Is there something that you are relying on to give you joy, fulfillment, or that you just feel like you “have to have” or “can’t live without”? I was recently convicted about how much I was relying upon sugar… and it inspired me to try doing a three-week-long no sugar challenge. In this episode, we share why and how I went twenty-one days without sugar as well and what changes I experienced along the way. Don’t worry! The purpose of this episode is not to shame you for your sugar intake or even ...
Jul 11, 2023•33 min
Heather MacFadyen and I have both been blogging for a long time, but our paths took very different directions online. And that's exactly what this conversation is about! Heather is a well-known podcaster and author of the book, Right Where You Belong: How to Identify and Fully Occupy Your God-Given Space . In this podcast episode, Heather shares about her journey and how she set out to write a book years ago and ended up getting rejections that led her to podcast instead -- something that has op...
Jul 04, 2023•35 min
You may recall from a couple of episodes ago our conversation in which we shared our thoughts on the Shiny Happy People docu-series. That episode was very unplanned and off-the-cuff, so we thought that we would do a follow-up episode because we got a lot of feedback wishing that they had heard more from Jesse. I am therefore doing my best to let Jesse lead this conversation so that you can hear more of his perspective surrounding the docu-series. Jesse shares how even though he wasn’t directly i...
Jun 27, 2023•33 min
I am so excited to have Natalie Runion on the podcast this week, and this couldn’t have possibly happened at a better time! In the last episode, Jesse and I shared our thoughts about the docu-series Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets , and a lot of you reached out to me to say that you have struggled to know how to feel about church because of difficult experiences you have had. Natalie is here to discuss what to do and how to process through church hurt and disappointment, something she ...
Jun 20, 2023•29 min
This may be one of the most controversial episodes I’ve ever recorded – and also the most personal! Amazon recently released a 4-part docu-series called Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets . While this series focuses on the Duggar family primarily, it dives into the world and beliefs of those who were part of the IBLP/ATI program – which was the program and culture I grew up in. We got so many requests from people to share our thoughts on the docu-series, so we sat down and recorded a very...
Jun 13, 2023•36 min
Today’s podcast guest has deeply impacted my life this year as I've been reading her work and following her on Instagram and I really looked forward to recording this episode with her. It didn't disappoint! Phylicia Masonheimer is the author of Every Woman a Theologian and founder of the organization with the same name, a ministry that teaches both Christian women and men how to identify what they believe and communicate it in a loving way. In this podcast episode, she shares why theology matter...
Jun 06, 2023•32 min
Want to help your kids be more intentional with their summer? In this podcast episode, Jesse and I share 10 questions to ask your kids to help them come up with some great ideas to be more intentional with their time this summer. Use these questions as a springboard to set goals or just to get yours kids' creative juices flowing! As we talk about in this episode, we sat down with our kids and went over these questions together and we had such a fun time hearing our kids' answers, learning more a...
May 30, 2023•27 min
Okay, full disclosure: I'd never heard of Addison Bevere until his publisher reached out and asked if he could be on my podcast. I did some research and was so impressed with what I found, that I said yes. And I'm so grateful I did because I was absolutely blessed by the time I got to spend with him. Not only did he share so much wisdom on our podcast episode, but I loved getting to know him more in our conversations before and after we recorded. He was so humble and I would have never known tha...
May 23, 2023•31 min
Listen in to this week's podcast episode as I welcome our daughter, Kathrynne, back to the show! She joins me today to discuss her high school experience -- a topic inspired by a recent night where she spoke at youth group. She had such wisdom to share there and I wanted her to get to share some of that on the podcast. In this episode, Kathrynne talks about how she was really dreading going into her senior year. She decided to focus on loving the younger kids and looking for ways to serve them a...
May 16, 2023•29 min
Mother’s Day isn’t always flowers and chocolate and handmade cards. For many women, it’s a hard reminder of something that isn’t, something that once was, or something that might never be. Maybe you’ve lost a child. Maybe you’re estranged from your mom. Maybe your child has a life-threatening disease. Maybe you’ve lost your mother. Maybe you’re single and longing for marriage and motherhood. Maybe that adoption you thought was going to go through didn’t. Maybe you never really had a mother figur...
May 09, 2023•32 min
Jesse and I are talking about "slacker parenting" this week on the podcast. This term might seem a bit odd or like the opposite of the kind of parent you'd want to be, but hear us out... because it's not exactly what it sounds like! I recently read a pre-release copy of Alli Worthington’s upcoming book Remaining You While Raising Them and that's where I got the phrase from. Alli talks about how kids are often much more capable than we think they are. What would it look like for us to give them m...
May 03, 2023•40 min
I am so honored to have Anne Neilson on today’s show! Anne has a brand new book out titled The Brushstrokes of Life: Discovering How God Brings Beauty and Purpose to Your Story , and she joins me today to discuss her life such as her general background, her family, how her childhood was a bit difficult and rocky, how she became interested in art, and more. Anne is very candid about how she spent a good portion of her life feeling unworthy of pursuing her dreams and touches upon how she has worke...
Apr 25, 2023•31 min
I have been getting a lot of questions lately asking for advice on how to get your spouse on board with your budget plan and/or how to get them to stop spending too much money, so we decided to address that on the podcast today. I share some of the questions and comments that listeners have sent in and offer some advice, such as implementing what I call the three C-O-Ms - (1) compassion, (2) communication, and (3) compromise. When it comes to getting your spouse on board with an idea of yours, s...
Apr 18, 2023•36 min
Today’s guest has deeply impacted my life, so it is such an honor having her on the show. Katie Davis Majors’ book Kisses from Katie had a profound impact on me when I read it years ago, and she now has a brand new book out, Safe All Along . Katie's story of moving to Africa right out of high school, starting a nonprofit ( Amazima Ministries ), and eventually adopting 13 girls while living in Uganda is incredible and you can't help but be moved in hearing it. And you would think she must have a ...
Apr 11, 2023•35 min
Today’s episode is a fun and informal one! And it actually took a turn down a path I hadn't planned and we just rolled with it. I honestly think I've never laughed this much while recording a podcast ever! I hope it maybe makes you laugh... or you can just laugh at us laughing so hard (I literally had tears streaming down my face I was laughing so hard!) In this episode, we not only share about Kathrynne's college decision and what led to that decision (and why she's going about things in a crea...
Mar 28, 2023•34 min
Our two oldest girls, Kathrynne and Kaitlynn, returned to the podcast today to talk all about a recent trip to Europe, specifically London and Amsterdam! They share why they went on this trip, who they went with, what the highlights were, and some of the lessons they learned. We talk about them seeing Big Ben, stage productions of Newsies and Mouse Trap , a soccer game, how beautiful Amsterdam was, the food, visiting the Anne Frank house, and their canal tour. This was such a great, character-bu...
Mar 21, 2023•25 min
Have you ever wondered how to talk to your kids about disabilities? Do you want your kids to not feel awkward around those who have special needs or disabilities, but you aren't sure how to interact or what to say and don't want to say or do the wrong thing? In this week's episode of The Crystal Paine Show , I have a really fantastic conversation about with Laura Wifler about this very topic. We not only share practical ideas of how we've appreciated others approaching and interacting with us an...
Mar 14, 2023•32 min
Today is the big day - the release of my new book, The Time-Saving Mom: How to Juggle a Lot, Enjoy Your Life, and Accomplish What Matters Most ! We're switching things up a little as Jesse interviews me! I touch upon what makes this book unique, what tools and resources are in the book, how it changed and developed over time, and so much more. I also, as promised last week, I also read more of the introduction from the book. It is my hope that this book helps others live with more intention, pea...
Mar 07, 2023•25 min
In this week’s episode of The Crystal Paine Show , Jesse and I share why we made the decision recently to close our home (at least for the next year or two) to fostering. It was a really difficult decision to make — and it wasn’t the decision we were expecting to make right now. But we spent a lot of time praying and had a lot of conversations and are grateful for the clear direction God gave us and the peace we have. While the need for foster families is so great right now, we also know that lo...
Feb 28, 2023•28 min
I loved getting to have this conversation with Monica Swanson, an experienced mom of four boys who has so much wisdom to share! Her new book is called Raising Amazing: Bringing Up Kids Who Love God, Like Their Family, and Do the Dishes Without Being Asked -- I mean, I'd buy the book just to have someone share how to get your kids to do the dishes without being asked! :) In this episode, I asked her to share more about this book, we talk about her book Boy Mom , too, and how she has fostered in h...
Feb 21, 2023•32 min
I have a lot in common with this week's podcast guest -- and we have many mutual connections! Author of Mind Your Mindset: The Science That Shows Success Starts with Your Thinking (which she co-authored with her father Michael Hyatt) as well as C.E.O. of Full Focus , Megan Hyatt Miller joins me this week to share about how our mindset impacts all areas of our life. She talks about how she got into her business, what it’s like working with her dad, and the story behind this book and how personal ...
Feb 14, 2023•34 min
We had a big milestone happen recently: our oldest child, Kathrynne, turned 18 and is officially an adult!! Today, we reflect on the last 18 years of parenting and four important lessons we've learned. If I could go back, I would work less and chase numbers and business growth a whole lot less, I'd be more present and take time to really notice and celebrate the small things, I'd stop trying to fix my kids and just walk with them, and I'd worry a lot less about what other people think. I hope ou...
Feb 07, 2023•33 min
Today’s guest Toni Collier is the founder of Broken Crayons and is also the author of the new book Brave Enough to Be Broken: How to Embrace Your Pain and Discover Hope and Healing . Toni shares her journey, discussing how her life took a turn for the worse when she was a child. She defines what brokenness means to her and how that led to her getting counseling and seeking change. Toni discusses her belief in the importance of hope, arguing that it’s not pain that causes the most damage to us bu...
Jan 31, 2023•30 min
Michele Cushatt returns to the podcast today to talk about something that we didn’t get to dive into last time - her personal story and journey! Michele has a brand new book coming out in March called A Faith That Will Not Fail: 10 Practices to Build Up Your Faith When Your World Is Falling Apart , and if anyone knows what it’s like for your world to fall apart, it’s definitely Michele. Michele dives into her journey and talks about all of the devastating loss that she has endured throughout her...
Jan 24, 2023•30 min
Jesse and I celebrated a milestone anniversary recently – twenty years of marriage! In some ways, it feels like it hasn’t been that long, and in other ways, it feels like we have been married even longer than that, and we thought that we spend today discussing the biggest lessons that we have learned over the past two decades. The last few years have stretched us more than ever. Walking through foster care licensing, fostering 6 precious kids of differing ages, saying goodbye to the beautiful bo...
Jan 17, 2023•30 min
As promised in last week’s episode, we are giving more detail today about the newest addition to our family whom, after fostering for 21 months, we have officially adopted! We have been referring to him as Baby D on social media and on the podcast, but we are now finally able to reveal that his name is David, and we touch upon the Biblical significance of his name and how it coincidentally (given that his mom named him) follows our pattern of boys’ names. In this episode, we share a lot of never...
Jan 10, 2023•25 min
Welcome to the very first episode of 2023! As a way of ushering in the new year, we thought that it would be appropriate to share our goals for 2023! My new book The Time-Saving Mom is coming out in March, and I also have six children, all of which is already a lot, so I have gone about setting realistic and specific goals for 2023 in a way that is challenging me but not overwhelming me. I also want to be sure that my goals all correlate with my values and what I want to be able to accomplish by...
Jan 03, 2023•33 min
Welcome to the very last episode of the podcast before we move into 2023! It has been a really eventful 2022, so we are spending this episode taking a look back at 2022, reflecting on the big events of the year, including finishing my next book and giving birth to Micah. We talk about how we have two teenagers who are preparing for college, how this year has provided a lot of opportunities for me to talk about foster care, what challenges we have faced this year, and so, so much more! You will a...
Dec 20, 2022•26 min
Today’s guest is Jodi Mockabee, author of the book The Whole and Healthy Family: Helping Your Kids Thrive in Mind, Body, and Spirit ! I appreciate how Jodi addresses things holistically and has a lot of wisdom and experience to bring to the table. Jodi is the mother of five children ranging from the age of ten to sixteen, and she bases the book on all of that experience that she had, capturing parenting methods that have worked for her as well as ones that haven’t worked so well. She discusses h...
Dec 13, 2022•32 min
As we are approaching the end of the year and preparing to move into a new one, let's talk about being a beginner. This topic was inspired by a pep talk Jesse gave to me a few weeks ago as I was starting a new workout program and was sort of bemoaning how much of a beginner I felt. His words of encouragement were so motivational to me and I wanted him to share more in this episode of the podcast. If you are in the process of starting something new, starting over, or thinking of starting somethin...
Dec 06, 2022•27 min
