Elevating Motherhood Lori Beth Auldridge

A rare appearance from my husband Chris who courageously shows up today in a raw, candid conversation with me about marriage, expectations, and who needs to do more.

It’s really hard to talk about marriage in a public forum because it can be easily be misinterpreted as “advice” …and we want to reassure you that today’s episode is not intended to be marriage advice, it’s not about anyone in particular, it’s us seeing a common thread all around us (even online and in shows!) and pulling that thread to see where it leads us.

Our hope is that this episode is a conversation starter for
you and your spouse—a perspective that leads to deeper growth and conversation. We hope it’s an example of how two people in a marriage can view things differently and not have those differences be a hinderance or cause hurt to the other.

These are incomplete thoughts—observations rather than conclusions.

Will you see yourself in this episode? Will you see your
marriage in this episode? Will your husband? We don’t know. Marriages have similarities and differences across the board. We’ll be curious to hear your thoughts at the end. Thanks for listening and for your gentleness and respect as we pull at this new thread in a public and unscripted way.




In this episode Chris and I talk about:
· Martyrdom
· Husbands not doing enough
· Financial trials in our current culture
· Our current economy
· Tensions in marriage
· Man dogging culture
· Allowing time for transitions
· Looking for creative ways to bring in more money
· Answering the call to do more
· Having patience with transitions
· Ideals
· Starting over
· How it’s hard to find the motivation to do more for less
· Skewed expectations of what we are bringing to the table
· Are women growing & changing at a faster rate than men?
· Dads not being on board with homeschool and why
· Jealousy in our roles
· Living a scheduled life when your family doesn’t
· Moms researching parenting
· Fair expectations
· Happiness and rest for both spouses
· Respecting each other’s perspectives
· Man hating culture is trickling into marriage culture
· Actions speak louder than words
· Men feel emotions like stress and jealousy too
· What do you believe about your husband?
· What do you believe about your marriage?
· What is the undercurrent in your marriage?

Christian Business Women! This is for you: www.thefocusretreat.com

This is a high energy conversation. For some reason it’s highly political at the moment to talk about boys, men, gender, and masculinity. And here we are as moms, right smack dab the middle of the over-politicized nonsense,
trying to have meaningful marriages with our husbands and raise our sons well in a world that bashes boys and men.

We need to talk about the tension—both the undercurrent in our culture and the outright hatred toward men. We need to stand up for our sons and raise them up at the same time. In this interview you’ll hear me tell the story about how when I found out I was pregnant at 40, I knew I was going to have a son. I knew I was going to be called to speak out about the war on men happening in our current culture.

My guest today is Durenda Wilson…she is a friend of mine but also a brilliant writer and podcaster. I look to her a lot for homeschool and parenting advice. She speaks out on this subject with so much grace and encouragement. Her perspective really takes the charge off our current cultural
messaging and puts tools and encouragement back in the hands and hearts of moms so we can show up well in our marriages and in our motherhood.



You’ll leave this conversation feeling equipped as a boy mom and have a better understanding of what true masculinity is.



Durenda Bio: Durenda Wilson has been married to Darryl for 34 years. He wanted two children and she wanted
ten. They compromised at eight. Durenda has over 30 years of homeschool experience. She also has 11 grandchildren (7 are boys) who are also being homeschooled. During her years of experience in home education, she has seen first hand how kids learn naturally and effectively when they are given time and space along with encouragement to trust their own learning processes. She wants to take this hard-earned wisdom and mentor moms—she believes an encouraged mom is always a
better mom. Durenda began The Durenda Wilson Podcast for this purpose back in July 2017 which grew quickly and gained recognition with both families and leaders in the homeschool community. Durenda has over 500 episodes to choose from and boasts over 3 million downloads!



FULL SHOW NOTES AT: WWW.ELEVATINGMOTHERHOOD.COM



Durenda's Links:

Buy Her Book: https://a.co/d/3lEu5J4
Website: www.durendawilson.com

Instagram: @durendaleewilson

 

Today’s Sponsor: The Focus Retreat

www.thefocusretreat.com

Well, it's been another week of the internet going crazy. But so many friends and followers sent me two of the same posts
this week and I felt called to share my thoughts on them because to me they are incredibly related:

1. Hannah of Ballerina Farms is competing in the Mrs. World Pageant and the internet has decided she is dangerous and setting a bad example (oooooookay…)

2. The teacher calling for parents to take phones away from
kids and stop letting phones raise their children because 4th graders are bullying, body shaming, and twerking on the playground.
 
What Do I Think the REAL Issues Are?
We have some thinking to do as parents.
We can do better as moms (& no, that's not shaming)
The need for more self-awareness
Parenting our own children
The real danger: peer-oriented culture
Mom shaming
Toxic postpartum messaging
Bullying (by grown-ups and kids)
Who are the bullies?
Cattiness & Meanness
The over-sexualization of everything
Ease and convenience over depth and meaning
Healthy boundaries with internet use
Parents need to ask themselves
Allowing sensationalism to trump the real lessons
As moms, we need to strive to do better by our kids
The call to strive
 
“Am I smiling and laughing at strangers entertaining me on
my phone more than I’m looking at my kids and smiling and laughing because they are bringing me joy in my every day?” -Lori Beth Auldridge
 
No ad spots today because I wanted to get right to the
message. But check out all our sponsors at www.elevatingmotherhood.com

Hebrews 10:1 “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”



Happy 2024, Mamas! We're grateful for 2023 and ready to move forward with confidence into 2024! 💜



In this episode I talk about:

* The continued need to pray for Maui

* Our move to the mainland

* Our family’s 2023 trials and wins

* Travel recap: we went to 19 states in 2023!

* Seeking comfort and ease…and then shifting away from that goal

* Trusting God’s timing

* Working on humility

* The spiritual ease that has come from moving to a Christian community

* Word of the year: Endurance

* How the word “endurance” has changed me on every level in just a few days

* Abandoning American hustle culture

* Self-control

* Fruits of the Spirit

* Following the path that God sets out for us

* “planning” and “goal setting” vs. acts of obedience

* The gift of aging and maturity and experience

* How fantastic it feels to grow up

* Following the shift in our path

* Understanding that God has a path laid out for us

* Count it all joy…even the hardships

* Going into 2024 with enthusiasm

* Ending 2023 with gratitude

* Endurance for a very specific purpose

* Following God’s path for me

* The ability to handle hardships

* Praying for you and your family in the new year!



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I love today’s passionate and honest conversation with my in person friend Nikki Phillippi. We’re both freedom loving homeschooling who spend a LOT of time thinking about education standards, education philosophy, and education reform. We’re both life-long learners who like to dive deep into many topics that affect us as mothers and topics that affect our children’s education…and then we discuss them over long voice memos to each other. It’s pretty fun. I 10/10 recommend finding another mom friend to voice memo with. Today you get to be
part of our in-depth back and forths as we talk about education reform, protecting our freedom to homeschool, misinformation about homeschool, and our own personal education journeys.

 

Nikki’s Bio: Nikki Phillippi is a very popular YouTube personality, author, recipe creator, and podcaster. She is a wife, mother, and second-generation homeschooler. Nikki is passionate, authentic, and honest in ways that inspire me--truly. If you already know Nikki, you’ll love hearing her show up in classic Nikki fashion as she shares about her education journey and why homeschool is her hill to die on. If this is your first introduction to Nikki, hold on tight! She is a ball of energy! I’ll be sure to link to her YouTube channel in the show notes as well as my recent episode with her on her YouTube channel where we go even deeper into homeschool freedoms and education reform.

 

In This Episode, Nikki & I Talk About:

· Growing Up: Nikki’s homeschool journey as a child

· Bullying in school

· Homeschool advocacy

· Being advanced and being behind in school at the same time

· Feeling held back in subjects in school

· Feeling “stupid” in school

· Physical and mental abuse in school

· John Taylor Gatto's Book Dumbing Us Down

· Kids are convinced they are stupid

· Learning to love learning

· Tailoring education to individuals...& so much more!


FULL SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT: WWW.ELEVATINGMOTHERHOOD.COM

Please Visit Today’s Sponsor: The Elevating Homeschool Community

I’ve wanted to tackle so many topics over the years but have avoided hitting record because I felt like my thoughts were incomplete.

Pettiness has been a topic swirling in my mind for the past few weeks because of two conversations I overheard on Halloween. And, well, here are my incomplete thoughts on the topic.

Here are also the bible verses I looked up to help me find peace with these two stories:

What Does the Bible Say About Being Petty
Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

Romans 15:5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Romans 12:3 by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

What Does the Bible Say About Pride
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

What are your thoughts? What do you want to add to these incomplete thoughts on pettiness? Email me: loribeth@elevatingmotherhood.com

More at: www.elevatingmotherhood.com

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