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Christmas can be wonderful and delightful and magical. It can also be the opposite of that: stressful, worrisome, and overwhelming. Today we started a 2-part series called Planning for Christmas, and the hope is that you'll hear some great practical tips, but that you are also encouraged to keep your eyes on Jesus, and not let the busyness or the stress of the season rob you from His joy.

We couldn’t think of a better guest for Part 1 of this series, The Queen of Christmas herself, Julie Urbina. Julie is my sister in law and we had her on last year for a wonderful Christmas episode. I encourage you to go back and listen to it! Julie is a mom to four, two girls and two boys, but she and her husband have fostered several other children as well. 

On today's episode we talked about the nitty gritty of Christmas: financial planning, strategies, and practices. Julie has had some very frugal years, and so she knows what it's like to plan Christmas for a large family on a very...

Christmas is right around the corner and we are super excited + a little scared because it seems to come faster every year! It’s easy and natural for our children to make their lists, expect great presents under the tree, and be filled with so much anticipation about what they’re going to get. But it’s so important that we teach our children how to give—it definitely doesn’t come naturally to most kids!

On today’s episode we wanted to take a few minutes and highlight an organization that has been changing lives for years. Operation Christmas Child began in 1993 and since has served more than 188 million children in more than 170 countries. OCC isn’t just about giving gifts to children. The shoebox is really the doorway into people’s lives to share with them the love of Jesus. 

Our church, plus many other churches and organizations around the US, have joined in on this mission year after year.Our guest for this episode is a part of...

Merry Christmas, Moms. It is officially the busiest season of the year, but what a GREAT reason to be busy: celebrating Jesus. I love that no matter what-pandemic, political climate, where you live, or what havoc 2020 may have wreaked on your life-we celebrate the fact that Jesus humbled Himself and endured this broken world for our sakes and for our salvation.

Christmas will never change because Jesus will never change.

In this episode our guest Julie, mom to four biological children and foster mom to countless more, shared with us her joyful traditions to help keep the focus on the meaning of the season. It's super easy to get caught up in the hoopla, and before you know it, it's December 26th and you're wondering why you're so exhausted and missed Jesus completely. 

Here are some of the fun, meaningful, and kid-friendly activities that we discussed on the episode:

1.) Advent calendar: we love handmade items, but there are plenty of store bought advent...

I can smell Christmas. It's so close. Actually, I could see Christmas in September when I was making a Costco run. No joke, there were decorations, ribbons, and gifts lining the aisles well before Fall. 

Whether or not you'd like to admit it, you probably like gifts. Maybe it's not your love language per se, but as a mom any little gift or surprise is a welcome addition to the life of honored servitude that we live. 

In this episode we talk about the intangible gifts that we see in our children. Our guest was Denise, a pastor's wife, mom to three, and grandma to two, spoke into this issue in a real and genuine way. 

Denise reminded us how important it is to recognize the differences in each of our children and to adjust our approach as we interact with them. Each of our children is uniquely created and gifted by God, and encouraging those gifts is definitely not a one-size-fits-all method. We need the Holy Spirit to help us see what each of our children...