Hello friend and welcome back to the Live Out
Loud podcast. I am so glad that you are here
with me today. And I know I say it every time
I get on, but I genuinely mean I am so glad that
you are here. I am so excited to spend the next
few minutes with you chatting about real topics
and real life things that affect us as moms and
us as humans. And I get really excited to spend
a few minutes of a week with you. So again, I
am so glad that you are here. So as we said in
our last podcast, today we're going to be talking
about simple things we can cultivate for maximum
growth in our family life. I hope to give you
practical things that you can start implementing
today in your life with your kids, with your
family, that you will see results. for deeper
connections with your kids, things that I have
been doing for years that have worked. And perhaps
as I am talking and sharing my own experience,
you can note those things in your life that you
already implement and already do that cultivate
maximum growth and you can celebrate those things
and be excited for that. So I think it'll just
be good all around. Now, before we jump into
today's topic, I have a couple of very exciting
things to share with you, dear listener. but
let me give you a little bit of a backstory here.
I started this podcast a year and two months
ago today just with the idea to put myself out
there to push my own limits, my boundaries, the
box that I live in of expressing my thoughts
because it can be kind of a difficult thing for
me. But I really wanted to push myself and share
my heart on being a mom and just putting it into
words, which can be pretty hard for me. And boy
has this podcast really pushed my limits. And
what started as almost like a personal experiment
for me has really turned into an exciting part
of my week as I sit down and share some of these
things with you. And then the feedback that I
get back from you and you sharing some of your
own experiences with some of these things with
me. It is so encouraging as a mother who is just
a normal, regular mom trying to figure life out
with my four kids and pursuing building an intentional
kingdom family. The community that has come from
this is so precious to me and it's only helped
to fuel my passion for family life and my passion
to share it with all of you amazing moms who
are showing up every day in your own family life.
And because of all of that, I get so excited
to think about the new Moms Weekly Collective
that I have just released into the world. I've
put out there for moms like you, for moms like
me, who are looking to connect with other Kingdom
-minded moms, who are looking to continue to
live intentionally. And as we do so, we look
for encouragement from others. And so this collective,
you can look it up on Instagram, So momsweeklyco.
And you could also find it on the website. You
can access a community of like -minded moms,
and you will get monthly inspiration, monthly
encouragement, and a letter from my heart to
yours, a letter of encouragement. And not only
is it encouragement for me to you, but it is
also deeply rooted in scripture. It is deeply
rooted in the calling that God has for our lives
as moms, as we lead our families together with
our husbands, but as we take charge of the everyday
things with our kids. It is a place where I pray
you feel so connected to the Father's heart.
because of the encouragement that is there and
that it helps you continue every day showing
up and loving your family well and creating these
kingdom -minded families which is such a beautiful
thing. So the launch of this Moms Weekly Collective
is our first thing to talk about our first announcement
and if you want to check it out if you want to
become part of this community it is we are waiting
for you because you will make us better I know
it I know the conversations that you will bring
to the table the ideas everything that you will
bring is going to make us that much better so
we cannot wait to connect with you on there if
you want to check it out on the website at elliantheboys
.co on the website or the instagram account moms
.weekly .co They are both there. Check it out.
We cannot wait to meet you there. Which brings
us right to our second announcement for this
podcast. And it is one that will tie in, I think,
so much better with everything we are doing with
the things we are pursuing on this, on this,
in this space and on this platform. So we are
going to change the name from the Live Out Loud
podcast to Moms Weekly, the Moms Weekly podcast.
It will just help tie everything in and put it
in this neat little box, you know, where we can
remember the names and remember what we're here
for. And it is for weekly encouragement. And
while this podcast is not weekly right now, it
is bi -weekly. There is weekly encouragement
from Instagram or on the collective whenever
you join or in this podcast and we can just receive
encouragement in different ways. And so the Live
Out Loud podcast will now be Mom's Weekly, the
Mom's Weekly podcast. And I am so excited to
continue these chats with you, these conversations,
and it will be geared more towards our mama hearts
and our relationship with, with. God the Father,
with our family, with our spouses, and just growing
ourselves as mothers as we continue to live life
with our families. Alright, I think that's all
I have for little announcements. Now we can get
into our conversation. I will see you there.
Alright, so today's topic of conversation is
cultivating small and intentional things in our
daily lives, in our family lives to produce maximum
growth. With spring right around the corner,
I sat down a couple weeks ago, no, last week,
I sat down last week with all of my seed packets
that I am hoping to get in the ground this year.
This will be my first year starting a garden
from seeds. And I am very nervous and very excited
at the same time. If you have any tips, please
send them over. But I have high, high hopes for
this garden this year. And I got all my seed
packets in and I was making my schedule of when
I'm supposed to plant them because we live so
far north, we have a shorter growing season.
So I need to make sure that they are good to
go whenever the garden soil is ready and to temperature.
So I made my plan. I actually made it with one
of my sons who's 11 and he loves to garden. This
is one of the things that we do together and
it's so much fun. So him and I sat down and we
looked at when we need to get certain seeds in
their little pods and when we can plant them
out. We're super excited for this. And as we
were sitting there doing our schedule, one of
the seed packets had a tiny little hole. Whenever
we went to pick it up and put it back in the
box, there were seeds all over our book and our
table and It's just hard to imagine that such
a tiny thing, I mean, if you look at these seeds,
these were so small. And whenever you look at
those, it's hard to imagine that in just a few
months, we could have a flourishing, beautiful
tomato plant or pepper or whatever it is, you
know, we plant. It really is hard to imagine
that from such a tiny thing, something so beautiful
and so nutritious and something that's going
to feed us for the summer is going to grow from
that. But that's how seeds work, right? They
start so small, they grow, and whenever they
have the right things, the right elements, they're
in the right soil, they have water and sunlight,
they're able to thrive. And as moms living with
a kingdom perspective, and I think that that's
you, and that's me, we're called to be faithful
in the little things. Jesus himself reminds us
in Luke 16, Luke 16 10, I think, whoever can
be trusted with very little can also be trusted
with very much. This isn't just about being faithful
with our responsibilities as moms of keeping
up with the laundry, of keeping the floors clean,
of keeping food on the table. It is about understanding
that small and intentional actions, those little
moments of connection with our children are actually
what lay the foundation for a kingdom -centered
family life. I think it's easy to often get caught
up thinking that if we're not doing those big
things for our families, like taking elaborate
vacations or achieving grand accomplishments,
that we are falling short. But it is the small,
simple things that make the most and lasting
impact in our family. they start small just like
those seeds in the seed packet. When you think
about the daily rhythms in your home, the good
morning hugs, the shared cups of coffee, the
good night kisses and your routines before bed,
the little songs you sing as you're buckling
in your child into their car seat, those things
that seem so small, these are the things that
create trust, they create a space of love, and
they create connection between your child and
yourself, and they lay the groundwork for the
bigger things. Sure, we see our children's eyes
sparkle whenever we throw them a great birthday
party, but we also see their eyes sparkle whenever
we look into their eyes and tell them, I love
you. Or sit at the foot of their bed and listen
to them retell the stories of their day. It is
easy to get caught up in today's day and age
of social media, of scrolling through other people's
accounts and seeing them do these amazing gestures
of love for their children, which are so beautiful
and amazing. But the trick is not to get caught
up in thinking that every moment of every day
has to be big for our children. We can continue
to show up in big ways and we can for sure show
up in little ways that will create impact and
connections with their hearts. And I'm going
to give you some examples of small things that
lead to big impacts, small things that we have
done and then others that I also found that other
moms have cultivated and have gotten maximum
growth out of them. So get your pen and paper
out to jot these down or just store them in your
brain because I know that they are going to help
your family and you and the relationship with
your kids. So if you are ready, let's jump in.
One of my go -tos and very easy one to start
and implement, it doesn't matter how old your
children are, is hand motions in a crowded room.
And honestly, hand motions anywhere. It can be
at a park, at a store, in a crowded room at a
party in your own home, but little hand motions
that say something specific that you want your
child to know in that moment without having to
say the words, without having to cross the room
to say them. These work great to put a sparkle
in your kid's eyes and I have seen it so many
times and it is always so exciting to see their
little eyes light up. So an example of this for
us and a very basic one for us is to say I love
you across the room and I know I love you can
get old if you overuse it but we use it all the
time and it hasn't gotten old and I would encourage
you to continue using it with your kids and for
us it is we point to ourselves. Well, first we
make eye contact. and then we point to ourselves
and then we make a little heart with our hands
and then point to them. And it's so subtle, it's
so quick, but their eyes light up immediately.
They will always return it, but a lot of times
they will start it. And so it is so sweet to
also watch them stop their play at a park or
wherever they're at and just think to tell you
that I love you. It is so precious. Another one
I have used and it is so simple, but it is a
thumbs up. and my little girl likes this one
the most. No, she likes the I love you one, but
she really likes this one as well. It is just
a little thumbs up whenever I want to let them
know that maybe I saw something kind that they
did for somebody else and I can't leave the conversation
that I'm in the middle of and I can just give
them a little quick thumbs up from across the
room. it just immediately lets them know that
I was watching and they did an amazing job being
kind or sharing or whatever action they took.
It was amazing and it was Good job keep going
and sometimes we do a double thumbs up We just
put both thumbs together kind of like a fist
pump, but wait your thumbs up. That's like amazing
that is They get so excited over that and again
little things that we do You can come up with
your own for your family. That'll work It's just
a really fun thing to do with your kids Whenever
you're out with around other people to keep this
little communication with them open A second
thing that you could apply in your family today
is what I call little encouragements. What do
I mean by that? Let me tell you a quick little
story. Recently I had taken one of my boys on
a date and we had gone to a grocery store. You
know how fun it is to push a cart whenever you
are a kid? You have free rein of the cart. It
is so much fun to go down the aisles really fast,
try to find an open spot between aisles and just
kind of do donuts, right? Well, my boys love
to do this. I had a short window where I had
to get my groceries bought in a short amount
of time. I needed to focus. And so I needed the
cart driver to also focus. And in this case,
it was my 11 year old son. So as we were getting
out of the car, I was thinking through, okay,
well, I actually asked him if he could push the
cart in the store. And then I started thinking
through him pushing the cart. I didn't want to
be constantly having to remind him to stay on
track because we had a short time. And so as
we're walking in the store, I had asked him to
grab the cart and I... proceeded to encourage
him, and this is the little encouragement. I
proceeded to tell him how thankful I am that
he is a good cart driver because he really is.
He's gotten tall enough to where he can see really
well over the cart, and he does a good job navigating
that cart through crowded stores. But I wanted
to focus on that part instead of not playing
in the store today. So I encouraged him and I
told him that I was so thankful of his good driving
skills and how responsible he is with a cart
and how I appreciate that whenever I need to
put something in the cart, he's right there,
right behind me and he stays on track. which
are all true things. And as I was telling him
this, just giving him this encouragement, you
could see him walking a little taller. He kind
of stood up a little straighter and his eyes
started to sparkle. And let me tell you, he did
such an amazing job in the store pushing that
cart around. We got in and out of there so fast.
It was amazing. But what I'm trying to say is
little encouragements go a long way with our
kids' hearts. We don't want to be constantly
focusing on the negative and only on the things
that need to be corrected and fixed, but giving
our kids encouragement in the ways that they
are already excelling and that the ways that
they are growing will show them that you are
interested in their growth. You are interested
in their heart, not simply their behavior. And
that my friends is such a gift to your relationship
with your child. Then we have our tip number
three, connection over perfection. As moms, we
often strive for perfection, I think. I know
I do in my home. I think somewhere in my mind,
I feel like I need to show up perfectly for my
family. And that couldn't be more wrong. And
I have to constantly remind myself that they
need connection over perfection. In Ephesians
4 .2, Paul encourages us to be completely humble,
to be gentle, be patient, bearing with one another
in love. When we prioritize connection over perfection,
we create a space for grace. We create a space
for authenticity. Nowhere in Ephesians 4 -2 does
it say to show up and be completely perfect because
that would be ridiculous. So instead of trying
to create a perfect picture, perfect family life,
I want to aim to be meaningful and to show up
in meaningful ways with my kids. And here's what
that looks like sometimes. Perhaps I'm in the
middle of making dinner and my family needs to
eat at a certain time so that we can get to bed
at a certain time because it is a school night.
But I noticed that one of my children needs a
little extra attention and a little extra connection.
So it would look like me pausing dinner. giving
10 -15 minutes for a quick card game. Their favorite
card game, I don't know, pick one, Monopoly Deal
or Taco Cat. Playing with them for a few rounds
and connecting with them, even if it means that
dinner's going to be late a little bit this evening.
That's okay. My child needs connection in that
moment. Or maybe it looks like saying yes to
them tagging along whenever you have to go to
the grocery store, even though it might take
you a little bit longer. You could get it done
quicker and come home and be present whenever
you're home. But connection over perfection says,
okay, you can tag along with me. We will make
the best of this time, even if it adds time to
going to the grocery store. But they might need
that connection with you. And what a beautiful
thing it is whenever we put away social media
and the pressures that we feel as a mom to show
up in certain ways and simply show up in the
ways that our family needs us to show up in,
which is connecting with their hearts, connecting
with them and their minds. That, again, is such
a gift to them over perfection. Okay, friends,
I just saw how long we're going on this one.
This is a little bit more winded than our other
ones, but I have so much to say on this. If you
could just bear for a few more minutes, let's
go through the last few and close this out. All
right, another small one that has a really big
impact in my book because I tell you this from
experience growing up, my mom did this. She didn't
do it like all the time, but she did it often
enough that it stuck with me and I still do it
with my children because of how it made me feel
when this was done. And that was leaving little
notes on my pillow when I was a kid. And it's
something that I've done with my children. And
it is such a precious way. It just goes out of
our normal routine of doing the same things over
and over. It's a different way of saying, I love
you. You are seen and you are precious to me.
And let me tell you, I still have... a couple
of the cards my mom made for me. I mean, she
took time out of her busy day to do this. And
those words in there are precious to me. I think
it's the same for our children. Because they
make cards all the time. They know how much time
it takes to write a letter, to make a homemade
card. And so whenever we, as busy moms, take
the time to do this, and then we just put a little
note in there and put it on their pillow, it
speaks so much to their hearts. I know it does
for my kids, and I think it would be the same
for yours. And honestly, you do not have to be
a crafty mom to do this. You can get a blank
piece of paper, you can get a sticky note out
of your drawer and just jot down, I was so proud
of you today when and fill it in or whatever
you want to put on there and just put it on their
pillow or put it on their bathroom mirror where
they're going to find it somewhere where you
know they're going to see it. This will speak
so much to their heart. It is an easy way to
grow your relationship with them. And our last
one, our last tip for the small things that we
can do to cultivate maximum growth. For me, it
would have to be saying yes to things when I
could say no. And I have to be honest, sometimes
these aren't quite as small as they seem. Just
because as moms, I get it. We are touched out.
We are tired. We might be, our brains might be
overloaded. But I think if we were to look at
our family through a - a kingdom perspective
lens, we would see these things as small things
and not the big things that sometimes they feel
like they are. And so I would just encourage
us to push through that and really ask God to
give us a kingdom perspective whenever these
things show up because I know I have to do this
almost daily and ask God to give me a kingdom
perspective for my family to say yes to the things
that I could say no to. And here are a few examples
for this. In the mornings, I have one of my children
wakes up super early compared to the rest of
their siblings. The mornings are my quiet time.
I enjoy sitting in the morning by myself with
my Bible reading. That time is precious to me.
And whenever my child gets up and wants to snuggle,
which they do every morning, that is my time
and it's my time with God. And sometimes I want
to say no, that is Just the honest truth, I want
to say no. But every time I say yes, and every
time I move the blanket over and I invite them
to snuggle with me, read out loud with them and
continue my morning routine, but with them, their
eyes will sparkle and it almost sets a tone for
the rest of the day just by me saying yes. Another
simple way might be saying yes to whenever they
ask if they can read to you out loud at the end
of the day. If you can join them in their room,
you are very tired and you just want to go lay
down. And joining them in their room and laying
at the foot of their bed and just listening to
them read out loud. So saying yes whenever we
could say no is a small way that we can speak
to our children's hearts. So just to go over
them one more time, we have small hand motions
in crowded rooms or really anywhere you're at.
Number two, little encouragements that go a long
way instead of nitpicking all the little things
we can encourage. Number three, connection over
perfection. Number four, leaving small notes
for them anywhere in the house where they will
find them. If your child is a driver, put it
in their car. anywhere where there are going
to be small notes. And number five, saying yes
to things when we could say no. So dear mama,
as we reflect on these small actions, let's remember
that they are all done as unto the Lord. When
we choose connection, when we choose love and
grace, we are living out our kingdom purpose.
It's not just about improving our family life
for the sake of a better home. It's about creating
a space where God's presence can dwell and then
we can reflect His love to our children and then
from there to the world. In Matthew 6 .33 we
are told, Seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness. And all of these things will be
given to you as well. Our homes, they can be
a reflection of God's kingdom if we intentionally
seek God first in the little things. I truly
believe that as we do these small things, what
seem so small like the tiny seeds from that seed
packet that were just spilled across my desk,
when we do these small things, we are giving
our families, our children a glimpse of the kingdom
of God on this earth. So my encouragement to
you today is it doesn't have to always be grand
things. It doesn't always have to be flashy Instagram
worthy moments that define your family's life.
It is the small things that most of us don't
even see. The intentional things like connection
over perfection or small hand gestures that we
do with our children that will cultivate an environment
where your family will thrive. So let's keep
building. Let's keep loving and showing up and
keep seeking God's kingdom in the little things.
Thank you so much for joining me today on the
Live Out Loud Podcast. I am praying for you as
you cultivate a home that reflects God's kingdom
one small intentional step at a time, dear mama.
Until next time.