Moms Take Ten

Fostering kiddos can bring us to the end of ourselves, of our limited human capacity. But today's guest, Ashley Carter, reminds us that isn't a bad thing. Because it is there that we recognize the true rescuer, Jesus Christ, and the work he is accomplishing in the children we are caring for, but also in our own hearts. He gives us the ability to continue, filling us up so that we can pour out to the little ones in our homes, and whomever else he calls us to love. Ashley Carter is a bio, foster and adoptive mama of six kiddos, wife to John, and a songwriter, hiker, bicycle rider, Jesus sharer, and adventurer. Listen one of her songs, I Will Carry You, on Amazon or Spotify.

We talk to our kids a lot, don't we? We are giving instructions, correcting them, laughing with them, connecting with them. Some conversations are hard and some are pure joy. Have you ever thought about incorporating blessings into those conversations? In this episode of Parenting Practicals, Christy Grey teaches us about just that. Walking us through six Scripture passages, she shows us how speak the words of the Bible over our children in a way that lets them know God is for them and he is with them. She even put those six categories into a ready to print pdf for you to reference throughout the day. Download it here. Christy Grey is a certified Connected Families parent coach, offering coaching and parenting classes in the Louisville area. You can learn more about her on the Connected Families website or through her facebook group. I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com

How do the stories of the moms in the Bible speak to you? What has God taught you through them?  That is what this season's Moms in the Bible series is all about. I am inviting other mamas to come and share their answers to those questions. This month, my sister Kim Taylor talks about how Rachel and Leah's lives of comparison and rivalry speak a cautionary word to us. Their lives were impacted significantly by the actions of their father and the way that they responded then impacted their own children. Joy is a quality found wanting in their story, and the same can often be said about us, can't it? But it doesn't have to be that way. Intentionally recounting to ourselves who God is and what he has done shifts our attitude away from comparison to one of gratitude. It is there that joy can be found in abundance even in the mundane tasks of motherhood. Hear more about Rachel and Leah from our Moms in the Bible series: Part 1 Part 2 This isn't the first time Kim has joined us on Moms Take Ten. Check out her other episodes! Intentional Parenting, ep. 30 Beauty in the Ordinary, ep. 55 I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com Image from John Heseltine / Pam Masco / FreeBibleimages.org.

Have you ever prayed a prayer asking God to do something in you or use you in some way but were wholly unprepared for his answer? When my guest, Kristi Strossner, prayed asking God to take her deeper with him, she didn't anticipate that he would lead her to open her home and her heart to a little girl. Saying yes was not easy nor has the journey since been, but Kristi has seen the Lord continue to answer her prayers and draw her ever closer to himself. Kristi Strossner is married to Dave, and has four daughters, three biologically and one through kinship guardianship. Are you a kinship, foster, Safe Families or adoptive parent looking for community? I highly recommend Replanted Ministry. They have support groups all around the country and host conferences as well. I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com

It is hard to wait. It is hard to wait for our coffee in the Starbucks line. It is hard to wait for the test results. And it is really hard to wait to see change happen in our parenting or in our children after we have put in so much time, energy and effort. Laura Zach joins me today to talk about her season of waiting and to encourage us in ours. Rather than growing discouraged, we can grow in acceptance and surrender to God and his plan as we walk closely with him. "In repentance and rest is your salvation,     in quietness and trust is your strength," from Isaiah 30:15 Laura Zach is a fellow Connected Families certified parent coach and the Women's Ministry Director at Kenmore Alliance Church, a pastor's wife, and mother of three young adults. I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com

We have a new season of Moms in the Bible starting and we are doing something a little different. Each week, I will be joined by a fellow mama to talk about how they related to or were taught by one of the moms in the Bible. Today, Kim Tews joins me to talk how God used the story of Hagar to remind her that she too is seen and she too is cared for even when life takes an unexpected and hard turn. You can read Hagar's story in Genesis 16 and 21. Other Scripture referenced was Isaiah 54:5. Listen to the previous Moms Take Ten episodes on Hagar: Part 1 was episode 8 and Part 2 was episode 84. I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com Image from John Heseltine / Pam Masco / FreeBibleimages.org.

When the unknowns of hosting a sweet little boy stirred up old anxieties, God met me in Psalm 46 with a timely reminder: He is our refuge and ever-present help. In this episode of our Parenting in Scripture series, we talk about what it means to stop fighting for control, be still, and trust Him in the hard moments of parenting and life. Want to join one of the upcoming moms groups?! I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com

We are back for a new season of Moms Take Ten, kicking off with an episode of our Foster Care and Adoption Series. Sierra Belton, who I had the pleasure of meeting through the Replanted Ministry, joins me today. From pursuing cross-cultural ministry overseas to becoming adoptive parents to three teenagers, Sierra shares how God has shaped the family she has today and what he is teaching her about resting in him. To learn more about the book series by Pete Scazzero that Sierra mentioned, head to his website, https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/aboutpete/ I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com  

We all want our children to be overcomers, ones who get back up when life knocks them down, and who learn from the challenges they face. In short, we want them to be resilient. Dr. Nicole Wilke joins us today to talk about what resilience is, what the Scriptures say about it, and how we can cultivate resilience in our children. Her words bring hope no matter what your children have or are facing. As Dr. Wilke and Amanda Howard write in their book Overcoming, "Adversity is not the end of the story." Our God has something to say about it. Nicole Wilke, Ph.D., is a researcher, missionary, author, and marriage and family therapist dedicated to improving care for vulnerable children and families globally. She currently serves as Director of the Christian Alliance for Orphans' Center on Applied Research for Vulnerable Children and Families, bridging research and practice to improve care for vulnerable children and families around the globe. Her passion for this work stems from her family's experience with adoption and fostering. Having lived on four continents, Nicole currently resides with her family in Peru, where they work to improve the system for children in alternative care. Learn more about the books Overcoming and Caleb Koala's Comeback Ride, also by Dr. Wilke. Follow Dr. Nicole Wilke on Instagram Learn more about the Christian Alliance for Orphans I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com    

As we have studied the moms in the Bible the past couple of years, have you seen yourself in them? Have you related to their pain, their struggles, their personalities, their stories? They are not so very different from you and I. And what God said to them, he also wants to say to us. You are loved by him. He delights to be in relationship with you. He is working in you and through you for his good purpose. Verses Referenced: Genesis 2:18-22 Romans 3:23 Ephesians 2:10 Acts 16:1 2 Timothy 1:5 2 Timothy 3:15 I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com Image from John Heseltine / Pam Masco / FreeBibleimages.org.

We've talked on Moms Take Ten a lot about our hope of Heaven and the complete restoration that will come on that day. It is a beautiful future that we get to look forward to! But we are living here and now. What good is there here? Quite a lot actually when we begin to look for it, even in the hard, the messy, the ugly. May you find encouragement through this episode and the scriptures below for your now. Verses Referenced (all were CSB unless otherwise noted): Psalm 30:5 Philippians 1:6 CSB and The Voice Genesis 1:31 Ephesians 2:10 Psalm 27:13-14 Zephaniah 3:17 NLT As I said in the episode, there are a lot of things that I do in my parent coaching that help myself, help other parents, see the good that God is doing in the here and now. We work on replacing our toxic beliefs with God's grace-filled truths. We practice naming and calling out the gifts in our children that He placed in them. We look for the opportunities he is giving us to love them in their misbehavior and to guide them to reconciliation. We celebrate the big and little moments of good a lot! If this is an area that you want to grow in and you'd like some support, I'd love to chat with you! Use the links below to connect with me! I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com  

My guest today waited three years to adopt—and then welcomed three kids in three years through domestic adoption. In this episode, Emily shares her story and her growing understanding of the both/and of adoption. God has used that to deepen her relationships with her children's birth family as well as to serve foster and adoptive families through her church. Her encouragement is that we would not walk the foster or adoption journey alone. Lean into God, he sees and understands! Lean into others, and find encouragement and strength to keep going. Emily Cook is on staff with Southeast Christian Church in Kentucky. To learn more about their foster and adoption ministry, visit https://www.southeastchristian.org/foster-and-adoption. To connect with Emily, email her at ecook@secc.org. I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com

We want our children to forgive others, but do we forgive our children? Our guest today, Katie Johnson, shares how God convicted her of a lack of forgiveness towards her own children. I can relate to that, can you? From her journey, we learn the impact unforgiveness can have on our relationships with our children and the beauty that comes when we do forgive. More than that, we are reminded of the incredible offer of forgiveness that the Lord extends to us in our own imperfect parenting. Katie Johnson is a Connected Families certified parent coach. Head to their website to connect with her. I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com

Have you ever found yourself "back" to a situation you thought you had moved on from? Or facing a sin you thought you had defeated? It can be so discouraging, even doubt-inducing when that happens. We can feel as though we are back to square one. That all that we had done up to that point had been for nothing. But I don't think that's what God would say about it.  Verses Referenced: John 11:1-44 Matthew 27:45-54 John 20-21 Luke 24:13-35

When I feel overwhelmed, or helpless, or tired, or straight up selfish, my parenting starts to struggle. I start to use my authority in a way that seeks to control and to manage. The apostle Paul sets a different example for us as he tells the Corinthian church that the authority that God gave him is for building them up. That is how we are to use our authority as parents as well. To build up our children. Verses Referenced: John 13:3 2 Corinthians 10:8 and 13:10 Titus 1:7-8 Colossians 3:12 Galatians 5:22-23 Ephesians 4:29 Some Parenting Practicals episodes to get you started: Our God-Image with Tara Prevo Addressing Our Anger with Laurie Shaffer The ABCs of Affirmation with Jess Brandon I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com

In today's episode of our Foster Care and Adoption series, Holly Ruge shares how the Lord brought her and her husband through their struggle of infertility to opening their home through foster care. It seemed like God took so long to answer but now he has filled their hearts and home with three sweet boys. If you are in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, check out Ruth Project and the ways they support foster and adoptive families. From monthly meals to kids clothing to moms night out and fun farm events, they love and care for our families so well! https://ruthproject.com/ I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com  

The gospel matters. We know that. We believe in it and we want our kids to also. But sometimes we struggle to know how to parent from those beliefs. How does the gospel help us navigate our children's whining, or our toddler's tantrums, or our teenager's angst? Jess Brandon, a Connected Families certified parent coach, shares how the gospel has come to inform her parenting and walks us through how to apply it to our own. This episode is part two of our conversation where we look at redemption and new creation. Last month, we looked at aspects of creation and the fall. Jess provides reflection questions for each section so be sure to have pen and paper handy!  Jess Brandon is a Connected Families certified parent coach. You can learn more about her on the Connected Families website. Listen to Jess and Lyssa talk about the CF tool, ABC's of Affirmation. Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Interested in parent coaching or to learn more about me, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com

Sometimes there's an episode that feels like it is just for me, and this is one of those. Things have been challenging in my home lately and sometimes I've wanted to give up or despair. Sometimes hope is hard to hold onto. The Canaanite Woman says, "press on. don't give up. keep fighting for yourself and your child. And do it at the feet of Jesus." She persisted, even when it seemed that her only hope was turning her away. She humbled herself boldly, and witnessed a miracle in her life and heart. Have things been hard lately? May this episode encourage you to keep going. Verses referenced: Matthew 15:21-28 Mark 7:24-30 John 16:33 Isaiah 41:10 Philippians 4:6-7 Galatians 6:9 Philippians 3:13-14 Episodes referenced: Parenting Practicals--Our God Image with Tara Prevo Moms in the Bible--Two Grieving Mamas   I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com Image from John Heseltine / Pam Masco / FreeBibleimages.org.

As Mamas, we all find ourselves in need of wisdom, which the Lord so generously and unreproachfully bestos on us when we ask. That's what James 1:5 promises us. So, if that is how the Lord responds to our requests, then perhaps we should respond to our children's requests for wisdom in the same way. That thought has been convicting me lately.  Scriptures referenced: James 1, with focus on verse 5. James 3:13 I am a Connected Families certified parent coach offering small groups for moms, individual parent coaching, and workshops. To learn more, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com

We've talked before in our Foster and Adoption series about grief--the many places it can come from and the many shapes it can take. My guest, Emily Lawson, has spent the past few years on her own grief journey following the loss of her dad. Hard as it was, she sees how the grief she experienced has enabled her to better empathize with her children in their own struggles. And she also sees how the Lord has been with her in it, giving her what she needs to do what he has called her to. Emily is the author of the book titled Cracks In My Cup: Biblical Reflections on Motherhood and Loss, which I encourage you to check out. You can connect with her on Instagram @emilyannelawson Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. That would be a blessing to both them and me. Thank you for your time! Interested in parent coaching or to learn more about me, head to https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com