WEBVTT 00:02.225 --> 00:04.988 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey friends, welcome back to The Christian Parenting Podcast. 00:05.088 --> 00:06.330 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm so glad that you're here today. 00:06.770 --> 00:15.281 [SPEAKER_00]: We are talking all things Christmas, God's love, and helping our kids walk through disappointment in this season that's supposed to feel magical, but can also feel really hard. 00:16.062 --> 00:17.764 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm joined by my new friend Sheila Walsh. 00:18.124 --> 00:21.148 [SPEAKER_00]: Sheila is an author, speaker, and a television house with TBN. 00:21.408 --> 00:27.135 [SPEAKER_00]: She has written countless books for women and kids, and she has a brand new Christmas picture about called the Little Drummer Girl. 00:27.368 --> 00:36.500 [SPEAKER_00]: is all about a little girl named Isabella who does not get the part she hoped for in the Christmas play and what she discovers about Jesus and God's love in the middle of her disappointment. 00:37.041 --> 00:46.013 [SPEAKER_00]: So today we're talking about helping our kids handle big feelings when things don't go their way, how to refocus our homes on the love of God in a really consumer and driven season. 00:46.594 --> 00:54.064 [SPEAKER_00]: Why prayer for our kids matters more than any gift we could wrap and we share some really sweet practical ideas to point our families back to a manual. 00:54.305 --> 00:55.266 [SPEAKER_00]: God with us. 00:55.246 --> 01:01.168 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that this conversation will encourage your heart and give you some really simple ways to bring the focus back to Jesus this Christmas. 01:01.309 --> 01:02.995 [SPEAKER_00]: So let's jump right in with Sheila. 01:08.678 --> 01:10.881 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey Sheila, welcome to the Christian parenting podcast. 01:11.061 --> 01:12.624 [SPEAKER_00]: I start so good to be with you. 01:12.664 --> 01:14.747 [SPEAKER_00]: You look kind of snowy in your background. 01:14.767 --> 01:16.009 [SPEAKER_00]: Is it snowy when you are? 01:16.129 --> 01:16.630 [SPEAKER_00]: It is. 01:16.670 --> 01:18.593 [SPEAKER_00]: We actually got our first snow last night. 01:18.653 --> 01:20.095 [SPEAKER_00]: It's just snowy a little bit. 01:20.235 --> 01:21.056 [SPEAKER_00]: Lovely though. 01:21.076 --> 01:22.038 [SPEAKER_00]: It is. 01:22.138 --> 01:22.939 [SPEAKER_00]: It is very beautiful. 01:22.979 --> 01:24.902 [SPEAKER_00]: I really like the snow. 01:25.002 --> 01:25.783 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't like the cold. 01:25.903 --> 01:26.424 [SPEAKER_00]: I like the snow. 01:26.504 --> 01:28.888 [SPEAKER_00]: So if it's going to be cold, there should be snow. 01:29.248 --> 01:30.129 [SPEAKER_01]: So absolutely. 01:30.770 --> 01:30.951 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. 01:31.071 --> 01:31.792 [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely. 01:32.052 --> 01:32.273 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 01:32.293 --> 01:34.956 [SPEAKER_00]: So we got the perfect, perfect little dusting last night. 01:35.197 --> 01:38.061 [SPEAKER_00]: And you have a nice plastic background. 01:38.041 --> 02:00.252 [SPEAKER_01]: yeah my husband is a Christmas elf he just I mean he doesn't like a lot of people say well wait till this is over wait till that sober his thing is no let's just go ahead so we are fully decorated I usually am a wait till after Thanksgiving because Thanksgiving is actually my favorite holiday but we we did it earlier this year I just felt like we needed it to core it was time it felt right 02:00.350 --> 02:01.271 [SPEAKER_00]: Just follow the feeling. 02:01.291 --> 02:01.932 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like that. 02:02.432 --> 02:02.793 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, yeah. 02:02.833 --> 02:03.453 [SPEAKER_01]: Even just around. 02:03.574 --> 02:09.260 [SPEAKER_01]: We live in a townhouse around the lake and I've noticed that most of the people, even have their outside lights up already. 02:09.500 --> 02:11.783 [SPEAKER_01]: I think people felt like they needed a little more. 02:12.323 --> 02:12.704 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. 02:12.884 --> 02:14.926 [SPEAKER_01]: A reminder of better things this year. 02:15.166 --> 02:15.947 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's fair. 02:16.067 --> 02:16.688 [SPEAKER_00]: And I like it. 02:16.768 --> 02:17.809 [SPEAKER_00]: I think we should just run with that. 02:17.869 --> 02:20.232 [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever brings you joy for your home decor. 02:20.312 --> 02:21.493 [SPEAKER_00]: I think is what we should be doing. 02:21.954 --> 02:22.915 [SPEAKER_00]: So yes. 02:22.895 --> 02:24.179 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and music. 02:24.239 --> 02:27.830 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're already listening to Christmas music at Halloween, that's great. 02:28.070 --> 02:29.013 [SPEAKER_00]: You just go do that. 02:29.374 --> 02:30.477 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not, but you go do it. 02:31.340 --> 02:31.621 [SPEAKER_00]: Me either. 02:32.203 --> 02:33.547 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but a lot of people do. 02:33.587 --> 02:34.710 [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know. 02:35.062 --> 02:36.063 [SPEAKER_00]: the beauty of Christmas. 02:36.263 --> 02:37.345 [SPEAKER_00]: But we are talking about Christmas. 02:37.425 --> 02:39.767 [SPEAKER_00]: We're talking about how points back to the love of God. 02:39.787 --> 02:41.069 [SPEAKER_00]: You have a new children's book out. 02:41.149 --> 02:41.830 [SPEAKER_00]: It's very cute. 02:41.850 --> 02:42.611 [SPEAKER_00]: It's very exciting. 02:42.631 --> 02:44.773 [SPEAKER_00]: I love faith-based children's books. 02:44.973 --> 02:47.917 [SPEAKER_00]: They are just my absolute favorite, especially Christmas ones. 02:48.037 --> 02:49.639 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm really excited to talk about it. 02:49.679 --> 02:52.001 [SPEAKER_00]: But first I want to talk a little bit about you. 02:52.041 --> 02:54.884 [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, you are married to a husband who loves to decorate for Christmas. 02:54.965 --> 02:56.807 [SPEAKER_00]: But which is more about you. 02:56.867 --> 02:57.548 [SPEAKER_00]: Tell us what you do. 02:57.588 --> 02:59.770 [SPEAKER_00]: Tell us more about your family so we can get to know you a little bit. 02:59.750 --> 03:01.814 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we've been married for 31 years. 03:02.175 --> 03:03.758 [SPEAKER_01]: We have just one son. 03:03.798 --> 03:06.364 [SPEAKER_01]: He will turn 29 next month. 03:06.424 --> 03:08.468 [SPEAKER_01]: He's a clinical psychologist. 03:08.488 --> 03:12.156 [SPEAKER_01]: I always think he went into that because he's trying to understand his parents. 03:12.929 --> 03:17.337 [SPEAKER_01]: But, and we have a 12-year-old Yorkie named Maggie. 03:17.558 --> 03:20.503 [SPEAKER_01]: What I do is I work full-time with Trinity Broadcasting Network. 03:20.704 --> 03:23.068 [SPEAKER_01]: I host a show called Praise in the evenings. 03:23.328 --> 03:26.835 [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes, and then I'm also part of a show called Better Together, which I love. 03:26.875 --> 03:33.267 [SPEAKER_01]: It's just five girls sitting around together, talking about where we're at and live and what God's teaching us. 03:33.247 --> 03:33.868 [SPEAKER_00]: I love that. 03:34.028 --> 03:36.633 [SPEAKER_00]: And you write a lot of books for children and for adults too. 03:36.933 --> 03:37.654 [SPEAKER_00]: I do. 03:37.694 --> 03:38.175 [SPEAKER_01]: It's funny. 03:38.436 --> 03:43.023 [SPEAKER_01]: For me writing has always been like, I think a lot of people write out of what their experts in. 03:43.404 --> 03:45.768 [SPEAKER_01]: I tend to write out a what I'm curious about. 03:46.088 --> 03:52.379 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, if like I wrote a book on prayer, maybe two or three years ago, because I felt like it was the weakest area of my spiritual life. 03:52.699 --> 03:57.347 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I tend to write about things that I want God to teach me more on myself. 03:57.327 --> 04:00.810 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you feel like writing a book on prayer made you stronger in prayer? 04:01.010 --> 04:19.687 [SPEAKER_01]: It definitely did because I remember my spiritual mentor was Billy Graham's wife Ruth was so sweet to me and sometimes when he would be often crusades, Ruth wouldn't bite me to the house and so much the wisdom that she poured into me like one of the things she said if you're ever researching a subject something you really want to learn more about. 04:20.047 --> 04:27.334 [SPEAKER_01]: Don't just read what's current, you know, go back as far as you can because I'd 04:27.314 --> 04:37.548 [SPEAKER_01]: So even just during the book on prayer, I read things from like the fourth century Athanasia said, whereas most of scripture speaks to us, the Psalms speak for us. 04:37.948 --> 04:39.310 [SPEAKER_01]: It gives us a language of prayer. 04:39.670 --> 04:49.283 [SPEAKER_01]: So just doing a little research and studying, the similar issues that have happened in all of our lives since the beginning, but it helped me find ways. 04:49.303 --> 04:51.626 [SPEAKER_01]: So now I read Psalms out loud every day. 04:51.827 --> 04:52.107 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 04:52.087 --> 04:53.329 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that's a great way to start your day. 04:53.629 --> 04:53.849 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 04:54.110 --> 04:54.330 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 04:54.510 --> 04:55.011 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I love that. 04:55.351 --> 04:58.756 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, your newest book is for kids, not a prayer, but on Christmas. 04:59.017 --> 05:00.118 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's so sweet. 05:00.138 --> 05:04.124 [SPEAKER_00]: It's about this little girl Isabella, and she experiences a little disappointment. 05:04.164 --> 05:10.172 [SPEAKER_00]: So give us just like a little synopsis of what the book is about, and we're kind of going so we can break it down. 05:10.372 --> 05:15.780 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, Isabella, I think she's somebody who thinks, if this happens, life will be great. 05:15.800 --> 05:17.762 [SPEAKER_01]: You know how we tend to do like that, we think, if I get you. 05:17.782 --> 05:18.744 [SPEAKER_01]: Sure, it is for Christmas. 05:19.004 --> 05:19.765 [SPEAKER_01]: It will be, 05:19.745 --> 05:20.886 [SPEAKER_01]: be perfect. 05:21.326 --> 05:27.773 [SPEAKER_01]: Well Isabella thinks that she could just get the part of the angel in the nativity play, then that would be the most perfect. 05:28.073 --> 05:48.072 [SPEAKER_01]: A she'd have a speaking part and B she would look spectacular and so when she doesn't get that part she's very disappointed but I think the lesson that she learns through is honestly one that I was trying to communicate to little ones as well as to their parents or grandparents so might be reading it and that is that when you find yourself at the feet of Jesus you've found the perfect place to be. 05:48.432 --> 05:49.313 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh that's so beautiful. 05:49.293 --> 05:52.936 [SPEAKER_00]: I think I giggled at this book because I relate to it so much. 05:53.157 --> 05:56.840 [SPEAKER_00]: I did competitive dance as a kid for like a hot second. 05:57.200 --> 06:01.424 [SPEAKER_00]: And oh, just a minute though, because they switched my costume on me. 06:02.105 --> 06:08.090 [SPEAKER_00]: And I was supposed to wear this pink fluffy dress and then they switched it to like an Itzy bit sea spider, rock and roll thing. 06:08.170 --> 06:10.593 [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, absolutely not. 06:10.953 --> 06:11.614 [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely not. 06:12.254 --> 06:13.555 [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, I'm not going. 06:14.056 --> 06:17.279 [SPEAKER_00]: My mom just looked at me and said, are you gonna quit over a costume? 06:17.639 --> 06:18.540 [SPEAKER_00]: And I said, yes. 06:19.668 --> 06:22.074 [SPEAKER_00]: She said, well, then you really don't like dance. 06:22.094 --> 06:23.016 [SPEAKER_00]: You like the costumes. 06:23.196 --> 06:25.281 [SPEAKER_00]: And then I just danced no more. 06:25.522 --> 06:28.970 [SPEAKER_00]: And she was like, if that's what it is, we're not gonna pay for this. 06:29.171 --> 06:31.416 [SPEAKER_00]: And I, that was the end of my dance career. 06:32.054 --> 06:33.777 [SPEAKER_00]: Wow, short, but meaningful. 06:33.797 --> 06:35.399 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, short, but meaningful. 06:35.419 --> 06:36.801 [SPEAKER_00]: And I really do feel like it sums me up. 06:36.821 --> 06:40.086 [SPEAKER_00]: And now my daughter dances and so it's always funny to look at the casting. 06:40.166 --> 06:41.428 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, I would have quit over that one. 06:42.249 --> 06:44.112 [SPEAKER_01]: She's never going to be a spider. 06:44.132 --> 06:44.833 [SPEAKER_01]: That's for sure. 06:45.333 --> 06:45.534 [SPEAKER_00]: Nope. 06:45.634 --> 06:46.195 [SPEAKER_00]: She is not. 06:46.776 --> 06:48.278 [SPEAKER_00]: But I think it's just, it's so sweet. 06:48.318 --> 06:49.760 [SPEAKER_00]: She just wants to be the pretty angel. 06:49.860 --> 06:51.723 [SPEAKER_00]: And she gets disappointed in her part. 06:51.843 --> 06:55.809 [SPEAKER_00]: And actually, now, that same daughter, she's doing a fourth-grade Christmas play. 06:55.909 --> 06:58.753 [SPEAKER_00]: And she did get this 06:58.733 --> 07:04.521 [SPEAKER_00]: But everyone did, you know, so there's a lot of opportunities for kids to be disappointed. 07:05.202 --> 07:07.685 [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes it's about things like the Christmas play. 07:07.745 --> 07:13.033 [SPEAKER_00]: And then sometimes it's the general disappointment, like not making the team or being left out or something. 07:13.053 --> 07:18.119 [SPEAKER_00]: And kids no matter how wonderful they are, they just don't fully understand what that process looks like. 07:18.140 --> 07:22.806 [SPEAKER_00]: And when it comes to Christmas disappointments, they don't understand budgets and supply chain issues, you know? 07:22.846 --> 07:23.627 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't get that. 07:23.607 --> 07:24.408 [SPEAKER_00]: They want it? 07:24.428 --> 07:24.828 [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely. 07:24.868 --> 07:31.035 [SPEAKER_01]: I remember when Christian turned five in our center in five, we were having a birthday party at the house and invited his whole class over. 07:31.436 --> 07:32.917 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'd said to him before the party. 07:32.998 --> 07:44.831 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, you know, people will probably bring you a gift Christian and some of them might be something that you already have or some of them might be something that you really didn't want, but you need to remember it's coming in their heart and to be very grateful. 07:45.091 --> 07:53.040 [SPEAKER_01]: So when it was time to open all the gifts, you opened the first one and it was something he had but he said to the little boy, I love this is perfect. 07:53.020 --> 07:56.944 [SPEAKER_01]: And the next gift was something he'd said to me, Mom, don't get me that because I don't like that. 07:57.084 --> 07:57.764 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what it was. 07:57.784 --> 07:59.546 [SPEAKER_01]: And he was like, this is perfect. 07:59.966 --> 08:02.228 [SPEAKER_01]: And I like him over to me in whispered in my ear. 08:02.769 --> 08:03.449 [SPEAKER_01]: How am I doing? 08:03.930 --> 08:04.771 [SPEAKER_01]: How am I doing, Mom? 08:04.991 --> 08:08.274 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think, for my early age, we have to teach children. 08:08.734 --> 08:12.798 [SPEAKER_01]: Have to deal with things not going exactly as they wish it would because that's life. 08:13.058 --> 08:13.318 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 08:13.819 --> 08:14.459 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's hard. 08:14.539 --> 08:17.482 [SPEAKER_00]: It continues to be hard, even as adults, too. 08:17.542 --> 08:19.484 [SPEAKER_00]: And that was a great way to handle the disappointment. 08:19.684 --> 08:23.027 [SPEAKER_00]: And how can parents take it like a step further, maybe? 08:23.632 --> 08:31.141 [SPEAKER_00]: can remind them like things might not go the way that you hope, but like there is one thing that study in all of this, and that's God's love. 08:31.241 --> 08:32.843 [SPEAKER_00]: And my love for you too, you know? 08:33.043 --> 08:41.232 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that was the most important thing toward the end of the book, for her to understand that it's the whole point of Christmas, wasn't that she got to be the star of the show. 08:41.593 --> 08:46.218 [SPEAKER_01]: The whole point of Christmas was that God was willing to come as a tiny baby. 08:46.378 --> 08:49.622 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, God with a shoe size, who could even imagine such a thing, 08:49.602 --> 09:03.012 [SPEAKER_01]: ever since Christian, we only have, as I said, one son, but ever since he's been little, it's something that we talked about, you know, how do we keep an awareness of that in the midst of all the kind of social pressure and black Friday sales and everything else that goes on around this time of year? 09:03.253 --> 09:04.335 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, how do we do that? 09:04.395 --> 09:07.763 [SPEAKER_00]: Because it is this time of year, you have all the, 09:07.743 --> 09:34.577 [SPEAKER_00]: not even materialism because I think someone told me once our world isn't materialistic we're consumeristic because if we're materialistic we would value materials and we really just value consuming them like we really just want to buy something and then the next thing like that's what we do and that's so evident at this time of year and really all the time especially in 2025 like parenting today with social media and everything there's so much of a need for the next thing and then there's so much 09:34.557 --> 09:40.685 [SPEAKER_00]: pressure for performance in being the best at everything, not just one thing, but everything. 09:40.725 --> 09:42.467 [SPEAKER_00]: So how do we do that? 09:42.487 --> 09:44.951 [SPEAKER_01]: It's so funny because my son is a bit of a perfectionist. 09:45.011 --> 09:49.336 [SPEAKER_01]: He's always been like he's hard on himself and his dad's a bit of a perfectionist too. 09:49.697 --> 09:53.061 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I've always tried to kind of find some kind of balance in there. 09:53.482 --> 10:02.033 [SPEAKER_01]: I remember once he came home with a report card from school and it was always a part from one 10:02.013 --> 10:04.336 [SPEAKER_01]: And he was so, that's all he saw. 10:04.376 --> 10:07.099 [SPEAKER_01]: All he saw was here's where I wasn't perfect. 10:07.460 --> 10:11.845 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, I think, I dragged a chair into the middle of the kitchen and I said, okay, I need you to sit there. 10:12.206 --> 10:16.832 [SPEAKER_01]: And then I went upstairs to this box, close, we used for dressing up parties and stuff. 10:16.852 --> 10:19.895 [SPEAKER_01]: And I came back down with a feather bow and a crown and a trumpet. 10:20.116 --> 10:23.960 [SPEAKER_01]: And marched around him and I said, you know, you get to two Christmas in life. 10:23.980 --> 10:25.202 [SPEAKER_01]: You can sit here thinking, 10:25.182 --> 10:29.168 [SPEAKER_01]: No, I got to be, or you can celebrate the fact that you got all the rest where it is. 10:29.529 --> 10:33.315 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's, it's hard, but I think you have to understand our children because they're also different. 10:33.656 --> 10:39.445 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, some kids would been thrilled by that, but he saw where he failed, and I want him to see where he shines. 10:39.665 --> 10:40.507 [SPEAKER_01]: How did he handle that? 10:40.567 --> 10:42.951 [SPEAKER_01]: Was he like, mom, or he was like, did he? 10:43.091 --> 10:43.832 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he was like, 10:44.588 --> 10:48.012 [SPEAKER_01]: Here's like, okay, get the point that this is so embarrassing, please put the trumpet away. 10:48.212 --> 10:49.194 [SPEAKER_00]: And you're like, I'm your mom. 10:49.254 --> 10:49.955 [SPEAKER_00]: This is my job. 10:50.435 --> 10:50.655 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 10:50.816 --> 11:05.213 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that Christmas is such an op, like a natural opportunity to take all those conversations to the next level a little bit to talk about God's love that came down to her, that, you know, it feels so abstract, but it was so tangible in this 11:05.193 --> 11:08.056 [SPEAKER_00]: tiny little baby, love that you said, God, with a shoe size. 11:08.236 --> 11:10.079 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a good way to think about it. 11:10.279 --> 11:16.786 [SPEAKER_00]: But how do you think families can refocus a little bit, refocus their hearts on that message of the season when it can be overwhelming? 11:16.966 --> 11:18.728 [SPEAKER_01]: There's lots of little things I think we can do. 11:18.769 --> 11:33.225 [SPEAKER_01]: For years, Krishna volunteered at a place called Seven Loves and it's a food pantry basically for people who are struggling with and particularly these days when a lot of people are struggling to even just put, put on the table, never mind fancy gifts under the tree. 11:33.205 --> 11:36.133 [SPEAKER_01]: I remember the very first time we were there. 11:36.153 --> 11:39.402 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember how old he was because we did all the way to high school. 11:39.422 --> 11:42.892 [SPEAKER_01]: But on the very first time when we were driving home, he was really, really quiet. 11:43.133 --> 11:44.818 [SPEAKER_01]: And I said to him, are you okay? 11:45.239 --> 11:48.227 [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, Mom, these people look just like us. 11:48.207 --> 11:59.490 [SPEAKER_01]: like you had that's the reality they do look and that could be us but we always get a chance to give back and he he was fully committed to that project for years and another thing that's how it was kind of sweet. 11:59.871 --> 12:04.140 [SPEAKER_01]: One year he wanted these Oakley sunglasses for Christmas and the really expensive. 12:04.120 --> 12:05.604 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I was like, I don't know. 12:05.624 --> 12:06.647 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you lose things. 12:06.687 --> 12:10.396 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure when he was like, oh, mom, if I just took these ugly sunglasses, life would be great. 12:10.938 --> 12:13.083 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we thought about it a lot and then we got them for him. 12:13.464 --> 12:19.480 [SPEAKER_01]: But then January, I was heading off to Africa on a trip and Barry and Christian came with me. 12:19.460 --> 12:22.103 [SPEAKER_01]: So obviously, the openly sunglasses came with them. 12:22.524 --> 12:29.533 [SPEAKER_01]: But at the end of the trip, we're in the plane going back home and he pulls out the glasses case and it's empty and I said, oh, darling, did you lose some? 12:29.553 --> 12:35.901 [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, no, I gave them to one of the boys in the village because I could tell that he has a bit of a problem with his eyes and this will get them a little shade. 12:36.161 --> 12:40.767 [SPEAKER_01]: That I think something is helping our children understand not everybody's waiting for the new iPhone 17. 12:41.147 --> 12:44.151 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, some people are just wondering how they can put food on the table or 12:44.131 --> 12:48.636 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's just, I mean, you don't want to make Christmas all about making, trying to make the feel guilty. 12:48.917 --> 12:50.699 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not to be about making them feel guilty. 12:50.719 --> 12:51.820 [SPEAKER_01]: It's about opening their eyes. 12:52.040 --> 12:55.304 [SPEAKER_01]: That's a prayer I've prayed every day for my family. 12:55.344 --> 12:56.906 [SPEAKER_01]: And I do it still today. 12:57.227 --> 13:05.757 [SPEAKER_01]: I pray God, today give me eyes to see what I'm going to miss without you and give me news to hear behind what someone is saying and what's actually going on in their heart. 13:05.797 --> 13:11.944 [SPEAKER_01]: Because sometimes people come out with a sharp answer, 13:11.924 --> 13:14.570 [SPEAKER_01]: prayer I pray for my husband for my son and myself every day. 13:14.890 --> 13:19.881 [SPEAKER_01]: Give us eyes to see what we would miss without you, and ears to hear what's really going on inside. 13:20.081 --> 13:29.241 [SPEAKER_00]: That's so beautiful too because I love how you're asking God to illuminate that for them because I have a tendency to want to lecture them into knowing that. 13:29.221 --> 13:34.594 [SPEAKER_00]: as though if I tell them enough, if I tell them enough, they will internalize it in their heart. 13:34.754 --> 13:40.428 [SPEAKER_00]: And I know, I mean, it's just what we tend to do as mom sometimes, but I know I have to hold myself back. 13:40.448 --> 13:42.112 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I can't do this for them. 13:42.312 --> 13:43.755 [SPEAKER_00]: That has to be the Holy Spirit. 13:43.796 --> 13:46.943 [SPEAKER_00]: That my kids don't need me to be their savior because they already have one. 13:47.412 --> 13:50.016 [SPEAKER_00]: but I try really hard to be at sometimes. 13:50.376 --> 13:51.638 [SPEAKER_00]: And I have to check myself. 13:51.658 --> 13:53.180 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's a good prayer. 13:53.240 --> 13:54.682 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a good prayer. 13:54.782 --> 14:02.753 [SPEAKER_00]: Tell me a little bit more about, so Isabella has this realization that she doesn't need the next big thing, that she doesn't need the part in the play. 14:02.813 --> 14:07.159 [SPEAKER_00]: Like tell me a little bit more about her process, how she gets there and how she rediscovers, 14:07.409 --> 14:14.082 [SPEAKER_00]: some of that joy of Jesus, because I think that's where we get a little lost in this season, kind of like we've been talking about, but it's hard. 14:14.463 --> 14:18.591 [SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to talk to our kids about that and to just show them in a way, but this book doesn't well. 14:18.771 --> 14:23.460 [SPEAKER_01]: I think one of the things is, um, is a bell coming to understand she gets to be part of something. 14:23.440 --> 14:28.312 [SPEAKER_01]: rather than the thing, because we live in such a kind of singular culture that lifts up individuals. 14:28.372 --> 14:39.981 [SPEAKER_01]: And even within the Christian community, you know, we have certain people's on platforms, and it's like, you know, those are the ones that God is using, which I totally disagree with, because I think that every single one of us, 14:39.961 --> 14:41.223 [SPEAKER_01]: has been given an assignment. 14:41.423 --> 14:44.808 [SPEAKER_01]: It might not look the same, but we've all been given an assignment. 14:44.828 --> 14:53.361 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think one of the things is about discovers is the joy of being part of something and realizing the main focus is to Jesus. 14:53.561 --> 14:57.707 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not what she's wearing and whether the crown will fit on her head or not. 14:58.068 --> 14:59.590 [SPEAKER_01]: It's focusing attention. 14:59.570 --> 15:13.790 [SPEAKER_01]: back and I love the relationship she has with her dad too because I think her dad I don't know how he got a heads up that she wasn't going to get the part but I think he kind of knew because he had something ready for her because she does become the little drummer girl and that's a lot of that part. 15:13.830 --> 15:21.882 [SPEAKER_01]: I love the fact that he was there to say you know what this didn't happen but hey look let's give ourselves to this which she does loudly very loudly. 15:23.515 --> 15:41.600 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's so good, it's like a reminder too that as parents, we have the opportunity to point them back because there will be so many times that our kids come home to the point and in feeling flustered and just to say like, hey, you belong to someone bigger and something bigger and you get to play a partner because I think it is easy. 15:41.901 --> 15:48.510 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, back to like social media and where we are today to feel like everyone else gets to tell the world about Jesus because they 15:48.490 --> 15:49.351 [SPEAKER_00]: like you said. 15:49.371 --> 15:51.655 [SPEAKER_00]: But we all get to plant all the seeds. 15:51.775 --> 15:54.239 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to have a seminary degree or be a pastor. 15:54.560 --> 15:55.461 [SPEAKER_00]: Even our kids can. 15:55.722 --> 15:56.363 [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely. 15:56.724 --> 16:04.597 [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, one of the, I think one of the greatest things is for me, I mean, obviously Christmas time we focus in on the birth of Jesus, but it's the whole coming of Jesus. 16:04.657 --> 16:09.304 [SPEAKER_01]: A manual God with us that impacts every single day. 16:09.465 --> 16:14.633 [SPEAKER_01]: So one of my favorite 16:14.613 --> 16:16.276 [SPEAKER_01]: and I could read him like a book. 16:16.636 --> 16:20.322 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, when he was coming out, I could tell of you that good day or the bad day. 16:21.163 --> 16:25.069 [SPEAKER_01]: And this one particular day was coming out and I'm like, oh, wow, we have the perfect storm. 16:25.350 --> 16:28.114 [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's a boy, so I know he's not gonna talk to me straight away. 16:28.254 --> 16:29.716 [SPEAKER_01]: So we went to the ice cream parlor. 16:30.057 --> 16:36.066 [SPEAKER_01]: And once he was stuffed, I said to him, boy, he actually said to me, mom, do you want to know what happened to me today? 16:36.427 --> 16:37.228 [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, yeah. 16:37.208 --> 16:37.528 [SPEAKER_01]: do. 16:37.729 --> 16:45.317 [SPEAKER_01]: And he told me that his best friend had not Christian's desk over and spilled his pencils but when the teacher turned around, his best friend knew said, no, I didn't do it. 16:45.337 --> 16:46.318 [SPEAKER_01]: It was Christian who did it. 16:46.579 --> 16:51.745 [SPEAKER_01]: And he'd said to his friend at lunchtime, you have to tell the teacher the truth and his best friend said, I'm not going to do that. 16:52.185 --> 16:54.007 [SPEAKER_01]: So he said to me, so I've made a decision mom. 16:54.187 --> 16:59.613 [SPEAKER_01]: I've decided that the A, he's no longer my best friend, and B, he's off my prayer list. 16:59.634 --> 17:00.955 [SPEAKER_01]: I said, whoa, that's... 17:00.935 --> 17:03.239 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's a big totally totally get-in-dude. 17:03.439 --> 17:06.764 [SPEAKER_01]: Later that night, when he's in his jammy, he's almost ready to go to bed. 17:06.804 --> 17:11.131 [SPEAKER_01]: I said, I want you to go to the cupboard and get that huge bag of flour that I got from Costco. 17:11.351 --> 17:14.236 [SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, why, and I said, because you and I are going on an adventure. 17:14.516 --> 17:19.704 [SPEAKER_01]: And so he got the huge bag of flour and we went for a walk outside the house way around the lake where we lived. 17:19.965 --> 17:22.288 [SPEAKER_01]: And he kept saying, oh, we're there, yeah, we're there yet. 17:22.308 --> 17:26.655 [SPEAKER_01]: And eventually he just plopped down with this huge bag of flour and says, I can't carry this anymore. 17:26.635 --> 17:29.059 [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, baby, that's what it looks like when you don't forgive. 17:29.300 --> 17:31.183 [SPEAKER_01]: You're the one that's left carrying the bag of flour. 17:31.323 --> 17:33.066 [SPEAKER_01]: Your friends probably been asleep for 20 minutes. 17:33.607 --> 17:35.791 [SPEAKER_01]: And you want life to be fair, we all do. 17:35.831 --> 17:38.856 [SPEAKER_01]: Fair doesn't live here, but Jesus does. 17:39.177 --> 17:42.843 [SPEAKER_01]: And forgiveness is God's gift to us to live in a world that's not fair. 17:43.223 --> 17:50.937 [SPEAKER_01]: That I just think the coming of Jesus, Emmanuel God with us infiltrates every single moment of our lives and teaches us how to live. 17:51.377 --> 17:51.698 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 17:51.678 --> 17:53.701 [SPEAKER_00]: That is such a good lesson. 17:54.021 --> 17:56.284 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like you need to write a whole book just some object lessons. 17:56.324 --> 17:58.006 [SPEAKER_00]: You can use it with your kid. 17:58.026 --> 17:59.829 [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was good being an older mother. 17:59.929 --> 18:02.492 [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't get, I wasn't, didn't get births levels 40. 18:02.833 --> 18:06.798 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that, I think, if I had been married, we didn't get married. 18:06.818 --> 18:07.279 [SPEAKER_01]: I was 37. 18:07.619 --> 18:09.682 [SPEAKER_01]: If I'd been married, younger and had children. 18:10.263 --> 18:12.606 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I think I would be in a totally different mother. 18:12.626 --> 18:17.112 [SPEAKER_01]: But by that point, I had learned a lot about the things that matter and the things that don't matter. 18:17.092 --> 18:26.710 [SPEAKER_01]: And then after my mother-in-law died, my father-in-law who was 80 at the time, I knew he could, they were from Charleston, said the Carolina, and I knew he couldn't live by himself. 18:26.750 --> 18:30.577 [SPEAKER_01]: He's just not that kind of person, so that's okay, Dad, now you move in with us. 18:30.597 --> 18:40.956 [SPEAKER_01]: So he lived with us for two and a half years, and I remember, first week, he brought his crew drivers and his hammers, and he was like, can I keep these in the same drawer as the Knights and Forks? 18:40.936 --> 18:43.260 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, of course, where else would you put them? 18:43.641 --> 18:48.851 [SPEAKER_01]: Because having nursed my mother-in-law through liver cancer, just perspective this everything. 18:49.132 --> 18:51.737 [SPEAKER_01]: You realize the things that matter and the things that don't matter. 18:52.077 --> 18:54.662 [SPEAKER_01]: The hills are worth dying on and those that are not. 18:54.682 --> 18:56.025 [SPEAKER_00]: And I need that reminder myself. 18:56.005 --> 19:03.853 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's so easy to take things parenting is a serious job and teaching our kids about Jesus is a serious job. 19:04.193 --> 19:05.875 [SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes we take it too seriously. 19:06.276 --> 19:16.406 [SPEAKER_00]: Like we just have this idea of all the things we have to do and when we don't we fail and you know there's so much pressure and if we just keep things into perspective. 19:16.686 --> 19:22.232 [SPEAKER_00]: Like the most important thing is to point them back to God's love and to point them to God's grace and forgiveness. 19:22.212 --> 19:24.756 [SPEAKER_00]: All the other little things will probably fall into place. 19:24.776 --> 19:27.760 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're an attention parent, which probably everyone listening is an intentional parent. 19:27.960 --> 19:32.587 [SPEAKER_01]: I would think so, if they listen to you stuff from your fantastic podcast, I'm sure they are. 19:32.667 --> 19:48.270 [SPEAKER_01]: But I think to one of the, some is we undervalue praying for our children, you know, at the different stages in life, when Christmas really little, when I would be folding as laundry, I would be tucking prayers into his laundry, as I fold them, shoes of pieces and fold in the socks, and breastplate of righteousness as I'm folding his shirts, 19:48.250 --> 19:55.623 [SPEAKER_01]: But then, you know, he got old on he went off to college and he was dating a girl that we just knew that she was not the right person for him. 19:55.824 --> 19:59.851 [SPEAKER_01]: But I know my son well enough to know if I'd said to him, hey, I don't think this is good. 19:59.911 --> 20:03.778 [SPEAKER_01]: It was just a push to him closer because he's got such a compassionate heart. 20:03.758 --> 20:11.199 [SPEAKER_01]: And so Barry and I committed to fasting and praying one day a week for a while to just ask God to do what only God can do. 20:11.520 --> 20:18.780 [SPEAKER_01]: I just at this point in my life, I'm such a huge believer for parents, for moms and dads and grandparents, of the power of prayer. 20:18.760 --> 20:20.002 [SPEAKER_01]: over our children's lives. 20:20.062 --> 20:21.445 [SPEAKER_01]: They will not. 20:21.465 --> 20:27.315 [SPEAKER_01]: It says that that's the perfume God has chosen in heaven and Psalms and in the revelation given to John on Patmos. 20:27.655 --> 20:32.784 [SPEAKER_01]: The angels hold up these great bowls of incense before God under the prayers of His people. 20:33.145 --> 20:38.274 [SPEAKER_01]: That no prayer, a mother or father, grandparents pray that their child has fallen to the ground. 20:38.554 --> 20:40.718 [SPEAKER_01]: They've been held up in the presence of God. 20:40.698 --> 20:43.102 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's the only gift that will go with them, right? 20:43.262 --> 20:49.092 [SPEAKER_00]: Like praying for our kids, all the Christmas gifts they're going to receive that they've already received and that they're going to receive this year. 20:49.132 --> 20:50.575 [SPEAKER_00]: Like they're all going to end up in the trash. 20:50.935 --> 20:52.057 [SPEAKER_00]: That's just the way that it is. 20:52.698 --> 20:58.328 [SPEAKER_00]: But the gift of praying for our kids will go with them into eternity and will impact generations. 20:58.648 --> 21:01.473 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, impact them in their kids and hopefully their kids. 21:01.694 --> 21:02.595 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's really powerful. 21:02.755 --> 21:05.440 [SPEAKER_00]: But it is easy to forget because it feels too simple. 21:05.420 --> 21:11.852 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it doesn't mean we think, we'll, and pretend as women we think, well, the something I could do first, you know, and if that doesn't work, then I'll pray. 21:12.173 --> 21:15.980 [SPEAKER_01]: As opposed to thinking, you know, the very first thing I could do, I learned such a lesson. 21:16.040 --> 21:17.783 [SPEAKER_01]: I grew up in that, I was born in Scotland. 21:17.843 --> 21:20.649 [SPEAKER_01]: I grew up in that little fishing village on the west coast of Scotland. 21:20.849 --> 21:22.973 [SPEAKER_01]: And our church wasn't a very big church. 21:22.953 --> 21:26.458 [SPEAKER_01]: but my favorite meeting to go to was our Tuesday night prayer meeting. 21:26.819 --> 21:35.671 [SPEAKER_01]: And it was probably only maybe 30 of us, but it was this one gentleman who was from way up in the highlands of Scotland, who prayed for his wife every single Tuesday. 21:36.092 --> 21:40.819 [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes it was tears pouring down his face because he'd become a Christian after they got married. 21:41.199 --> 21:45.906 [SPEAKER_01]: And his wife, she was lovely and she would come to our coffee mornings, but she wasn't interested in church. 21:45.886 --> 21:49.230 [SPEAKER_01]: but Angus never stopped praying every single Tuesday. 21:49.571 --> 21:55.378 [SPEAKER_01]: And then I went off to seminary in London, and when I came back from that, I discovered that the Angus had gone home to be with the Lord. 21:55.939 --> 22:01.446 [SPEAKER_01]: But I discovered that day, it was on that day at his memorial service that his wife gave her life to Jesus. 22:01.726 --> 22:04.550 [SPEAKER_01]: So it just made me realize, a lifetime is not too long to pray. 22:04.890 --> 22:15.724 [SPEAKER_01]: He wouldn't know that for another three years, so she joined him in heaven, but his faithful prayers kept, that seed kept going into the ground and kept being watered by his prayers, 22:15.704 --> 22:18.089 [SPEAKER_00]: What a beautiful reunion that they must have had, too. 22:18.409 --> 22:19.471 [SPEAKER_01]: I know, I know. 22:20.613 --> 22:21.194 [SPEAKER_00]: I love that. 22:21.214 --> 22:22.918 [SPEAKER_00]: And it is truly just a good reminder. 22:22.938 --> 22:25.583 [SPEAKER_00]: It's never, we can never pray enough for our kids. 22:26.444 --> 22:26.585 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 22:26.925 --> 22:28.048 [SPEAKER_00]: Even when they feel redundant. 22:28.208 --> 22:33.257 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure there's someone listening who's been praying the same thing years and years and years and it's just not, not happening. 22:33.478 --> 22:33.578 [UNKNOWN]: Yeah. 22:34.030 --> 22:35.612 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, I think that's absolutely true. 22:35.632 --> 22:36.934 [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's the challenge of prayer. 22:37.355 --> 22:38.977 [SPEAKER_01]: It's dangerously simple. 22:39.498 --> 22:43.464 [SPEAKER_01]: We think because it's simple, it's not going to make that much of a difference. 22:43.804 --> 22:46.748 [SPEAKER_01]: But there's something about when you align your heart with God's heart. 22:46.768 --> 22:51.155 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, not that, I mean, the things you don't want to pray for that you'll kiddo. 22:51.175 --> 22:53.558 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, all I've learned this is the wrong way. 22:53.538 --> 22:58.342 [SPEAKER_01]: I thought Christian should go into graduate school at a school called SMU here in Dallas. 22:58.682 --> 23:01.845 [SPEAKER_01]: I was so sure of it that I decided to do everything a mother can do. 23:01.945 --> 23:06.429 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I found out one of the professors and discovered he'd read my books so I'm like, excellent. 23:06.729 --> 23:07.470 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm a boy. 23:07.490 --> 23:10.773 [SPEAKER_01]: And we talked on the phone and I was like, oh, I just know this is the right thing. 23:10.793 --> 23:14.336 [SPEAKER_01]: And then Christian got the answer that he did not get in. 23:14.696 --> 23:17.999 [SPEAKER_01]: And I remember that night, we had a discussion and I said, okay, here's the deal. 23:18.359 --> 23:22.903 [SPEAKER_01]: We've got to learn to celebrate God's 23:22.883 --> 23:30.514 [SPEAKER_01]: because there has to be a reason, not long after that it was accepted into UNT Dallas and honestly it could not have been more perfect. 23:30.534 --> 23:32.296 [SPEAKER_01]: It was the perfect place for him. 23:32.516 --> 23:40.007 [SPEAKER_01]: He met the perfect people, the perfect circle, and it led to where he is now that you know something's we think well I pray for this my child that didn't happen. 23:40.367 --> 23:42.310 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe God's interested in a bigger story. 23:42.290 --> 23:45.515 [SPEAKER_00]: And God's in the disappointments of our lives, too. 23:45.856 --> 23:49.441 [SPEAKER_00]: We always sit in our, we ask our kids, what was the best part of your day? 23:49.501 --> 23:50.763 [SPEAKER_00]: What was the worst part of your day? 23:50.903 --> 23:51.985 [SPEAKER_00]: And how did you see God today? 23:52.246 --> 23:55.250 [SPEAKER_00]: And we always really focus on that what was the worst part of your day? 23:55.290 --> 23:56.432 [SPEAKER_00]: And how did you see God today? 23:56.552 --> 23:59.477 [SPEAKER_00]: Because their answers, now that they're older, it's a little bit different. 23:59.497 --> 24:02.121 [SPEAKER_00]: But when they were little, it was often in the same place. 24:02.101 --> 24:07.388 [SPEAKER_00]: And it was just like their little hearts could recognize even from a young age that God was in the disappointment. 24:07.468 --> 24:17.903 [SPEAKER_00]: Because again, like we've been talking about, they're all going to experience that and it's how they're pointed back to the love of God and how they respond to it and how they learn as they grow or else they just learned that disappointments are frustrating. 24:18.243 --> 24:20.346 [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I'm day to see you tomorrow career. 24:21.119 --> 24:26.967 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and also that, I think sometimes if they don't get the answer, they pray for, they think that God's angry with them. 24:27.327 --> 24:33.535 [SPEAKER_01]: That was something I wrestled with for a lot of my life growing up by a father die by suicide when I was fight. 24:33.756 --> 24:38.302 [SPEAKER_01]: And he had a severe brain injury and became quite violent before his death. 24:38.442 --> 24:47.093 [SPEAKER_01]: And my thing was, if the one person that you know really, really loved you and then seemingly did not in the end, it must be possible for God to be the same. 24:47.073 --> 24:52.080 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, if I had a good day, I thought God was pleased with me and I've had a bad day, I thought God was angry with me. 24:52.441 --> 24:55.645 [SPEAKER_01]: And honestly, it took your step for me to come to the place of understanding. 24:56.006 --> 24:59.490 [SPEAKER_01]: I will never be judged on the last thing I did. 24:59.671 --> 25:01.413 [SPEAKER_01]: We're judged on the last thing Jesus did. 25:01.814 --> 25:06.280 [SPEAKER_01]: And the last thing Jesus did was he said, it is finished, a little paid and full. 25:06.260 --> 25:06.640 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 25:07.001 --> 25:30.850 [SPEAKER_00]: What is your hope kind of to wrap up our time for families this Christmas season in experiencing that truth that we are not judged on our last thing but on Jesus' last thing that there is a love of God that is eternal and unconditional and beautiful in that that God came down to us Emmanuel as a baby like what is your hope for families who can experience that this Christmas season? 25:30.830 --> 25:35.217 [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's one of the reasons I love writing children's books, because I love the idea. 25:35.257 --> 25:37.921 [SPEAKER_01]: It was one of my greatest joys when he was little. 25:37.941 --> 25:41.567 [SPEAKER_01]: It was, you know, first to sit together by the fire and read a story. 25:41.787 --> 25:45.373 [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, the reason we called him Christian was when we discovered we were having a boy. 25:45.713 --> 25:49.179 [SPEAKER_01]: We went to Barnes and Noble and tried to find, you know, book a boy named. 25:49.359 --> 25:56.230 [SPEAKER_01]: And while Barry was looking for those, I was looking to children's book section, and I came across a children's version of the Pilgrim's progress. 25:56.210 --> 25:59.498 [SPEAKER_01]: read it and it was so great that taught life is a journey. 25:59.678 --> 26:05.031 [SPEAKER_01]: There's going to be times when you've faced things that seem insurmountable, but even they are God is with you. 26:05.372 --> 26:11.687 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's I guess what I pray for this Christmas for anyone who reads the book is that they would lead to other conversations. 26:11.667 --> 26:22.143 [SPEAKER_01]: and it would lead to a focusing back the attention on what we want and what we hope for back on to the real gift of Christmas, which literally split human history in two. 26:22.484 --> 26:25.408 [SPEAKER_01]: When it's worth us, changed everything. 26:25.749 --> 26:27.972 [SPEAKER_01]: Nothing was ever the same after that. 26:27.952 --> 26:35.473 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, if, because some people find Christmas time hard, you know, there might be somebody not around the table this year, you know, or something that's not quite right. 26:35.834 --> 26:43.054 [SPEAKER_01]: But I think when we keep the main thing, the main thing, then we're able to, to experience that joy and that piece that the angels promised. 26:43.255 --> 26:43.716 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 26:43.696 --> 26:44.077 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 26:44.417 --> 26:45.118 [SPEAKER_00]: That's so true. 26:45.238 --> 26:46.019 [SPEAKER_00]: And so beautiful. 26:46.139 --> 26:46.620 [SPEAKER_00]: I love that. 26:46.660 --> 26:47.121 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. 26:47.161 --> 26:49.103 [SPEAKER_00]: And thank you so much for writing this book. 26:49.143 --> 26:54.430 [SPEAKER_00]: That families can explain this to their kids and have in a fun way, in a relatable way. 26:54.871 --> 26:56.273 [SPEAKER_00]: Just thank you for everything that you do. 26:56.293 --> 27:01.039 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you tell us where we can get a copy of the little drummer girl and then where we can connect with you. 27:01.259 --> 27:01.860 [SPEAKER_01]: Sure. 27:02.061 --> 27:03.743 [SPEAKER_01]: So Amazon has it at the moment. 27:03.763 --> 27:06.547 [SPEAKER_01]: I think they have the best price at the moment on the little drummer girl. 27:06.927 --> 27:10.632 [SPEAKER_01]: And you can connect with 27:10.612 --> 27:17.827 [SPEAKER_01]: And then on Instagram, it's just Sheila Walsh one because somebody else got their first Sheila Walsh and I don't know who she is and when I find her, I'm going to talk to her about it. 27:17.987 --> 27:19.851 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure she gets a lot of random follows. 27:20.352 --> 27:21.514 [SPEAKER_00]: She does. 27:23.258 --> 27:24.541 [SPEAKER_00]: That's funny cursing me. 27:25.142 --> 27:27.186 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, she's like, I would like to talk to you too. 27:29.123 --> 27:29.864 [SPEAKER_00]: that's very funny. 27:29.884 --> 27:41.145 [SPEAKER_00]: Well I'll link all that and show notes that people can easily find it and go get a copy of the book so that they can read it with their kids, this Christmas, and just be reminded of God's love and the joy that we get to find in him. 27:41.226 --> 27:44.812 [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you so much for being here chatting with us. 27:44.832 --> 27:46.535 [SPEAKER_00]: You're such a delight to talk to. 27:46.756 --> 27:47.277 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, thank you. 27:47.317 --> 27:48.499 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you as are you. 27:51.483 --> 27:52.884 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for listening today. 27:52.964 --> 28:06.216 [SPEAKER_00]: I hope that this conversation reminded you that Christmas is not about getting the perfect part, the perfect gift, or the perfect moment, but about a perfect savior who came close to us and steps into our kids' disappointments and into ours too. 28:06.797 --> 28:18.908 [SPEAKER_00]: So as you head into this season, my prayer is that your family would experience the study unshakable love of God in big ways and in small ones, and that you would see him in the hard parts of the day as much as in the fun and best supports. 28:19.327 --> 28:27.534 [SPEAKER_00]: If this episode encouraged you as always, it would mean so much to me if you would just like subscribe and leave a review so that more parents can find these conversations when they need them. 28:28.015 --> 28:35.441 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to link Sheila's new book, The Little Drummer Girl, link is going to be in show notes, along with her social media so that you can connect with her and keep being encouraged. 28:36.022 --> 28:45.991 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm praying for you, make out the less you may the peace of Christ guard your heart and your home with this Christmas and may you feel his presence in your living room, in the carpool line and around the tree. 28:46.271 --> 28:48.473 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for spending part of your day with me.