one of my favorite interviews so far. She is an army wife and mother of three boys and the host of the Extraordinary Moms Podcast. She has interviewed somewhere around 200 extraordinary moms and shared with us so much wisdom they have share with her over the years. She talks about how and why she started her podcast almost 3 years ago and how she feels the common thread throughout all of the moms she has interviewed is the ability to understand that they create the joy in their own lives. Listen to hear more about this, how becoming a whole and healthy human being helps us be way better moms and the power of positive parenting.You can find all 240+ episodes of the Extraordinary Moms Podcast on any podcast listening app and at www.extraordinarymomspodcast.com. You can even search for certain episodes by topic. You can also find her hanging out on Instagram @jessicadahlquist3.Don’t miss this extraordinary episode with so many great tidbits of wisdom.You can download my Guide to a Screen-Free Summer here.Send us a text

My guest on the podcast today is a professional adventurer and mother of two boys. She loves to go camping and hiking and skiing and all things outdoors with her family and is dedicated to making amazing memories traveling and adventuring. She shares with us her touching story behind why she has such a positive outlook on life and why making lasting memories is so important to her.She gives us some tips on planning family adventures and lots of bucket list places to visit and her favorite family adventure destinations. You are not going to want to miss the great advice she gives about planning and executing the perfect family adventure.You can follow her adventures on her website: www.adventuretogether.com or follow her on Instagram and Youtube at: @macs_exploreGet a copy of my screen-free summer guide at http://www.eepurl.com/dkCLtL/Send us a text

Happy Best Friends Day! In honor of this holiday, I interviewed Cherie and Amber of Saalt about their up and coming business which offers clean, sustainable and renewable solutions to period care. That sounds like something you would talk about with your best friends, right? We talk about the origin of their company, its goals for the future and how they are giving back! I seriously suggest you try one this month!One Saalt cup can last up to 10 years and save 10 years worth of disposable period care products. And, they can last up to 12 hours without needing to be changed. They are a game changer for girls and women in developing countries who have limited or no access to feminine hygiene products. They are safer and often more comfortable than disposable period products. What are you waiting for? You can find them online at: saaltco.com or join one of their Facebook groups SaaltCupAcademy or SaaltLovesourFocusGroup.Additional resources mentioned in the interview:@brightgirlhealth on InstagramMenstrapedia – an online comic bookThe Care and Keeping of You – a book by the American Girl Doll PublishersSend us a text

Today I’m talking about lessons I learned in my 38th year. I recorded this episode on my 39th birthday. I like to take some time every year on my birthday to reflect on the experiences and lessons from the past year. As I was doing this ritual today, I realized the past year of my life has been a doozy. I’ve learned and grown so much and went through a major transitional period.I share my experiences, good and bad with you and how I went from a very low point to know exactly what God wanted me to do and how I am working on doing just that each day and feeling so great about it.Don’t forget about my FREE screen-free summer guide that you can download here:  http://www.eepurl.com/dkCLtL.  It has so many suggestions, tips and tricks for making this the BEST summer ever.Also, there are still a few tickets left for the Wannabe Balanced event in Salt Lake City, Utah on June 23rd, but they are going fast. Get your ticket today and use the discount code: monica10 for 10% off the entry. I hope to see you there!For my birthday, I asked all of you to contact me in some way with your feedback about the show, what you are learning and what you would like to hear more of. You can email me at onthebrightersideoflife@gmail.com.Send us a text

Today’s guest is an information security consultant comp TS security plus certified, which basically means she’s really good at tech and she’s passionate about keeping our kids safe online. She is a wife and mom of 3 kiddos under the age of 4, so she’s extremely smart and extremely busy!I was actually going to do something different today, but right after we recorded the interview, I knew that I couldn’t keep her from you one day longer. She shares with us how she feels about tech/phone contracts and what she suggests that is wayyyy better, 4 tips to keep our kids safe online and what parental control and monitoring programs she recommends. Her favorite is called: mSpy and here is the link to get it: http://track.mspy.click/SHAmF. You can tell by the way she talks that she knows what she’s talking about and wants to share her knowledge with us. And I am so grateful!She has an unsearchable Youtube video here: https://youtu.be/wSgG5tXpQD8 with so many more tips and tricks for you that you don’t want your kids to know that you know…if you know what I mean. You can also find her on Instagram and Facebook @themomlifecoach.I cannot say enough good things about this interview. If you have kids or grandkids, you need to listen to this episode. I mean it!Also, I want to remind you about my screen-free summer guide that can be downloaded here: http://eepurl.com/dkCLtL.Send us a text

This week I chatted with an amazing mother of 4, a wife, a blogger, an author and a fellow podcaster who is hosting a live event in Utah on June 23rd. Her name is Crystal Escobar. I loved talking with her, because she was totally open and willing to share with us her struggles and insecurities and how she overcame her fear of talking in front of people and doing live videos. You can now find her on YouTube and doing Facebook and Insta stories and even hosting a live event. She talks about how she has learned to deal with haters and keep on being awesome everyday. Her advice to anyone out there who wants to try something new is to pick one thing and get really good at it, then move on to the next thing. She’s learning to balance all the many facets and roles in her life and teaching others to do the same.You can find her blog and more information about her live event at www.wannabebalanced.com. You can purchase tickets to the Wannabe Balanced Event through her website and don’t forget to use the code: monica10 to get a 10% discount off of your tickets. Come see Jody Moore, Sean Escobar and I’ll be there promoting something really fun! There will be great food, amazing speakers and lots of swag. You can also listen to her podcast on iTunes or any other podcast listening app by searching Wannabe Balanced Podcast. I hope you will love her as much as I do.Send us a text