Kayla Craig joins me for Episode 64. She is a journalist turned stay at home mom, is married to a pastor and together they have four kids under the age of 6. So she's not busy at all. We talk about the book she wrote, Just Really Joseph, her new podcast called UpsideDown, and a lot of motherhood like why they chose to adopt, parenting special needs kids and the importance of having a form of acceptance knowing that whatever God calls you to that you are enough. 

Jacey Verdicchio joins me for episode 63. You may know her well from the popular podcast called Around The Table. Jacey and I became Voxer friends last year and I thought it would be fun to talk about finding your fit or your place in work. Do you feel lost in what you’re doing? Maybe you are a recent college grad but don’t know what to do next? O maybe you’re a mom who is drowning in a sea of diapers and wonder if there is more to life? Or maybe you find yourself at a mid-life stage of life and feel like its time for a change? If that is you, then this episode was designed with you in mind. 

We talk about thinking outside of the box of what work might look like for you, what to do when you feel unsure of what to do next and advice that we would give to our twenty year old selves. 

I hope you enjoyed my chat with Jacey. She is such a smart, hard-working woman. I really enjoyed the part of our conversation centered around the idea that God is working something in you even if the circumstances around you aren’t quite panning out the way you wanted. She said, “I think God is more concerned about our character than our circumstances.” Amen to that… even as much as that is tough to hear, my heart knows its true.

What part of our conversation struck you? Let's not let the conversation end here. Come find me @sarahwbragg on Instagram or Twitter or SurvivingSarahPodcast on Facebook.

Also, I really do love Jacey’s podcast guide. It is incredibly helpful for anyone interested in starting a podcast. She lays out how to think through what you show will be about and all the technical details. You can get a copy at SurvivingSarah.com/startyourpodcast 

Thank you for supporting the show from purchasing through affiliate links to sharing the show with your friends to leaving reviews on iTunes. Your support does not go unnoticed!

I love helping you survive while you drive, shop for groceries, fold laundry or hide in a closet. I am here for you! So as always, I hope that this show helps you survive a little easier. 

Sissy Goff joins me for Episode 62. She is the Director of Child & Adolescent Counseling at Daystar outside of Nashville. She’s been a counselor for 24 years and is also an author of the books Raising Girls, Intentional Parenting, Raising Boys & Girls and the latest Are My Kids On Track. I truly enjoyed chatting with her. I wish we lived near her so that my girls and myself could benefit from who she is. She may have thought I was kidding, but I literally had at least 30 questions I wanted to ask her. We didn’t cover everything on my list so the good news is that she will be coming back on the show in the future! 

But in today’s episode, we chat about anxiety in our kids, parenting personalities, how to assume the best in your kids and how to develop our girls self-worth. This is an episode full of goodness. I’m praying for you all as you raise girls, love girls in ministry, love nieces and grand girls.

I think one of the biggest takeaways for me was the idea that maybe parenting has more to do with my own sanctification than the result of who I’m raising. That was one of the most freeing moments of realization. I know that God is working on me, but seeing it through the eyes of the Refiner changes it for me. It's not about punishing me. It's not about me doing all the right things in order to raise the “right” kids. Parenting is about letting God do His sanctifying work in me so that I reflect His image more.

What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation  on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. 

Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Erin Loechner joins me for Episode 61. She is a writer, stylist and mom, living in the mid-west. She blogs at design for mankind and the heart of her is encouraging women to stop trying to define and label everything and just enjoy the life that we are actually given.

And with that, we talk about failure, parenting and the art of letting go. We weave the conversation around her new book Chasing Slow with a common thread of finding freedom, beauty and yourself in the middle of the chase. 

Chatting with her truly felt like sitting with a girlfriend that you've known for a long time. Her kindness and authenticity makes her so relatable. I will give you many takeaways from our conversation over at SurvivingSarah.com but the one I want to mention here is really the bottom-line message about learning to embrace who you are--all of you. The parts that are smooth and the parts that are rough around the edges. That is a step in learning to love you and finding contentment where you are. We need to learn to embrace our own hypocrisies and stop trying to soften our edges. Small admissions, no excuses, can bring freedom. Its just about being you--not your better self, but just you.

What part of our conversation struck you? Let's not let the conversation end here. Come find me @sarahwbragg on Instagram or Twitter or SurvivingSarahPodcast on Facebook.

Support for today's episode is brought to you by Amazon. I do a lot of shopping on Amazon where I buy everything from paper towels to protein powder for smoothies to items mentioned in survival kits. In fact, I just bought a pack of the erasable pens that Merica Stum mentioned on back on Episode 55. So when you shop, simply type SurvivingSarah.com/amazon and the show will receive a small kickback. Its an easy way to support what we are doing.

Thank you for supporting the show from purchasing through affiliate links to sharing the show with your friends to leaving reviews on iTunes. Recently, listener osborne.shay wrote: "I have been really thankful for your podcast in 2016. You are one of the most relatable casters and I'm thankful for your realness. Thank you for sharing yourself with the world. I have added many podcasts to my listening last year, but yours remains one of my must listen-to's and I'm grateful. Keep it up, Sarah!" Thank you for leaving that review!! What you said is exactly my goal each week--to relate to you. We aren't alone in this walk of life. And it helps when we know that someone else is saying, "Me too."

You, too, can do great things like Shay by leaving a 5 star review on iTunes. It won't take but a minute and then you have cross something off your to do list.

Thank you again for listening. And as always, I hope that this show helps you survive a little easier. 

Jami Amerine joins me for Episode 60. She lives on a ranch in West Texas with her husband and children. Jami really is a mom for all women because she has 7 kids ranging from a 17 month old to one getting married. She is a blogger and a soon to be published author.

We have a candid conversation about why they chose foster care and adoption, her journey to truly believing Jesus, and how we can learn to do brave things. 

When we were chatting, it was like I bolded the following phrase in my head that Jami said: Believing God is the catalyst for doing brave things. When you believe that God is for you, that He loves you and that He makes you capable, then you can do brave things. Not only do I want to be a brave person, but I want our kids to do brave things. Brave doesn't mean that you aren't afraid. It means that you do something even though you are afraid. What are you currently afraid of? What do you feel like God is asking you to step into or out of? The catalyst for doing that brave thing is to start believing God.

To read all the takeaways from the conversation, find links to things mentioned or Jami's survival kit, go to SurvivingSarah.com

What part of our conversation struck you? Let's not let the conversation end here. Come find me on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook.

I just want to say that we have had a big month of downloads here on Surviving Sarah. And I have you guys to thank. Thank you for leaving iTunes reviews and for sharing the show with your friends. Please keep it up! It is helping women just like you know that they are not alone.

Thank you again for listening. And as always, I hope that this show helps you survive a little easier. 

Natalie Stanfield joins me for Episode 59. I think so many of you will relate to her because she is a lot like you. You probably know someone just like her at your church, in the carpool line or at Starbucks. That's because she is a wife and mama of two. She is someone who has allowed her past to connect to her present and influence her future. Because of her past, God has woven a thread through her life giving her a desire to help her kids love and serve others. 

We talk about motherhood, her feelings of her broken past, and how she discovered an easy way to talk to her kids (and your kids) about loving and loving others.

Thank you for listening! I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Natalie. Check out SurvivingSarah online for the show notes and everything we mentioned in the episode.

What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation  on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. 

Rachel Stafford joins me for Episode 58. You may know her as the Hands Free Mama. She is is a wife and mother to girls, special ed teacher, blogger and New York Times best-selling author. When I started the podcast, Rachel was at the top of the list to people to invite to the kitchen table. I have been reading her blog for years and she has unknowingly been instrumental in helping me be a better mother.

Our conversation is one of my favorite episodes. I can't tell you how many notes I took and moments of just enlightenment that I experienced. I relate so well to Rachel and I'm thankful for her insight and encouragement. We talk about how to choose love today, how to let go of control and expectations and how failing is not as bad as we think. So pull up a chair to my kitchen table and join the conversation.

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Rachel. I had so many takeaways from chatting with her. I'll include all of them in the Show Notes over at SurvivingSarah.com but the one I want to mention here the phrases that she used for herself and her kids. Phrases like "Be kind to yourself," and "We all make mistakes." I have been using those since we recorded. Sometimes you just need someone to tell you exactly what to say. The other one is "Only love today." I can't tell you how many times I have looked in the mirror and my first thought was something negative, but then I chose to say "only love today" and "be kind to yourself." I do believe that those words have the power to retrain our mind.

What part of our conversation struck you? Let's not let the conversation end here. Come find me @sarahwbragg on Instagram or Twitter or SurvivingSarahPodcast on Facebook.

Here's what i love about our guests on the show--they are so generous. so many of them give away products over on my Instagram. So if you are not following me there, then you are missing out on some potential winnings!

This week, I would love it if you left a 5 star review of the show on iTunes. I know you hear me say that all the time, but it really does help women just like you find the show. So if there was a certain episode or just something that you love about the show, let iTunes know!

Thank you again for listening. And as always, I hope that this show helps you survive a little easier. 

Wynter Pitts joins me for Episode 57. She is the founder of For Girls Like You which is a resource ministry to tween girls and their parents. She produces some really amazing resources and can't wait for my oldest girl to get them.

Since Wynter is a mom of 4 girls, we have a conversation about motherhood. We talk about how God changed her perspective on being a mom, how to know when your child is ready for social media and how to foster the relationship between your daughters. I really, really enjoyed my time with her and I know you will, too. So pull up a chair to my kitchen table and join the conversation.

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Wynter. I loved every bit of it. I especially loved hearing that it is possible for God to change your perspective about your children. I am truly honest when I say that motherhood isn't my favorite role. Doesn't mean I don't love my children, but it's just difficult. Ever since my conversation with Wynter, I have been asking God to give me the desires of my heart--to make my desires His desires towards my children. She said, "God's word will react in our lives." Praying for God to react in my heart.

Check out the show notes at SurvivingSarah.com for links to all of Wynter's resources. You'll find custom amazon links so if you choose to purchase the books then the show will get a small kickback. In fact, if you type in SurvivingSarah.com/amazon then anything you purchase whether it is laundry detergent, cat liter or pull ups, then Surviving Sarah will get a small portion of your purchase.

What part of our conversation struck you? Let's not let the conversation end here. Come find me @sarahwbragg on Instagram or Twitter or SurvivingSarahPodcast on Facebook.

Thank you again for listening. And as always, I hope that this show helps you survive a little easier. 

Welcome to the first bonus episode of Surviving Sarah. I wanted to have an opportunity to celebrate the past year and chat with you about things that happened in my life, answer listener questions and give you a chance to hear from my daughters.

A big shout out to today's sponsor--Casper. We purchased a Casper mattress in 2016 and it was the best purchase of the year, hands down. If you choose to start the year off with better sleep then to to SurvivingSarah.com/sleep and receive $50 off the purchase of a new mattress.

My friend, Merica Stum, joins me for the last episode of 2016--Episode 55. Merica is one of my favorite people and hands down the best cheerleader I know. She is a married to Jake and they have 3 boys. She is the Director of Girls On The Run for Southeast TN. I wanted to have her on the show nearly a year ago to talk about adoption and running a small business, but instead I knew she would be the perfect person to talk to about looking back and looking forward.

Merica joins me to talk about what she has learned this past year through turning 40--what she has learned about herself, about life and about family. This truly feels like a conversation between friends. And we will change your life with great advice about grocery shopping.

So pull up a chair to my kitchen table and join the conversation.

Click here for links and notes for everything we chatted about.

Lauren Haun joins me for Episode 54. She is just a gal like me and you except the fact that in my book she appears to be more like super woman bounding from building to building because she has 6 kids—3 biological and 3 from China. We talk about why she chose adoption after having 3 kids, how to cultivate relationships between kids and how she learned to trust God.

For links to everything we talked about in the show, go to SurvivingSarah.

Jennifer Allison joins me for Episode 53. She is a user experience designer for UPS by day and an author and artist by night. And she is a self-proclaimed Rambunctious Kid. As we talk you will understand why she calls herself just that.

We talk about her story--a story about God allowed her to experience a lot of hardship--both self-inflicted and at the hand of others. Yet, through it all, she's learned that He loves her and that He is for her. She learned the hard way what believing lies about her identity can do and in a beautiful way, how believing truth can truly set her free.

So pull up a chair to my kitchen table and join the conversation.

You can find links to everything we talked about at SurvivingSarah

Katie Crocombe joins me for Episode 52. She is a wife, mother to two girls and she became a life coach in 2016. She's always had a heart for women's ministry, and what she has experienced has definitely amped up for passion for coaching.

We talk today about surviving divorce which includes how to love your ex well, how to heal, how to help your children walk through it and different pieces of advice about co-parenting. So, pull up a chair to my kitchen table and join the conversation.

Come find me @sarahwbragg on Instagram or Twitter or SurvivingSarahPodcast on Facebook. 

Check out the show notes at SurvivingSarah.com for links and notes about my conversation with Katie.

Today's episode is a special milestone in the life of Surviving Sarah because we have our first male guest on the show. I've always said that I would have a man on the show as long as it benefits my audience. And today's guest certainly lives up to that!

David Thomas, joins me at my kitchen table for Episode 51. He's a therapist, author and father of adolescents. He's has over 20 years of experience counseling kids and families. He's written 7 books including Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys and Intentional Parenting and the DVD curriculum Raising Boys & Girls. We set out to talk about raising boys but I have to tell you that I got so much out of our conversation even though I only have girls. We talked a lot about child development and how that impacts your parenting. We also talk about how to navigate meltdowns, how to adjust your own expectations and how to deal with your child's aggression. So pull up a chair to the table and join the conversation.

For takeaways from the episode and all the resources mentioned, check out online at SurvivingSarah.

Melanie Shankle joins me for Episode 50. She is a wife, mother, writer and speaker. I asked Melanie to come on the show so that we could have an honest conversation about friendship. I don't know what stage of life you are in, but regardless, cultivating friendship is not easy. We talk about how to find authentic friends, how to model friendship for your children and what to do when you face conflict in a friendship. So pull up a chair to the table and join the conversation.

With this being the week of Thanksgiving, I just wanted to remind you of how thankful I am of you! Thank you for spending some of your week with me. I have loved connecting with you and hope that this show truly does help you survive a little easier.

And in the spirit of thanksgiving and of course black Friday, I wanted to let you know that my book is available for sale at SurvivingSarah.com I haven't really talked much about my book here, but if you haven't heard, I wrote a book called Body. Beauty. Boys. The Truth About Girls and How We See Ourselves. So, if you know a young woman--middle school, high school or even college--this would make a great gift. It's designed to help a girl discover how God sees her and how to learn to be content and satisfied with exactly who she is. If you are interested, go to SurvivingSarah.com and click Books or click the link in the show notes.

Ami Shroyer joins me for Episode 49. She is the sister-in-law to a friend of mine who contacted me about sharing Ami's story. Ami is a singer songwriter, leader of a classical conversations homeschool group and has a holistic business.

You know, since realizing that God wanted me to use my voice to push others forward, He has put people in my path and raised some things to the surface for my attention. Over the past year, I've come in contact either personally or just through social media several different women who have experienced the loss of a husband. I'm not gonna lie, I wondered why God was bringing these women to my attention. Was He preparing me to experience loss? But I believe that there are a lot of hurting women who need to hear that they are not alone--they need to hear someone say, "Me too. I understand what you are going through."

So pull up a chair, grab a tissue and hear Ami share the story of walking through losing her husband and searching for purpose along the way.

Click over to SurvivingSarah.com to read the show notes.

Jill Gott-Gleason joins me for Episode 48. I can't remember how I stumbled upon Jill, but I about 6 or 7 years ago I found her blog--Good Life For Less. She was one of the first fashion bloggers that I followed. I have always loved that she is like the everyday girl. Her content is always practical and helpful--she's not suggesting that I purchase a pair of shoes for $2000. In addition to being a blogger, she is a wife and mom to two tweens.

We talk about where fashion and faith intersect; she gives practical fashion tips for the winter season; and how to handle social media. And if you do any type of business online, you definitely want to hear her 7 tips on how to grow your business in the nooks & crannys of life. So, pull up a chair and join us at the table.

Check out SurvivingSarah.com for details about this episode.

Hannah Joiner Crosby joins me for Episode 47. She is an artist from the Atlanta area who is also married to an artist. And she is a new mom. She sits down at my kitchen table to talk about how she discovered her love for art, roadblocks to being an artist and what has surprised her about motherhood. She gives so many good tips and pieces of advice throughout the conversation. So pull up a chair and join us at the table.

Check out the show notes at SurvivingSarah.com for everything we mentioned today.

I am excited to have Wendy Speake back on the show this week for Episode 46. You may remember her from Episode 10 when we talked about mommy anger. That was such a great episode. You should definitely go back and listen if you are new to the show.

And today, we talk about creativity and motherhood--a new Renaissance for women. As adults we often give up on what we enjoy doing creatively. Do you remember what you used to love to do? We talk about how to find that again, how to manage the tension between your creative self and your responsibilities and how to embrace who God created you to be.

Traci Dixon joins me for Episode 45. We met through the wonderful world of podcasting and social media. She and her friend Rebecca have a podcast called StoryCast Monday. You may have heard it before--I was a guest on episode 24.

She is a wife, mama to 3 kids, brewery owner, entrepreneur, blogger, and foodie. You will definitely want to eat some good food if you follow her on social media.

If you have ever felt the need to reprioritize your life or struggled with whether you are doing the right thing or wondered if the rug was being pulled out from under you, then you will relate to our conversation. We talk about what it looks like to choose adoption and walk through the heartbreak when it fails.

You can find everything that we talked about today in the show notes over at SurvivingSarah.com Thank you so much for listening today. I love connecting with you. You can contact through my website or @sarahwbragg on Instagram & Twitter or SurvivingSarahPodcast on Facebook. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

Melanie Dale joins me for Episode 44. Some of you may know her from the blog world as Unexpected Mel. She is an author of two books which we talk about in the episode and has a podcast called Lighten Up with Melanie Dale. Melanie is a self-professed minivan mama and total weirdo who stinks at small talk. We start our conversation with a lightning round which captures her personality and also exposes a crazy reoccurring dream from my past. I'm slightly embarrassed that I didn't edit that part out. But I'm going to be unbiased in my editing for your sake.

In our conversation, we talk about important things like the struggle of math, how parenting is much like death therapy and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit via Snoop Dog. Y'all, the opening of the show is deep.

On another note, we talk about the difficulty of finding friends, advice for what to do when relationships end and how to love the life you didn't choose.

So, grab your coffee and join the conversation.

Rachel Faulkner Brown joins me for Episode 43. She is a wife and mom who has a story of heartbreak and healing. She is twice widowed and has been married now to her husband, Rod, for a few years now. As our conversation unfolded, the thread that was woven throughout was easy to see—it is a story and thread of healing. God has carried her through great heartbreak and has performed miracles in her life. I know you are going to be inspired today.

Cheryl Bachelder joins me for Episode 42. I am truly excited to introduce her to you. On the personal side, she has been married for 35 years and raised three girls. And professionally, she is the CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. She is hands down one of the smartest women I've met. She leads a company of 50-60,000 employees with such grace and humility. She is very approachable and kind.

So many listeners of Surviving Sarah are leading somewhere--whether it is in the corporate world or a non-profit organization or a school or a home. And I knew that Cheryl's advice to leading would be so applicable to you--and me. We talk about the other side of leadership--humility and serving others. We also talk about being a woman in a male world, how she handled life not going according to her plan and how to deal with failure.

Karen Stubbs joins me for Episode 41. She has a ministry for women called Birds On A Wire which includes a podcast called Wire Talk. It has become one of my favorite shows.

I am so excited for you to meet Karen. She is a seasoned mom and wife. 4 kids out of the house and married for 30 years. She came to my house and we had the best time hanging out. Asking her questions was like having a free counseling session. We talk about parenting strong spirited kids, shaping your child's identity and worth, roadblocks to happiness in motherhood and what to do when your dreams have been put on hold.

Tammy K. Johnson, founder of the Female Idea Tank, joins me for episode 40. She helps people develop practical and easy-to-follow strategies to achieve the success they crave. While she's not working with clients, you can find her serving Board President of One Heart Africa. She and I randomly met at an event and me being just enough of an introvert to where I hate small talk, I somehow had her tell me the highlights of her life story. From there, I knew that what she survived would benefit so many of my listeners. 

She walked through hurt and shame surrounding infidelity and divorce.We talk about how she not only survived that but how she came to a place of forgiveness and freedom from shame.

To find all the links to today's episode, go to SurvivingSarah.com.