The Turquoise Table Podcast with Kristin Schell Kristin Schell

Let's talk about infertility and adoption. Chances are you or someone you know has walked one or both of these paths. Today’s guest Cat Vandament shares her story of infertility and treatments that led to the birth of her daughter, and then the decision to pursue adoption with their son. Cat’s story is unique in that during fertility treatments, they faced the additional stress and unfortunate timing of her husband’s numerous military deployments. 
 
Infertility and adoption can be sensitive and hard topics for many. Which is why it’s important to have the conversation and gratefully Cat is willing to help us talk about the emotional journey. No two stories are alike, but as you listen to the conversation you'll hear hope and encouragement. 
 
Cat speaks with honesty and vulnerability. She shares the struggle of not knowing why her body “wasn’t working the way every other woman’s body works” and how she overcame untrue thoughts like “trying to figure out what I had done wrong.” 
 
Cat’s story is told through the lens of infertility and adoption. But, it’s also a story of faith and helps us see how we all wrestle with our own worth at times. 
 
Listen in to learn what NOT to say to a friend or neighbor who is trying to get pregnant. And, stay tuned as Cat reveals the number one way you can love your neighbor through infertility and adoption.
 
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Register for Creating Community & Connection: A Workshop with Kristin Schell
 
In this episode of The Turquoise Table, host Kristin Schell continues the storytelling series talking with people who are creating community in unique and remarkable ways.
 
Rachel Jones lives at the crossroads of faith and culture in the Horn of Africa. She is the author of the book Stronger Than Death, and she and her husband founded the International School of Djibouti.
 
Her story takes us on a beautiful journey from a high rise apartment complex in Minneapolis to a school in The Horn of Africa. Rachel’s story of creating community and connection is one of the most inspiring yet. Relationships that started in her own backyard led her family across the globe to Djibouti. 
 
When she was just twenty-two years old and a new mother of twins, Rachel received hospitality from complete strangers, her Somali neighbors. Her immigrant neighbors befriended her -- bringing her food and even offering to clean her house while she rested with the twins. Rachel was overwhelmed by their incredible friendship and a curiosity to know more about their home East Africa was born.
 
What transpires next is remarkable. Rachel and her family move from urban Minneapolis to a rural part of Somalia. Then to Djibouti. Kristin and Rachel talk about what it’s like to be a Christian in a country that is 99% Muslim and the incredible relationships she’s made with her neighbors. Rachel gives us a brief overview of the Muslim religion and piques our curiosity to learn more. After all, loving your Muslim neighbor is the same as loving your non-Muslim neighbor. 
 
Learn more about Rachel Jones and her work at www.djiboutijones.com.
 
Purchase Rachel’s book Stronger Than Death
 
Learn more about the International School of Djibouti
 
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Register for Creating Community & Connection: A Workshop with Kristin Schell.
 
In this episode of The Turquoise Table, host Kristin Schell speaks with Maria Reed, founder of the home improvement television show Moving with the Military. Maria’s mission is to bridge the military-civilian divide through design and community building. Kristin and Maria discuss the unique hardships military families face and how the community can welcome them with open arms. 
 
To begin, Maria shares her background and her own experiences being in a military family. She was born in Cuba and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She worked for many years in the film industry as a producer. However, during this time she dated long-distance and fell in love with her military husband. To her surprise, soon after they were married her husband deployed, and she found out she was pregnant. 17 years and five moves later, her love for the film industry continued with her. She then formed the idea for her television show, Moving with the Military, from her own life experiences raising a military family.
 
Maria describes the fear that comes with starting life over every time her family moved. Sometimes, she would barely leave her house and often felt paralyzed. She shares a story of making friends with another military wife.
 
Now she can find excitement and positive experiences from moving. While there are struggles for military families to build community, Kristin and Maria agree that the Turquoise Table has been a great resource for military families to find a sense of place in their community.
 
With the growing number of military families living outside military bases, Maria saw a need for home makeovers and her television show. Maria is in charge of the difficult task of choosing a military family for a makeover through the submission of stories and nominations. From backyards to bedrooms, the show has completed 27 makeovers in three years. With the work of her show, she encourages civilians to be a part of the lives of military families that live around them. Maria also describes the purpose of DIY nights within the communities and is coming out with a cookbook, The Military Melting Pot, as a way to meld families together.
 
Her biggest tip to civilians is to reach out to military families in their neighborhood and be in community with one another. 
 
Links/Resources:
Learn more about Maria Reed and Moving with the Military on her website.
 
Submit a nomination of a military family for a Moving with the Military home makeover.
 
Follow Moving with the Military:
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Connect with Kristin:
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What Do You Need? A simple question inspires The Turquoise Cart Program at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.
 
In this episode of The Turquoise Table, host Kristin Schell speaks with Kim Muench, a volunteer program coordinator at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. Kim began her Turquoise Table journey by placing her own Turquoise Table in her front yard. Unfortunately, this was met with resistance by her Homeowners Association, and, despite Kim’s efforts to convince them otherwise, they would not allow her to keep her table in the front yard. Still determined to create community in her neighborhood, Kim began a tradition of bringing her Turquoise Table from the back yard to the front yard one Friday night per month. Each month, between three and seven families join hers to play games on the street and socialize. Kim hopes that even more families will join them, and that her community will continue to grow.
 
However, bringing out her Turquoise Table once a month wasn’t enough for Kim. She brought the idea of placing a table at Cook Children’s Hospital to her boss, who told her it wasn’t feasible. However, Kim and her boss came up with the idea of turquoise carts: rolling hospitality carts that go from room to room serving parents. When children are in the hospital, parents often forget to take care of themselves. The children receive constant attention, but parents often lose themselves in the care of their children. Kim wanted to start The turquoise Cart Project to serve and uplift these parents. To jumpstart the project, Kim asked all the parents who had children in the hospital: “what do you need?” This simple but powerful question rendered all the information she needed to pursue her idea of the turquoise carts. 
 
Kim is grateful for the impact the project has already made, and encourages listeners to create their own Turquoise Table missions wherever they are. The Turquoise Table calling is not limited to a front yard picnic table. As Kim has proven, it can be manifested anywhere that there are people to be served and community to be created.
  Links/Resources:  
For full show notes, discussion guide, Suppers for Sharing recipe, and Conversation Starter, visit www.theturquoisetable.com/podcast, or join us in our FREE online community, The Turquoise Table Community.
 
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This week on The Turquoise Table, host Kristin Schell chats with Shauna Pilgreen, author of Love Where You Live. A small-town native, Shauna grew up on a farm in South Georgia, and then moved to rural Missouri with her husband to do ministry. Ten years ago, the Lord stirred in their hearts a desire to plant a church in a place far outside their comfort zones: San Francisco, California. Love Where You Live chronicles the struggles and blessings of Shauna’s move to the big city, and learning how to invest long-term in the place she lives. 
 
In the title Love Where You Live, “love” is a verb — Shauna actively loves the local people with whom she comes into contact. She offers a few simple ideas on how others can too; her first suggestion is to take walks. Instead of taking the train or her minivan, Shauna often chooses to walk to her kids’ school, to the grocery store, or around her neighborhood. She prays that God would use her with whomever she encounters each day and intentionally makes time for those interactions. She also suggests sitting down with family members to discuss how you as a team can make a difference. One night, Shauna and her family walked the streets of their neighborhood handing out free pizza, water bottles, and cookies. Simple acts of kindness create a ripple effect in the community, and Shauna continues to share her heart and to love her neighbors well in her now-beloved home of San Francisco.
 
Links/Resources: Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast wherever you are listening!
 
For full show notes and links, please visit: www.theturquoisetable.com/podcast
 
Join our free online community to continue the conversation at: www.theturquoisetablecommunity.com 
 
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You can connect with Shauna through:
Her website
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Her book: Love Where You Live
 
Celebrate #LoveWhereYouLiveDay and nominate a friend for the Love Where You Live Award.

Host Kristin Schell interviews chef and best-selling author Melissa d’Arabian. Melissa is an expert on affordable family cooking, and author of the book Tasting Grace. In this episode they discuss how Melissa’s career got started, her new book, and how her faith influences her approach to food. Melissa first realized her connection to food, growing up in a single family home where money was tight. While she often experienced hunger at school, she saw the sacrifices her mom made to welcome others into their home with hospitality.
 
Melissa and Kristin discuss the problems with the way that our society approaches food. While we are as disconnected from the source of our food as we’ve ever been, we are also food obsessed; We have celebrity chefs, and we constantly post images of our food on the internet. There are some serious misconceptions about food in a world where we won’t eat a tomato because of the sugar content but we’ll drink an artificially colored and sweetened sports drink. To develop a better philosophy and theology of food, Melissa looked to the Bible where she couldn’t find any of the guilt language our society has about food. Instead, all the language around food was about loving, welcoming, and celebrating. It was observing these tensions in our food culture and this journey in the Bible that led Melissa to write Tasting Grace.
 
Links/Resources:
🌟 Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast wherever you are listening! 
 
Sunday Supper recipe: 
BBQ Beer Pulled Chicken Tacos from Half Baked Harvest
 
Conversation Starter: 
What are two of your happiest childhood memories? What is one of your most embarrassing memories?
 
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Follow Kristin Schell on Instagram. SALE! 50% off: The Turquoise Table: Finding Community and Connection in Your Own Front Yard. (at time of podcast publication on 1/8/2020) Check out Tasting Grace by Melissa d’Arabian. Learn more about Melissa on Food Network’s site. Follow Melissa d’Arabian on Instagram. Join our free online community to continue the conversation at: www.theturquoisetablecommunity.com