Ep. 100 || Ask Us Anything! Spring 2018 Edition Transcript
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
[00:00:50] Laura: Well hi, and welcome back to this special 100th episode of Risen Motherhood, as you heard on the intro. Wasn't that adorable, Emily?
[00:00:58] Emily: It was so fun, but it wasn't as adorable recording it. [Laughter] It was actually the voices of all of our children—Laura, myself, and then our other sister-in-law, Becca. So all of our kids had a little tiny sliver of a line they said in there, and it was quite fun getting that recording bit by bit.
[00:01:19] Laura: Yeah, it was really fun, and the kids are cute because they're very excited to be "on the radio" and hear their voices over the car bluetooth. So, it was just fun. It was really fun to be able to record that with them and to celebrate our one 100th episode. Not only did we want to record a special intro, but we also have a very special new product for all of you guys.
[00:01:41] Emily: Yes. In celebration we're debuting an updated version of our kids abide card, which has always been a free downloadable tool that says, "Read, Observe, Interpret, Apply," which is kind of going through that inductive Bible study method with verbiage on the back at a kid's level. But we worked with a professional children's illustrator who did a wonderful job of designing these beautiful updated cards that we know you guys are going to love. I mean they're so adorable.
[00:02:12] Laura: I love it, and I put them out and frame them.
[00:02:14] Emily: They have little woodland animals on them.
[00:02:17] Laura: Oh she just did such a wonderful job. And then on the back, this has instructions for you to be able to talk with your kids about how to study the Bible. It makes it really really simple and again the content is really the same as our old kid's abide card, but it's just been updated so that it's more interesting for kids—like our kids are super into it. They love seeing which one is their favorite and stuff, so it's really cute. And then on top of that we have another special announcement!
[00:02:43] Emily: Yes, something that we've been asked about for a while and it is time! We are opening our blog for submissions. So the main reason behind this is just because with our theme this year unity in the Gospel, one thing we've been talking about a lot behind the scenes is wanting to get more stories from all different kinds of moms that have been through all different situations and are applying the gospel in their unique circumstances. And we know that you guys have wonderful stories to tell in light of the Gospel and we really want to hear them.
[00:03:15] Laura: Yeah. And you don't have to be published before, you don't have to be an author. We are looking for women who can tell their story and then apply a broader gospel application. So what you've seen on our blog; if you want to try your hand at that we would love love love to see a submission from you.
[00:03:31] Those open on May 23rd and it closes on May 29th. So you can start now and start working on your post, so that whenever it is open, you can submit that. There is a whole info website that you can see all the requirements and things that we're looking for, just to help make your post where it needs to be in order to go on the blog. So. Definitely check that out. That's at risenmotherhood.com/2018submissions.
[00:03:53] Emily: Yes. So we are so excited to see those come in and then start posting those on the blog throughout the next year. And the final little housekeeping bit we wanted to mention is that, just like last summer, the podcast is going to go on a break for the summer and so there'll be more details about that to come. We will be back in September. We are already planning for our fall podcast calendar. We are so excited, but everything else is still going to be running. We'll still be doing social media and the blog and the website and all other free resources and everything there, so we'll definitely still be around.
[00:04:32] Laura: And we have one more show next week, so this isn't our final episode. Or is it just one more? I think it's just one more. You'll be surprised. Check social media, you'll see. Watch your podcast app, you'll find out. But we do have a show or two left for you, then summer break. Hopefully you guys get a summer break too. So OK onto our questions.
[00:04:56] Emily: Ask us anything! If you're a new listener, both in the fall and in the spring we've kind of started this little tradition of doing "Ask us Anything!" because throughout the year our Risen Motherhood inbox fills up with lots of great questions. And this is just a wonderful time for us to be a little bit more casual as get to know you get to know us, and for us to just interact in a different way. So we are answering questions today that came in on social media and in email through the website.
[00:05:28] Laura: We always get like hundreds of questions. So it's really the most up voted ones, most frequently asked ones that we try to answers. Let's get going here without further ado. What are your favorite easy go-to meals or do you meal plan? Emily?
[00:05:45] Emily: Actually, today meal plan. [Laughter]
[00:05:47] Laura: Okay, on the regular? [Laughter]
[00:05:49] Emily: Big claps for that. No, I really come and go in spurts. I mean, I think breakfast is usually kind of our big sit down family meal of the day when we kind of have a feast, and dinner is usually pretty low key at our house. In fact, we live next door to my parents so we actually eat with family usually two to three dinners a week.
[00:06:10] Laura: Sometimes she is here. I'm living with my parents. We sound ridiculous.
[00:06:15] Emily: I know. It's been it's just been really nice in this season of life, I try to have like a lot of things on hand that I can throw together for a dinner. So, we typically go to things like baked salmon and then steamed vegetables and rolls that are in the freezer with rice in the rice cooker. I like to do a lot of one pan chicken dishes—the one pot wonders—where you just line the chicken up and then you put all the vegetables in the side and just drizzle a bunch of oil, salt, and pepper over it, and it's just a meal that's really easy. So I keep a lot of that stuff around. That way if there's no parents that are willing to take us in for dinner, I definitely have something on hand that I can make in about 30 minutes.
[00:06:57] Laura: So I'm the total opposite. I love to meal plan. I sit down on a Sunday and I meal plan. I use Google Calendar. Call it old school, but my husband and I do live with my parents temporarily. If again you're a new listener, we've moved to Iowa. We're actually currently building a house, which you might hear more about on the shows going forward, but we are living with my parents for quite some time. So I do most of the meals here while living with them. And so I do plan, everybody can kind of know what we're eating. So I just sit down and put a meal plan out. I don't make a lot of things twice. I view them as many creative projects, and I love to kind of improvise and make food, so I don't have any great go to meals for you guys. Maybe a couple that I'll put in the show notes. But in general, one of my best tips is that if my husband by chance says, "Honey can you make this again?" and he will make that request like, "I know you won't. So please try." I'll just said as a recurring event on my calendar every two to three months so then that meal pops up and I don't have to worry about digging it up or keeping a recipe book or anything like that. So it works really easy. And I do have a couple go to meals that I will make when I have to bring meals to a friend. And they're very delicious. And I will list them in the show notes.
[00:08:11] Emily: Nice. All right, next question. This is good. We've never talked about this before. Where did you go to college and what did you study?
[00:08:19] Laura: This is an easy one yes. I went to Iowa State University in central Iowa, and I studied Journalism and Mass Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations.
[00:08:29] Emily: Nice.
[00:08:30] Laura: It was as if you didn't know that answer, Emily. [Laughter].
[00:08:32] Emily: I know but it just always sounds just so cool and professional.
[00:08:37] Laura: It's so long. It's always like can we just tighten that up a little?
[00:08:41] Emily: So I graduated from Avala University, which is a small private school in Kansas City with a Bachelors of Science and Special Education. And then I also got certified Elementary Education as well.
[00:08:53] Laura: I think that sounds really cool like certifications and stuff. That sounds cool. OK. So leading into that or from that I suppose. What did you do before kids? Did you work outside the home?
[00:09:07] Emily: Yes, so right out of college, I worked as a special education teacher in an elementary school for a very short period of time. I feel like I had like 12 jobs before I had kid. I maybe did. So for awhile, I also worked as a para-educator, which I actually loved doing that because I got to be one-on-one with kids who were on IPs and just really get to know that one child. I just absolutely adored that. And then I nannied in-home for a family who had a child on the autism spectrum. And then I also worked in our family business here in central Iowa.
[00:09:43] Laura: Everyone's taken a turn with the family biz.
[00:09:45] Emily: I know, it's funny. Actually, my oldest son was just asking me the other day, "So what did you do before I was born?" And I got to explain him, "I sat at this desk!" He's been in the office many times and so he got a hootch thinking of me answering the phone and doing all that good front desk stuff. What about you, Laura?
[00:10:03] Laura: Yes, so I worked pretty much one steady job. I think I worked at a small public relations agency in Minneapolis and there's not a lot more to say. But I was an account executive there and worked with all sorts of businesses working on communication and stuff like that. That's why I really loved the strategic side of Risen Motherhood. I think it kind of plays into the things that I studied in school.
[00:10:27] Emily: Yes, Laura is really super good at business because she comes from a family of entrepreneurs.
[00:10:31] Laura: Oh, thank you Emily. [Laughter] We haven't gotten to that one question where it says, "What do you love best about Laura and Emily?" but maybe we should jump there. It was, "What does Laura love best about Emily and what does Emily love about Laura?" Let's jump to that. But maybe it's not my entrepreneurial skills.
[00:10:51] Emily: I literally thought multiple times that I should just sit down and write a speech. [Laughter]
[00:10:55] Laura: Ooh.
[00:10:55] Emily: But I didn't. [Laughter]
[00:10:59] Laura: One of my love languages is words of affirmation. So, Emily I really would have loved that. [Laughter].
[00:11:05] Emily: I think it's just hard to describe because I think what I love best about you is what I love best about our relationship. It's very unique to me and my life. And it's very special to me. And I love that you are one person in my life that does a really wonderful job of loving me and correcting me. And I think you just are able to do that super well. You are just really the opposite personality of me, but I absolutely love it. And I think it's just really good. And I just love that you balance me out and you're not afraid to love me and affirm me, and then—in a nice way—of telling me I'm wrong or missing something. But it's been so good because I've seen so much growth in my life, both personally and then also you know through Risen Motherhood, you could call it professionally in ministry, because of who you are and what you bring out of me and the way you challenge me and point me to Christ in really straight forward ways. And I just I need that, I need that little courageous push. I need somebody next to me, like linking arms with a sword in their hand because I'm kind of looking around for the cushions to sit down. [Laughter].
[00:12:31] Laura: This is where it's so funny, because you are in my brain for this. Emily I don't know what each other are going to say a lot of times on the show. We know kind of what the other person might say, but we did not discuss this one. And first of all, I can barely look her in the eyes. I mean it's always kind of an awkward conversation but good. And I think it's that's the exact same thing that I was thinking about is that were the exact opposite. Like we could not be more different. And rarely are you always attracted to that kind of difference in yourself. But I love that. And I think that that is the same for me. You correct me and challenge me in areas that I need to be softer or I need to be kinder or I need to be more thoughtful. And you're always very strategic in communication and your words and the things that you say and how things are presented. And out of a way of love for other people and out of a way of just caring for them. And I think that's something that I know that I have grown so much, and I appreciate just your, "Oh hang on let's think through that a little bit more. Let's go back to that. Let's really be thoughtful and intentional with this." And again, I think that's one of the strengths of Risen Motherhood is our two different personalities playing together, and the tug and pull of our personalities a little bit. Just like you said, it's always in love. I feel like you can say pretty much anything to me, and I know your heart and you always say it in love. It hurts sometimes, but I also know it's because you love me and you want my best for me and my family, and you're looking out for my best interest. Other people had asked us some questions that got up voted: how do you guys seem to have such a good sister in law relationship? And I think that that flows well into this is that Emily always looks out for my best. She's always saying, "Hey take a step back. What do you need?" Because I can tend to blaze trails, I have the sword and I'm whipping it. I'm in the battlefield. Find me a dragon! But Emily is so good at saying, "What does your family need? What are your priorities?" She calls me back to the cross, calls me back to the gospel, preaching it to me when I think sometimes I'm running around with a blindfold on.
[00:14:50] Emily: I love you, Laura.
[00:14:52] Laura: I love you. [Laughter].
[00:14:54] Emily: Those are all the warm fuzzies, and I feel like we could talk about that for hours.
[00:14:57] Laura: Yeah, we kind of did.
[00:15:00] Emily: We did talk about it for a short hour. But to bounce off of that and jumping ahead to that question about sister-in-law relationships. I think, what was interesting as we were processing through that question about cultivating the depth of joy with your sister-in-laws in this friendship, we were like, "There's no special sauce." You know, I think God has been really gracious to us. One practical thing I would note, we are all kind of in the same season of life, and that's helpful. I do think it removes some barriers in our ability to understand one another and communicate with each other.
[00:15:38] Laura: And we're talking about Becca here, too. We'll give you your affirmation in private later.
[00:15:46] Emily: And honestly, it just helps that we all loved Jesus. And so the deepest, most important thing to all of us is the gospel and seeing ourselves as sisters in Christ, first and foremost. And so I think when you have people in relationships working from that starting point and you all love each other, then you do normal things that Jesus followers do, like you forgive one another and you let love cover a multitude of sins and you try to put their interests before your own. And when somebody is having a crabby bad day and you know they're just a little off at a family event, you can say, "OK. That's not their heart.".
[00:16:25] Laura: Something that Em and I have gotten a lot better at, and we do this with Becca too, but it wasn't at the beginning; it wasn't this good. It was a couple weeks ago, we were actually recording the show and you stopped it and you asked, "Hey? Is everything ok like are we good?" I was having an off day because of other reasons, but it was kind of flowing in. She noticed it, stopped, and talked about it and brought it up. And that's something that I feel like with friendships and with sister in laws, that's kind of one of those things where you want them to ask you about it, but you also kind of don't want to have to bring it up yourself. I think that's something that we've gotten better at. Just like, "Hey, I'm noticing something's off. I'm going to point it out and bring it up and give her space to talk about it if she wants to."
[00:17:03] Emily: Yeah. So God's been really good in that, but I don't know that we have any special, extra tips for each other.
[00:17:12] Laura: It's not always perfect. Emily and I have hurt each other's feelings, so know that. We've had hard conversations, and it has been one of those things where I think we say, "Well we're not getting rid of each other, so we best make this work."
[00:20:17] Laura: Anyway let's move on. There's way too much Emily and Laura.
[00:20:21] Emily: All right, moving onto a little bit about the book. So somebody asked, "How has writing a book impacted your relationship and your feelings about the Risen Motherhood ministry?"
[00:20:33] Laura: This is a good one. I think this is funny because right now, we're trying to answer the questions that you guys most up voted or most frequently asked, and I feel like they're all about us and kind of how we're doing and stuff like that, which is really sweet of you guys. We really appreciate your care for us and thoughts for us. And I think that with the book, it has definitely been hard to kind of be myself through the writing. I feel like I'm going to speak for Emily; we've had a lot of conversations about this. And with our relationship with one another, we have to be even more honest than we already were as we are sharpening one another. And I think that's been just very true through the book to allow someone to look at your work. It's what you think is your best and then Emily to come in and kind of be like, "This this this this this." I know that it's good and it's coming from a good place, but it's just always hard to have critique of your work.
[00:21:25] Emily: It's a very vulnerable place to be. You know, Laura and I are the first person that sees each other's chapters, and it's our book collectively, and so it matters deeply that both of us love everything that's going on to those pages. But again, it's been a growth in a good way, because I totally trust Laura. I totally know her heart, and I know her heart is for reaching women with the gospel through this book. That's my heart. And so whenever we share those things with each other, it's where we're headed in the same direction. So, it's been good for our relationship, but I think for the ministry, it's been good too although it came also kind of get us in our heads.
[00:22:04] Laura: Yes. It's different than the podcast because it's the written word. And so you can kind of seem to mull over it more, labor over it, and it never feels finished. And so there's a lot of overwhelming or paralyzing that that goes with it. And so it's been a lot about taking this one step at a time, trust God to lead us, trust that the words and the message that are in the book is going to reach all of you. And hopefully, even more moms will be reached with this message who maybe have never heard the podcast but have access to the book or maybe learn in a different way. And so it's really exciting. But I think it's just been kind of different than the podcast because you don't hear inflection, tone, and the conversation, and that's been a really different thing for us.
[00:22:52] Emily: Yeah, and I'm actually I'm so excited for you guys to read it.
[00:22:55] Laura: Yes. Oh my goodness!
[00:22:56] Emily: I'm getting really excited because I feel like God has led us in a little different direction than what we've shared before. We may cover a topic in the book that we've covered on the podcast, but he's grown us a lot since we recorded it and we're coming at it in a different way. And so I'm really excited for you guys to read some of the personal stories that are in there. I'm looking forward to the final product.
[00:23:22] Laura: Yes. Yes. Oh I'm looking for the final product too. [Laughter]
[00:23:26] OK so what are some of the challenging aspects for doing Risen Motherhood and what's the one thing that you love the most about it?
[00:23:34] Emily: Okay, so I think, for me, one of the most challenging things—but for Laura—too is walking a line with content. That has been a conversation from day one—particularly in the content that we share and endorse and put on our website and people we have write on the blog. I mean all it goes on and on and on. Because on one hand, Laura and I are extremely passionate about sound doctrine, and we want to not lead anyone astray. We don't want to confuse anyone about what we think is most true and most helpful. But on the other hand, there are so many sisters in Christ doing amazing work. You know, we don't want to be these weird, nitpicky, not gracious people and not see areas that we can have unity with others who are spreading the gospel in an amazing way. And so it's just always a really hard balance to strike. And it's one that we literally talk a lot about, because we don't want to compromise but we also don't want to be afraid of what other people think of us if we if you know we share something. And we also know we're fallible. That's one of the hardest things about this thing.
[00:24:48] Laura: And we know how easy it is for us to make mistakes. For other people, we've seen it happen. And then for ourselves, we want to be a very charitable ministry. We want to be a very generous ministry having that abundance mentality that we never want to keep fellow women or men that are doing great work down or think that that's going to grow Risen Motherhood somehow. That's something that we're both big advocates of. That's why we have our resources page because we want to share this person said it better. Go listen to them you know or whatever. But that can just be a big struggle. What we love is that ultimately the Gospel never changes. We love the Gospel, and we love that we get to talk about it every single day in all different ways through all the different mediums and this is what we think about. We get to create content around it. We get to talk with one another about it. It's just unbelievable that God would entrust us, who really are regular everyday people who are sinners, with his message even in a very small way.
[00:26:00] Emily: It is. It is such a joy. And I just think of how much I get bored of doing other things, but I just never get bored of thinking of ways to share the gospel and I never get tired of this message. It just grows more beautiful and it grows more passion and it gets me more excited. And I think both Laura and I just absolutely adore laying down our time for the sake of God's gospel going forward to the ends of the earth in whatever little tiny way we can participate. And it's just amazing.
[00:26:36] Laura: And I love working with my sister in law. I mean I really mean that. And Autumn and Kaitlin.
[00:26:40] Emily: Yeah, we have the best team. And Becca!
[00:26:44] Laura: Yes, sister-in-laws! OK. Let's move on. So how do you foster close sibling relationships in your home? So we're moving into kind of some of the practical stuff that you guys have asked about. How do you hope to foster close sibling relationships in the future? And how do you teach patience and kindness in conflict with one another?
[00:27:02] Emily: Just a quick reminder, Laura and I's oldest child, between us, is five. So we can tell you what we've been doing, but if you run into us someday in public and our kids are punching each other in the other in the arm, we do not know the fruit of this yet.
[00:27:22] Laura: We plead the fifth on these things.
[00:27:24] Emily: In terms of answering all of these things, I would just say our kids spend a lot of time together. And so I think it provides a lot of opportunities for them to work out conflicts in a way that we hope honors God and is based in the Gospel. We expect our children to work through things and continue playing together.
[00:27:47] Laura: We expect them to fight. That's fully expected.
[00:27:49] Emily: Yes, that's fully expected. But it's also fully expected we are going to reconcile. We're going to reconcile and we're going to move on. So one of the things we started doing—my husband and I actually started doing this when we first got married—is saying, "I am sorry for blank. Will you forgive me for blank?" And then the other person has to say, "I forgive you for blank." And then there has to be a hug. And so my husband I started doing this and all of our kids know this by heart. Like I will literally hear them in the other room. If somebody is like,"Whomp!" And they're screaming, I'll hear, "Uh...I'm sorry that I hit you. Will you forgive me for being unkind?." You know, I can hear the speech. I hope it's helping.
[00:28:34] Laura: Yes. It's so good because I think labeling things, having a kind of a phrase or a pattern to work through is huge. And I think that's really really important. We have our kids do that kind of same thing as well. And also I think something that we try to do is fostering sibling relationships is talking a lot in our family about how much family matters. My parents would say to me a lot, "Your friends may come and go but your family will last forever." And that's one of those things that has been helpful for me as I process through seasons. And we moved a lot we were little, so it always felt like my friends were kind of going and a high priority was definitely fostering sibling relationships and letting us know these relationships matter. God created the family unit, he gave us to one another. He chose us to be together in this family and so we need to make it work. Kind of like I said to Emily of, "Well you're stuck with me. So let's have a good time together and let's learn to live together. Let's learn to love one another." And our children, you know, their siblings are their neighbors. And so anything that the Bible says about loving your neighbor, that applies and that's something that you can teach your children when they speak and engage with their siblings. All those things apply.
[00:29:43] Emily: Yeah and one thing we talk a lot about with our kids is the fact that the people that are in their house are going to be the hardest people to show the love of Christ to. And so we always say if you're not able to love your brother here, this is a truer representation of how you love more than even how you go treat your friend at school that you see for 30 minutes. And so a long time ago we memorize I John 4:21 or 29. "And this is my commandment. Whoever loves God must also love his brother." And we say that a lot. Whenever there's a conflict, "Remember you guys say you love God. We need to also love who?" "My brother!" Then there's a big forgiveness hug. That's usually sometimes a choking hug which turns into more need for forgiveness. But I think even bringing Bible verses into it can help remind them that this is really important to God.
[00:30:40] Laura: Yep! Another question. How do you meet the needs of your children, husband, and others while still finding time for yourself, especially your kiddos in the early years? This was up voted to the number one question, and this is something that we have answered before. We've done quite a few shows about this topic actually, which will link to in the show. So please go look there for really focused shows, but clearly you guys are wanting more. So if you're asking for how we meet the needs of everyone, the answer is we we don't. We can't be all things to all people, but a couple of practical things that we kind of both do: I get up early—now that my baby is out of a season of waking up late in the night. I get up before my kids and really try to fit in some self-care at that time or get some work done and have my quiet time and things like that. And then also we do have rest time. Emily has a rest time of sorts. Neither of us have kids that nap every day. But we try to sync a time every single day where all the kids are playing pretty individually or maybe as a small group, but they kind of know this is time that you're not asking Mommy questions, you're not coming to me with 15 requests for drinks and to figure this out and to do that. But we set them up with some type of activity, and they are told to play this for an hour and then the other babies nap in ours. Our time changes every day. It's not like a set schedule, it's whenever the baby naps. I'm like, "OK, rest time!"
[00:32:08] Emily: Yeah and I think it's a very fluid thing. It is a very week by week, season by season thing. I've learned that for me, my husband wants to give me times of rest and time away, but he doesn't always know when or how. He can't read my mind. And so I've learned to advocate for myself a little bit. And not in the way of I deserve this, but just saying something to him. And we've worked together to brainstorm how I can get away. We look at our calendar over the next couple of weeks and we say, "Here would be a good night if you want to go do something. Or can we get you off on a trip by yourself in the next six months?" You know, I know one thing my husband does every day that gives me a break is in the morning, he does the very first bottle. And every morning I lay there and think, "I'm so thankful for this." It's just a little thing. On Wednesday nights, I go to Bible study and he puts all five kids to bed. And it's not this life changing thing, but it is in a small way, a little bit of time that I get to not have to do something. So look for practical things like that. But one thing I think is always good to say is the reality that motherhood is hard. Especially in this season of little children. It is a time of pouring out and laying down and of putting others' needs before your own—not to a martyr degree but it is the truth.
[00:33:43] Laura: You know, we heard a lot from you guys like, "Hey, motherhood is really hard. Should it be this hard? Is this really how motherhood is supposed to go?" And without obviously knowing your unique situation and having a cup of coffee with you and really understanding what's going on, the general answer I think is yes. Like Emily said, this is a season where it's very physically demanding and exhausting, and so I think a lot of us are looking for time in the day where we can leisurely read a book or watch TV or just even feel caught up on the dishes or whatever and not feel like this endless cycle is going on. But that cycle is what this young season of children is. But remember that the Gospel gives you hope in every situation. And so no matter what is going on in your life the Gospel applies. The Gospel matters. The resurrection changes what is happening in your day today. And so you have not been forgotten. You have not been overlooked by God. He sees you, he sees your need. He sees the needs of all of those around you. And remember that because of Christ's death on the cross, and then his resurrection, the work is done and you can rest. And that may be, right now, a state of your heart, and you may still need to continue meeting those needs. But you can rest knowing that it is finished and that your salvation is secure, that you have an eternal perspective. Just know that you can cry out to God and he'll provide all that you need. And we do encourage you that if you're in that situation, go find someone to talk to in real life. We just did show on mommy mentors—that's not really what it's called, it has a better name—but about finding a discipler or finding a mentor. And we would really encourage you to do that. If you're feeling at the end of your rope, go into your local church and find community there and look for other women to help you in this because it is hard.
[00:35:31] Emily: Yep, a gospel life is a costly life but it's beautiful. And I think that there is joy in obedience. And whenever I cry out to God, and he provides what I need and helps me to persevere with his strength, there is joy in that. Even if you're tired.
[00:35:53] Laura: God is strong where you are weak and so motherhood puts us in that weak spot, right? OK. This one is another one that you guys ask a lot. What does Sabbath and Sabbath rhythms look like for you and your family in this season of young children?
[00:36:07] Emily: This is fun. This was asked so many times. I thought maybe we need to rethink our Sabbath.
[00:36:14] Laura: Because there are a lot of ways to do Sabbath. But thankfully we are free in Christ, right? We're not under the law with Sabbath but there are so many different ways to do it. So know that Emily and I's is just one example.
[00:36:27] Emily: Yes totally. And I think it also looks different for every family. In fact Journeywomen just had a really great podcast with Abigail Dodds—so good. So that would be a great thing to listen to if you are kind of curious about this topic. But our family doesn't have any formal rules or expectations or anything. We just view it as a church day. It's when we go to worship, we go to Sunday school, we usually have a small group every other week. It's a time to be with family. So that may be a time when we eat out with family. We take all of our kids to a restaurant or we may just eat leftovers at home. It's a day of rest in the sense of my husband has full permission to take a two-hour nap in the afternoon. So we encourage the kids to rest. I'm usually not on my phone much, so I'm usually pretty unplugged. Obviously there are exceptions to all these things, but as a general rule, I put on sweatpants at four o'clock. My husband and I like to watch a show together on Sunday nights. It's kind of our routine. And so it's a relaxing day.
[00:37:44] Laura: I would ditto Emily. I really have nothing to add. It's a little different, but generally it's the same type of thing. So the next question is, "How do you handle discipline and any creative tips or tricks over the years? Please touch on disciplining toddlers and preschoolers from a biblical perspective." That's a whole show we've done. It didn't have tons of practical, because again Emily and I feel like we don't have a lot of proof in our pudding yet, but if you want to listen to Episode 57 "How Discipline Helps Us Communicate the Gospel," we did share as much as we could in a 20-minute show. There are also good resources on the show notes! So Emily, why don't you talk through natural consequences? Em and I do a lot of the same things, so we're going to sort of bounce back and forth.
[00:38:31] Emily: We do. This would be for three to five year olds, so a little bit on the older end. One thing I really love about this season is that we're kind of out of the nitty gritty of, "Obey, respond! Obey, respond!" We've trained that, and now there are a lot of natural consequences of disobedience. Obeying mommy and daddy has more fruitfulness and more joy, and obeying God is more joy, than what happens when you sin and you do not respond in obedience.
[00:39:01] And so one example of this is recently, my husband and I went through all of our kids' clothes and we pulled everything out. We had five bags of clothes that needed to be put away in the basement in trash bags. And my oldest son ran up and said, "The twins are playing rain downstairs. Come quick." They were playing rain with the five bags of clothes by dropping them into the air. And clothes were flying everywhere! So the entire basement was covered in clothes. A natural consequence of that was they had to pick up every single shirt and shorts and put them all back in the bags. And it took a very long time and it was very strenuous for them.
[00:39:44] Laura: And probably for you to keep them on task.
[00:39:47] Emily: Yes, it is painful for me too. You know at the end of that we talked about, "Was that 30 seconds of fun really worth that hour and a half? Who were you thinking about?" I don't know how long it was. It felt like an hour and a half. It may not have been, but you know, "Was it really worth it? Who were you thinking about when you were tearing those clothes out? Were you thinking about you or were you thinking about mommy and daddy?" You know, you see their eyes, and they're really starting to calculate, "I guess I was only thinking about me. I wasn't thinking about the work that I had to do." This is one example of lots of ways to do this. In fact, my oldest son just recently said, "Mommy, remember that time when I couldn't go to that birthday party because I disobeyed?"
[00:40:31] Laura: I remember that time!
[00:40:32] Emily: That was so long ago! He doesn't remember what he did, but he remembered that he could n 't come to a party because we told him he needed to obey or he wasn't going to the party. There are definitely great opportunities for teaching about the heart lessons in natural consequences.
[00:40:50] Laura: And the words that you're hearing Emily say are the words that she really uses. We use the word, repentance we use the word reconcile, we use the word forgiveness. I mean not every time, but it's just kind of getting them used to those biblical words. I'm always an advocate of speaking to your child at a level that's a little bit higher than they are. They understand more than you think they do, and they understand more than you know. You can say the word and then kind of explain it on their level. But getting them used to those words is really good. And another thing I would add to using this natural consequence method is I think it's really helpful in building trust in you as a parent from your children and you teaching appropriate responses to different things. Recently, for example, my son was running in the living room yelling, "She's so ugly," or something like that. He must have heard it at school or in a movie. I'm not even sure where he picked up. He wasn't saying it to anyone in particular. He was just repeating a phrase that he had heard. My head, of course, snaps to attention when he starts saying the word ugly, but instead of being like, "Hey, don't say that! That's so mean!" or freaking out on him, I just walked over and said, "Hey bud, where do you hear that? Why are you saying that?" And I got down on his level and talked with him about it. "This is what the word ugly means and it can be very hurtful for someone if you say that. So we don't want to say that about a fellow image bearer, somebody else that God made because that is not something that's kind to say." And so we talked through that, and I think that's something that helps our children feel free to come to us because they're not going to get freaked out at, they're not going to get yelled at. Having a calm response to your child and being filled with grace, and even sharing that sometimes I say things that are kind and that's not a person that mommy wants to be can help teach them what's honoring to God.
[00:42:42] I think that's one of the times where my son didn't have like a natural consequence for saying that, but it did open the door for us to be able to have preventative instruction, and it takes away the fear of him doing something wrong and then feeling like he can't come to me or talk with me about or if he has questions about something that happened. I want him to always feel like he can come and his mom will talk with him and explain things. Yeah I like what we're getting to is just saying that there is a deeper reason and a deeper principle for things we want our kids to understand. One thing we talk about is running at church. And if I see my kids running I pull them aside and explain, "It's not just that you disobeyed mommy—that may be part of it—but it's also seeing these other people who we want to respect." It's getting to the root of what's going on and why that thing is unkind or wrong.
[00:43:32] Laura: Right. Exactly.
[00:43:33] Emily: But let's think about the broader picture here. And then just a quick word on toddlers and school-age children: one way that we train immediate obedience really practically is we get in a situation where no one is in trouble, there's no high stakes, here we're just hanging out at home, and we'll have our kids stand on the other side of the room and play a funny game. Daddy stands on the other side and he'll say, "So-and-so, come!" And then they have to say, "OK daddy," and run to daddy as fast as they can. And we do this like 20 times in a row. I mean just over and over and over again. As soon as you give a request, they have to say, "OK daddy! OK mommy!"
[00:44:16] And then we practice putting them in another room where they can't see us. "So and so, come!" "OK, daddy!" And then they have to come. And that's just one way to just start the process. Obviously it is way more complicated and involves years and years of doing all those things, but if you're looking for one quick thing to start, that's one. If they're walking, they can walk to you. And if they can say, "OK, Daddy. OK Mommy."
[00:44:39] Laura: My kids have to say that any time that I give an instruction. They have to respond with, "OK Mommy. OK daddy." We do teach them that around 18 months to two-year age, right when they're starting to talk, we definitely start saying it, especially when it's discipline. I give the instruction, and then they may not be able to repeat it all back to me, but they can say, "OK Mommy," and look me in the eye. That's when I kind of know that we're comprehending and we're together. They don't want to agree with you when they're being disobedient, but when they're willing to make eye contact and they're willing to say, "OK Mommy," you know that you're connected at that deeper heart level with them. Something else I would say, especially for those young kids, is that I think that a lot of young children can understand. Not necessarily consequences like they might get hurt, but they will understand that mom and dad don't like it when I do this and they seem to get upset when I do this, so I'm not going to keep doing this. And so I think young children can learn no and they can learn there are things they're not allowed to do. They can learn rules and boundaries. It looks totally different than an older child. But I think there's this element of being able to teach a young child to obey. Kind of like what Emily is saying, "OK, come when you're called. Obey when I say, 'No, you stop doing that action.'" They may not understand the full brunt—they definitely probably don't—but I think that that's something that a lot of people kind of give up on.
[00:46:23] Emily: Yeah. OK, a final word on this. One thing to we try to help our kids understand is why we want them to obey right away and why it matters. Again I think this is for a little bit of an older child. But the other day I saw one of my twins was trying to slide down a banister that was really high. And I walked in and of course, the sound of my voice is roaring, "No! Stop!" and that can sound like anger, but what that is the anger of a loving mom that wants to protect them from something very harmful. And that is like our God, right? We image him by saying he wants us to have life and not death. And so he cares fiercely about us, so he does things that say, "Come be in my will. Come do what I'm asking you to do because that's where there's life. Don't play over where there's death." And so I think helping our kids understand, "This is not my cry to you to be mean and this is my cry because there is life and good things when you listen, and you have wisdom, and you obey Mommy and Daddy. Do you hear my voice pouring out you? It's because I care about you. I care too much about you to let you do something silly." They're not just going to learn as they get old you. They don't grow out of disobedience. And we've seen that. If you do not deal with it when they're young, it doesn't go away.
[00:47:41] Laura: I think discipline and motherhood is hard. Often I would want to kitchen parent. You know, I'm squawking out orders from the kitchen like, "Hey! Hey! Stop." I'm kind of pretending I don't really hear what's happening. Often I find that if I go to my children and sit on these little kiddie chairs, I'll hold their hands and they have to hold each other's hands, and we all sit down just talk. We look at each other in the eyes, and we pray and we ask God to forgive us, and to help us with everything. I find that most of the time, not every time, but most of the time they will play much better together after that. Much better than if I continue to just yell at them from the side or toss somebody in time out or whatever I shooting from the hip. Often there are no consequences that happen, we're just having a discussion and I'm reminding them, "Hey, we are family and God put us together. Let's work together, let's enjoy one another." Those are the kind of things that foster sibling relationships. All of this flows together and I think that so much of it comes from us being willing to sacrifice our wants and our needs and our comforts our desires and say, "This is hard. And I'm exhausted, and I've done this multiple times today, but I'm going to come over and I'm going to do it one more time." Just know that this takes is a lot. It takes consistency and effort, but it matters.
[00:49:15] Emily: And the prayer pow-wow does wonders.
[00:49:17] Laura: Ooh the prayer pow-wow. I don't call it that, but I like it.
[00:49:20] Emily: I just made that up on the spot. I just know we get together like, "We're going to have family heart to heart!"
[00:49:28] Another question we got a lot is, "How do you get intentional time with each kid during the day? What does connection with your kids look like? Do you have one on one time with each child each day? Dates with individual kids? Especially family time etc. “Lauren and I have pretty much the same answer for this so I'm just going to answer at a high level and that's no, we don't have formal plans for getting one on one time with our kids. But because we have family nearby, sometimes we have opportunities where we have one child that gets to go to the store with us randomly or the older siblings get taken and we have time with one child and we try to take advantage of that. I think both Laura and I would say we just look for those times and when they happen, we try to snag them—for 10-15 minutes, whatever it is like running the errand.
[00:50:14] Laura: And you're probably hearing a common theme from us of communication. So when we're with them, and we're trying to be intentional, it's really just like asking—especially our older kids—"Hey how was your day at school today?" Like for my children, it might be, "Are you enjoying the move? Do you miss any of your friends from back home?" And car times are really good because you might have just one or they're strapped in, so they need to listen to you talking about church and how that went. But I think that's something, as Emily said, we're just kind of taking advantage of the pockets of time that there are. I think for the babies, that does look a little bit different. Emily and I were both talking about this, our babies are with us all the time, so I don't really have to make intentional time for her. In fact, I've often felt I need to be spending more time with my older kids because I spend so much time with my youngest who has special needs and needs a lot of therapies and appointments and things. It's harder to get time with the kids as they're older.
[00:51:10] Emily: Yeah and I think Laura's quick mention about the child with special needs—you know we both have a child with special needs at different ages. And I think one thing we do is make therapy time special. Also, I still try to get one on one time with my son right before bed, because he can kind of get lost in the mix even though he's got different needs. So it's just looking for that opportunity to count. When am I going to pray with this specific child or when am I going to sing with that specific child? I'm just looking for the opportunity and taking it. That's all we do, it's not on the calendar.
[00:51:44] Laura: And they asked about if we have family games or anything like that.
[00:51:48] I think a lot of it happens on the Sabbath. We'll take a family nap together. My kids love it. I mean it takes a lot to wind down. Let's be real. But I think there's something about Mom and Dad being close and that we're all piling together. So, we'll kind of take a nap together or attempt to, or we'll play Trouble or Connect Four or read aloud. So we definitely are getting into that phase, but in terms of anything scheduled? No. But it is being intentional in a sense of keeping your eyes out on the lookout for those times.
[00:52:21] Emily: OK, if you have hung on until this because you saw it somewhere in the promo, we're getting ready to do it. OK, the question is, "How do you still enjoy sex when you're feeling used up, tired, and very unbeautiful all the time? How do you honestly balance intimacy with your husband while being in the exhausting season of babies? How can we apply the gospel to this situation?"
[00:52:44] Laura: We actually have a blog post coming out around the time of the show that is really helpful. Emily and I both read it and it's great. So that's something to look at. But first off, I guess as we talk about it here, we just want you to know we're going to give general principles. You know it's one thing to talk with your girlfriends over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine about what's going on in your life concerning intimacy, but it's a whole another thing to talk to tens of thousands of women on a podcast about something that's so personal and intimate. For all of us.
[00:53:19] Emily: Yeah. And again, talking to such a big group of people, we know that there are just a tremendous number of complexities—everything from pornography, infidelity, being unequally yoked with your spouse, and past sexual sin before marriage. Maybe some people experience physical pain after childbirth that impacts their ability to have physical intimacy with their husband. And so we just know whenever we come up to this topic, that there are so many different lenses that are hearing this. So please take what we're going to say—which we hope is very general—probably has lots of caveats and lots of different ways for different scenarios. And if you have deeper questions, you should always go talk to someone at your church, talk to a counselor, talk to an older couple, go talk to someone who can listen to your specific situation because it may be more complicated than what we're sharing here.
[00:54:14] Laura: Yes, I echo all of that. So the first thing we want to do is distill any myth that there is a perfect number of times a week to be intimate with your husband. I think, especially in Christian circles, we can kind of want to know if we should have it three times a week, once a week, once a month, or twice a year. "What's the number?" is kind of what everybody wants to know. But ultimately, everyone is really different, and husbands and wives each have different needs and desires and drives.
[00:54:43] So I think as long as you're both happy with it, and you're communicating it, and you actually having sex, then your number is fine. So don't stress out about a certain number of times. I've known of a few different people that have said, "OK we want to have sex this many times a week, let's schedule it." And that was something that, for them, was really helpful in that season of life, and it helped them meet their desires of what they wanted versus what their schedule looked like.
[00:55:08] Emily: So it's a good thing for your relationship. And I think it's something that needs to be viewed as healthy. This is something that's pre-fall. God created it. So this is a good thing. It's a gift. So it's something we need to communicate about. Ideally, in a marriage of two believers who love God and have a generally healthy relationship, we should want to lay our lives down for that other person, we want to outdo the other person in showing love. And if that's the attitude of both spouses, and it's not a regular pattern for either person to be like, "No, no, no. Me, me, me. I need my side. I need this to be this way," but both people are saying, "I really want to come closer to loving you in the way that you want to be loved," it will work out. You will figure out the right number, and it can just be as simple as checking in with those conversations of, "Hey, how are you feeling about this?"
[00:56:08] And it can be a little awkward but do it in a time that's low pressure as a normal check-in conversation to say, "I want to love you. How can we do better at this?"
[00:56:23] Laura: Yeah. Don't be afraid to bring it up with your husband if you feel like, "Oh we're not having it enough," or, “This is maybe too much for me." Share with him that maybe there are some needs. Like maybe you like to take a shower beforehand, or maybe you just want to be able to think about it throughout the day. And again, like Emily is saying, there's an element of being able to prepare, talk about, and kind of set expectations so you guys will be on the same page, but then also being willing to set aside your expectations and feel a little bit spontaneous and be willing to say, "Yes, this isn't exactly what I wanted tonight or this isn't exactly what I was thinking would happen, but again I love you and I want to serve you and I want to pour out for you. And so I'm willing to do that." There's just kind of this mix that needs to happen. It's kind of the seesaw back and forth of communicating about it and really talking about it, but then also laying down what you want and being willing to compromise, within healthy measures again.
[00:57:19] Emily: And I think it's important to just pray. Pray together for this. Or pray alone. I think we've heard that often, it can be helpful when maybe you do know that time is coming up, and that you know the night before you said, "Hey honey, I'm really tired. And you know it's just been a hard day. Try this again tomorrow night," that you take time to pray and ask God to help you have that desire. I think sometimes too it helps us in practical things as well. But certainly don't devalue prayer as a legitimate way to work through this issue.
[00:58:03] Laura: Yeah. So again, we highly recommend talking with your friends and getting vulnerable about it, meaning with an older, wiser woman than you and being willing to talk about this. I mean we know it's uncomfortable and hard. I feel like we sound kind of uncomfortable right now. And Emily I do talk about this. I mean, not like tons because she's married to my brother. Generally, I'm OK talking about it with her. But with that, we are able to get a lot more vulnerable with friends. And so we would encourage you to be able to do that too, especially if you're feeling really worn out and at the end of your rope and like you're just kind of a tired mom. That's very very normal. And we get it, and we just want you to know that we hear you, you're normal, but at the same time, we want you to meet with others to talk about it more and not let that just be an excuse for whatever is happening.
[00:58:55] Emily: Yeah because just like all of the other things that make a healthy marriage, this is a component of God's design for healthy marriage. And so it's important. It's not something to lay down the fight on.
[00:59:06] Laura: That's right. OK, so one of the other highly requested questions was, "How do you shift your heart and attitude when everything and everyone annoys you? How do you reset your heart?" So this is a great question and something that Emily experience too. We have done shows very specifically on this, so instead of talking about this again, we do want to just point out a couple of shows—especially the Preaching the Gospel to Yourself episode. What do we do when we need to reset our hearts? We preach the Gospel to ourselves, so we delve deep into that. Another show we really encourage you to go listen to is "A Bad Moment Doesn't Make a Bad Day" episode. That's one where for when you feel like you snapped or you flipped a switch, and you don't really know how to regroup from your day. That's pretty early in the archives but it's helpful. I think that was something that I had to realize. Just like if you're trying to eat healthy and you're like, "I just messed up so much today, I'm just going to keep blowing it the rest of the day." But really, any real dietitian would say, "No no no. You restart now." So you can always reset because of the Gospel. Because of Christ, you are a new creation and so you can reset and know that whenever your heart attitude is kind of stinky, you can sweeten it up by preaching the Gospel to yourself.
[01:00:30] Emily: And we will wrap this show up with a question that we get everytime we do Ask Us Anything.
[01:00:37] Laura: Yeah. And we definitely had it this time.
[01:00:39] Emily: "What is your daily routine like?" So Laura I can just briefly share because it's hard to talk about your daily routine in a brief way. But it really varies because of our kids' schedules. This year was like a math equation to put it on the calendar because I had so many people in so many different places on different days. My kids don't have school every day, so it always depends if it's a school morning or not. I also have a child who's in therapy multiple days a week. And so it might be a therapy day. That all varies. But our kids usually wake up between 6:45 and 7 a.m., breakfast is between 7 and 7:15. We all have breakfast together usually unless my husband had to leave early for something, but usually he's around. It's been fun because lately I've been looking down the table like, "Oh all of our kids are at the table now. Oh that is fun." Even the baby is there eating her Cheerios or whatever. And so that usually wraps up about 8:00 o'clock. Depending on what the day looks like, if it's a school morning, I may do some cleaning around the house, hang out with whatever kids are at home, I may do some work on Risen Motherhood, and I may do therapy with kids. Usually around 11:00 to noon, it's like another big transition time for us. So whoever I have at home is eating lunch and then we have to go swap kids at school. And I have some kids in school in the morning and some kids in school in the afternoon—I sound like of a billion kids.
[01:02:12] Laura: You do have a billion.
[01:02:13] Emily: OK. So it's too complicated. And then whoever comes home the afternoon, there is a nap/rest time. So I have two kids that nap and then my twins are at home and they're supposed to be playing quietly. And this is my time that I listen to podcasts, I listen to audio books, I clean the house, I prep dinner, I do laundry, I do Risen Motherhood. That all happens during that two hours. Of course, I get interrupted during that time but that's the expectation. And then usually around 3:00, that's another big transition time of everyone is home. Then from 3:00-5:30, I'm all hands on deck during that time usually.
[01:03:02] Sometimes my dad, who lives next door, will take a couple of the kids and we will tag team making sure we can go outside and play or go run errands or do whatever we need to do. And then we usually try to have dinner between 5:30-6:00, and bedtime is promptly at 7 p.m. for everyone in the house except dad nights.
[01:03:25] Laura: What do you do after bedtime?
[01:03:27] Emily: What do we do after kids go to bed? We clean up, so we usually have to clean the kitchen together. That is a nightly activity, and that's when my husband and I talk honestly and chat about our day and all the different things going on. And then we have "veg time," is what we call it. That's like him on the iPad doing whatever he's doing and I'm literally sitting to my bed staring at the wall [laughter] or I like reading a book. And then honestly, we watch a show pretty much every night on Netflix together. My husband usually falls asleep, but I have to stay up to watch the whole episode!
[01:04:03] Laura: I can't believe he falls asleep.
[01:04:03] Emily: So then every morning he's like, "Well, what happened?" Anyways it's just a fun thing but we like it.
[01:04:14] Laura: Nice. OK. So for me, I'm up as early as I can be around 5:30. My husband goes to works pretty early, sometimes between 4:30-5:30. So I try to get up with him. I go have my coffee, have a quiet time, I usually work on RM, and sometimes the baby wakes up. She's been having a lot of early weeks, but it's just kind of what it is.
[01:04:44] And then I was thinking about the rest of my day and I have all these different roles of wife and mom, of course, and then RM, writing the book, and then we're working on building and designing a house right now. Which I'm surprised by how much work goes into it even though Emily warned me. And then also I kind of view being a therapist as a role for my daughter, kind of how Emily fills the same role for her son, but just going to all of her appointments—both medical and then also therapy type care stuff, and there's a lot that just goes with that.
[01:05:16] So I do live with my parents right now. And so they are around and they've been a huge help. It's definitely a new thing for me. I used to be about five hours away from family. So this was really fun and it's really nice because they'll really help throughout the day. I have a lot of assistance, it's like I'm almost like overwhelmed.
[01:05:36] But everyone's up around 7:00 and then we do breakfast. I am total opposite of Emily, and it is like granola bars or yogurt cups. It's very simple. Then off to school for my oldest. I usually take all three kids with me for that kind of stuff three days a week. So then we usually have therapy around 10:15 and whoever is available comes.
[01:06:01] They usually all come with me and they just play with toys at therapy or they help. We talk a lot about how everyone contributes to the work of the home, and we're a family, so we all support one another. Our youngest needs extra help, and so we're going to all support her. And she comes to things for you and you go to things for her. So we talk about that a lot because sometimes they're wondering, "Why are we coming here again?" And then I have to pick up my oldest at around 11:15. And then I do have childcare seven hours a week. Generally, I can count on childcare that's mixed throughout the week, and that is usually when I try to write for the book or do larger RM projects. My parents are wonderful but this is not childcare from them. They've got a lot of other grandkids, a lot of other commitments, so it's definitely something that was a little more reliable. And then the end of the day will also be for appointments for the house or medical things for my daughter. I make dinner every night. And then my husband is usually home by 5:00 p.m., which is like a massive improvement, if you've ever heard me talk about my husband's old job. And so we usually just kind of hang as a family and the kids are in bed between 7 and 8. We have, I guess, I'm going to call it veg time.
[01:07:24] We also just kind of hang, read books, talk. Yeah, it's just a pretty chill night. So every day is very different.
[01:07:34] Emily: I feel like there are 100 things I didn't mention.
[01:07:36] Laura: But you mentioned like 100 things.
[01:07:39] Emily: Laura and I both have over five appointments a week of therapy or some kind of a doctor's appointment for our children. That is definitely a huge portion of life now. And I too have seven hours of childcare every week to write the book, outside of like grandparents.
[01:08:02] Laura: Em and I help each other, we help Becca out, like there's a lot of family unity. It's cool.
[01:08:10] Emily: So what else? I don't think I've ever shared this before, I also have help with cleaning.
[01:08:15] Laura: Yeah, Emmy has a housecleaner.
[01:08:16] Emily: I think people always ask, "How do you guys do Risen Motherhood?" I'm like, "With lots of help and I don't do everything!" And so that's a real way that we have taken legit hours out of my week of something that I don't do.
[01:08:30] I also go in and out of seasons of exercising and right now, I'm in a season of not exercising again and in a couple of weeks or a couple of months, I may be back in a season of trying to exercise. So I think when you're hearing these things, and it sounds like we're doing a lot, what we don't always share is what we're not doing.
[01:08:47] Laura: Yeah. 100%. Like our hair. [Laughter].
[01:08:49] Emily: Like our hair, like how many days a week I don't shower. I actually have like a shower schedule now. So if you see me wearing a ball cap, it's probably an off day.
[01:08:58] Laura: You have good hair tonight. So that counts for something today.
[01:09:03] Emily: So anyways, that was probably way more than you ever wanted to know about Laura and I's schedules, and it is so much more complicated than that, and the reality probably looks different every day. But anyways, thanks for joining us for another Ask Us Anything.
[01:09:16] Laura: Yeah, we had a lot of questions that we didn't answer, but we actually do have a blog post going up this week where we link to shows or blog posts that have answers to many of these. We'll probably answer a couple on social media. So be looking on social media for those. And of course, if you don't know where we're at, we're @risenmotherhood on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And of course, our show notes are at www.risenmotherood.com, go to the podcast tab and there you'll find a pretty picture of Emily and I's family that you can click on and find all of the resources, all of the links that we mentioned, all the shows. We did a ton of stuff! It will all be in the show notes post for you to be able to access any related links. So thank you so much for joining us for the special one hundredth episode!
[01:10:06] Emily: Wow. Can you believe that we got to 100 episodes?
[01:10:08] Laura: No I never saw this coming. Like legit, never saw it coming.
[01:10:11] Emily: I remember the day we were just doing five.
[01:10:17] Laura: Yeah, some people ask, "Why did you start Risen Motherhood? Or what did you start for? Why did you do this?" Good question. Check out Episode 00—the secret episode. It's the very first one that we actually recorded about halfway through our first year. We explain where the idea came from, kind of why we're doing this, and it helps set the stage for what Risen Motherhood is all about.
[01:10:46] Emily: Happy hundredth episode, Laura.
[01:10:48] Laura: Happy 100th to you. Oh my. We need to sign off. It's late. We're tired. We're getting real cheesy. Thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you guys next week.