Happy Hour #41 with Melanie Dale. Melanie is a geek on a God-ride, a minivan mama and total weirdo who stinks at small talk. Her laugh is a combination honk-snort, and it's so bad that people have moved away from her in the movie theater. She adores sci-fi and superheroes and is terrified of Pinterest. Author of Women Are Scary: The Totally Awkward Adventure of Finding Mom Friends , she's also a contributor for Coffee+Crumbs and an advocate for Children's HopeChest . Living in the Atlanta area, ...
May 22, 2015•52 min
Happy Hour #40 is with my friend Shauna Niequist. Shauna is the author of Savor , Bread & Wine , Cold Tangerines , and Bittersweet , and is an enthusiastic hostess, home cook and passionate gatherer of people. Shauna’s three great loves are her family, dinner parties, and books, and she believes that vulnerable storytelling, hard laughter, and cold pizza for breakfast can cure almost anything. On this show we talked about her books, cooking club & small group, how her family loves to tra...
May 13, 2015•54 min
Happy Hour #39 is with my favorite person in the world ... my husband! Since I started the show I've been wanting to have him on, and you guys submitted some great questions via Facebook , Twitter, & IG for us to chat about. We honestly had a great time, and so even though this is a bit of a different show than you are used to, I think you will like it. On this show Aaron and I discuss the upcoming new live album from Austin Stone Worship , how we do ministry together, how we have changed si...
May 06, 2015•1 hr 2 min
Happy Hour #38 is with my friend Jessica Thompson. This is now Jessica's second time to be on the Happy Hour and I love it and love her. She's one of my most fun guests that I have had on this whole time. I feel like I could sit with her over chips and salsa and laugh for hours. Jessica lives with her husband and three kids in Southern California. She's an author and speaker who has great things to say. On this show we talked about how we both love the show Nashville, her newest book, grace for ...
May 01, 2015•1 hr 1 min
Happy Hour #37 is with my friend Trisha Davis. Trisha and her husband, Justin, live in the Nashville area (for now) with their three boys. Her and her husband run REFINE US , which is a ministry they founded in 2007. RefineUs Ministries using their story of failure, loss, and transformation to guide individuals, couples, churches, pastors, pastor’s wives and church planters towards a healthy marriage and family. Trisha and Justin wrote BEYOND ORDINARY in 2012. Beyond Ordinary is a book about the...
Apr 22, 2015•1 hr 9 min
Happy Hour #36 is with my new friend Meredith Toering. Meredith and I met at the If Gathering this past February and didn't get hardly any time to chat, and after our chat today I was wishing I had more time with her. You are going to love her! Meredith is the International Director of Morning Star , an NPO that works with orphans and at-risk children (family preservation programs) who have very complex heart defects in China, Uganda, and India. On today's show Meredith and I chat about how she ...
Apr 16, 2015•58 min
Happy Hour #35 is with my friend Melanie Shankle. You may know Melanie from her blog, The Big Mama Blog , where she's been cracking up all of us readers for years now. Melanie lives in San Antonio with her husband and daughter. She is the author of three books, Sparkly Green Earrings , The Antelope in the Living Room , and her newest, Nobody's Cuter Than You, that just released this week on April 7th. On the show today we talk about her book a lot, her friend Jen that she mentions in the book wh...
Apr 09, 2015•1 hr 3 min
Happy Hour #34 is with my friend Trillia Newbell. Trillia Newbell is the author of United: Captured by God's Vision for Diversity (2014) and Fear and Faith: Finding the Peace Your Heart Craves (2015). She is currently the Director of Community Outreach for the SBC;s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Trillia is married to her best friend, Thern, they reside with their two children near Nashville, TN. You can find her at trillianewbell.com and follow her on twitter at @trillianewbell . On th...
Apr 01, 2015•49 min
Happy Hour #33 is with my new friend Asher Collie, who founded the organization, SOLE HOPE , which I will be visiting this weekend! Asher and her husband, Dru , moved to Uganda 2 years ago. They have six children from ages 16 to 2 year's old. They started SOLE HOPE in 2010 to help the Ugandan people with jiggers. They are loving on Ugandans and helping change lives every day. I'm actually traveling to Uganda THIS FRIDAY to work with Sole Hope and see their ministry first hand. I'm beyond excited...
Mar 11, 2015•50 min
Happy Hour #32 is with Lindsey Wheeler. Lindsey, her husband Chris, and their daughter Eliana live in Nashville, TN. Lindsey started BOTTLE OF TEARS after she was diagnosed with lyme disease and wanted a way to spread love and hope to others that were suffering. In this episode we talk about her journey with pain and suffering and how that led her to starting a company to help others. We recapped what happened at the end of the If:Gathering for her and how she's hoping for a miracle for her and ...
Mar 03, 2015•1 hr 1 min
Happy Hour #31 is with my friend Erin MacPheson. Erin is a stay-at-home mom by day and a writer and amateur chef by night. She is the author of more than nine books, including The Christian Mama's Guide series and the Hot Mama series. She lives in Austin with her three kids (ages 9, 7 and 3), her husband and her trusty Golden Retiever, Jack. Erin and her friend Kathi Lipp have a book coming out in the Fall, but before then they are releasing three ebooks to lead up to the release of their book. ...
Feb 24, 2015•1 hr 11 min
Jessica N. Turner is the founder of the popular lifestyle blog The Mom Creative , where she documents her pursuit of cultivating a life well-crafted. Additionally, she is a writer for HuffPost Parents and DaySpring's (in)courage, an advocate for World Vision, a regular speaker at blogging conferences nationwide, and an award-winning marketing professional. She and her husband, Matthew live with their three young children in Nashville, Tennessee. In this episode we talk about parenting topics suc...
Feb 16, 2015•52 min
Happy Hour #29 is with a friend that I met at the Influence Conference in 2014, and knew that I wanted to have her on the Happy Hour to chat with all of us! Sarah Martin is the author of Just Rise Up . Sarah is originally from Texas, but lives in North Carolina with her husband and son now. You can find her blogging over at her website LiveItOut ! Follow Sarah on facebook , twitter , and instagram . Follow Jamie on facebook , twitter , and instagram . For a full summary and links to this show, c...
Feb 10, 2015•46 min
Today's guest on the Happy Hour podcast is Lindsey Paschal. Lindsey is a wife to Dan, and momma to two boys, one of which was born a few weeks ago. Previously to staying home full time Lindsey was a teacher. Last year she documented her journey to reading 52 books via her instagram account. She ended up reading 56 books. On this podcast we discuss Lindsey's life as a teacher, and go through all the books that she read. Because of this conversation I decided that I would try and read 36 books in ...
Jan 27, 2015•1 hr
Kat and I met online and we have actually never met in person, but she's been such an encouragement for me in my podcasting journey. I was actually one of the first guests on her podcast for Inspired to Action . After being a guest on her show is when I felt as though podcasting is something I would want to do in life! Kat is a momma, wife, blogger, encourager, podcaster and lots more in life. Her blog is something that you need to get your eyes on if you have not. Her whole gig is to inspire us...
Jan 17, 2015•55 min
Today’s guest on the Happy Hour Podcast is Rebecca Smith . Rebecca is the creator and owner of Better Life Bags and lives in Detroit with her husband and three kids. Her business has a remarkable impact on women in Detroit, who are earning a living by working for Better Life Bags. On today's podcast we talk about how her business started, things you should do before we turn 30 (we are both past it!!), and how she can't do it all without the help she has - good word for us mommas trying to do it ...
Dec 17, 2014•52 min
Today’s guest on the Happy Hour Podcast is Jessica Thompson and gosh I just love her. I met her for the first time this summer and since then I have loved getting to know her more from afar. Jessica is an author and has some great books out about parenting. Please get your hands on at least one of her books before the end of this year. In this podcast we discuss how neither one of us are good at buying gifts for our husbands. At the time we recorded this I was looking for a gift for Aaron for hi...
Dec 09, 2014•53 min
Today’s guest on the Happy Hour Podcast is my friend Tara Livesay . Tara lives in Haiti with her husband, Troy, and five of their seven kids. They have been living in Haiti for many years now and she works with Heartline Ministries and is a midwife. They average about 6-8 births a month at Heartline, and invest in the mom's lives from the beginning of pregnancy, during labor, and for post pregnancy support. On this episode Tara and I discuss a lot about parenting. She's currently mom to seven th...
Nov 26, 2014•49 min
Today’s guests on the Happy Hour Podcast are Becca Harris and Maris Bush . Both of these ladies are heroes to me and they exhibit Jesus in their lives so much. I have known Maris for over ten years, and Becca and I met shortly after I moved to Austin six years ago. All of our families have been effected by adoption and during this podcast we dive into Becca & Maris' stories of how their families were brought together. We focus mostly on foster care, since Becca adopted her boys through the f...
Nov 18, 2014•1 hr 12 min
Jamie writes at THE VERY WORST MISSIONARY . Her and her husband live in California and have three boys, one of which has already grown up and lives on his own. Jamie and I met each other a few years ago through some mutual friends, although we have never met in person. Isn’t that cool how in 2014 you can have friends that you have actually never met face to face. Love it! In this podcast we discussed our kids growing up (she says middle school is the hardest), sex trafficking, Jamie’s trips with...
Nov 03, 2014•54 min
This week's podcast is with my friends Kimberly and Laura who both live on my street and all of our husbands work together. This was just like a normal conversation that we would have over coffee, except there were no kids running around everywhere. Today we chatted about letting our kids walk to neighbors houses, how we do birthday parties, chores for our kids, and how I hate wearing jackets in the winter. Although I've been a parent for longer than these two, these women both are moms that I h...
Oct 22, 2014•48 min
Today’s guest on the Happy Hour Podcast is Kate Conner , who is the author of two books: Enough & 10 Things For Teen Girls . I first was introduced to Kate when I was given her book Enough to review . While reading her book I knew that I wanted to meet her and have her on the podcast, and I’m so happy that I did! She is just pure joy and someone that I would love to have lunch with often if we lived close enough to each other. She writes at her site KATE CONNER where she encourages women, wr...
Oct 13, 2014•1 hr 10 min
Happy Hour #19 is with my friend Gloria Furman . Gloria and her husband have four kid and live in Dubai, where they started a church. I met Gloria a few months ago at the Gospel Coalition Conference , although we had been internet friends for a while. She's just as lovely in person as she is online and that is what makes me love her. Gloria has written two books , GLIMPSES OF GRACE: TREASURING THE GOSPEL IN YOUR HOME and TREASURING CHRIST WHEN YOUR HANDS ARE FULL : GOSPEL MEDITATIONS FOR BUSY MO...
Oct 03, 2014•47 min
Happy Hour #18 is with my friend Jessi Connolly. Jessi and I are online friends and so it's always super fun when I get to talk in person with friends that I only know from the internet. I will actually meet Jessi next week when I fly to Indiana for The Influence Conference. I'm super excited about this conference because I get to meet tons of great people that I know online and I'll be speaking to the ladies there, so that's even more exciting! Jessi and I talk about how it all gets done in her...
Sep 18, 2014•27 min
Today's Happy Hour Guest is with my friend Courtney Lankford. Courtney and I met through our mutual friend Amy about 14 years ago. Courtney and her husband, Joey , moved to South Africa four years ago. They currently serve there with Living Hope , where Joey helps them with creating jobs for men and women. They also run an agricultural business which helps create income and businesses for others. She is honest about the hardest part about being in South Africa is them being away from their famil...
Sep 12, 2014•49 min
This happy hour podcast is with my friend Laura Kelley. Laura and I have never met in person, but we've been friends on the internet for a while. Laura is so stinking sweet and one of those people that I love to see her family. She blogs about her family, her craftiness, and all in between. I have used her for many gift ideas. I love all the name pillows that she's making these days! Hello baby shower gift! Her family does an amazing thing during the Advent season. They call it KINDNESS ADVENT a...
Sep 05, 2014•1 hr 2 min
This week is our first time to have a return guest on the Happy Hour. My BFF, Amy, was my very first guest when I had no clue what I was doing. Who am I kidding, I still have no clue what I'm doing! I have been wanting to chat with Amy again for a podcast because she's hilarious and I just love chatting with her. On this podcast Amy and I discuss sending our kids back to school, the VMA awards (and I realize I'm old because I don't know hardly any of the winners),the Emmy's, and my new workout B...
Aug 30, 2014•40 min
Today’s guest on the Happy Hour is Jen Wilkin. Jen is a speaker, writer and teacher of women’s Bible studies in Dallas, Texas. She and her family have been members of the Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas for seven years, where she currently serves on staff. She writes and teaches the Flower Mound Women’s Bible Study and co-teaches a parenting class with her husband Jeff at the Village. Jen and Jeff have four children between the ages of eighteen and fourteen, and have been married for twent...
Aug 20, 2014•57 min
Today's guest on the Happy Hour is Annie Downs. Annie and I met this past Spring at the If Gathering and I knew when I met her that I would love her and she would be such a fun person! It was such a blast chatting with her on this podcast! We talked a lot about being BRAVE, especially since her newest book is called LET'S ALL BE BRAVE, we discussed college & fantasy football, she told me about when she was on the red carpet for the movie premier of The Fault In Our Stars, the Bachelorette, "...
Aug 13, 2014•1 hr 3 min
Today's guest on the Happy Hour is my friend Jennie Allen . If you aren't familiar with Jennie, you'll love getting to know her more in this podcast, and if you do know her, you'll really love our conversations. Jennie is an author, bible study teacher, dreamer, founder of the If Gathering , wife, and mom. Jennie and her husband Zac have four kids and live in Austin. One of my favorite things about Jennie is how she's always dreaming up something. In this podcast she even spills the beans on a n...
Aug 04, 2014•55 min
