This was a breakthrough kind of episode. A little bit like 6 years of therapy condensed into half an hour. We hope it offers you as much of an "Aha" moment as it did for us!

In this week's conversation:

• What if your past isn't your past?
• What if you could go back to the worst bits in your story and re-write them?
• What if your pain isn't fossilized? 
• What if your present can set you free from your past?
• Click here for BOGO Offer of Lisa-Jo's new book that expires May 2 at midnight EST.

Podcast links:

You're invited! Lisa-Jo will be reading from her brand-new book at the best new bookstore in Lancaster, PA. Join Christie to cheer her on!

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

START listening to the audio book or reading the ebook for It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping here

Get Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

We're not sure why it took us so long to figure this out (and understand how much it matters!), but of course this podcast is like a weekly memoir of ordinary life. Here's what that means for you ...

In this week's conversation:

• Christie and Lisa-Jo explore an epiphany: they've been recording a podcast memoir all these years!
• Memoir-writing nudges us to reflect on the distant past
• podcasting nudges Lisa-Jo and Christie to reflect on the recent past
• Lisa-Jo explains the practice she is now using to reflect on the day just past
• What happens when we pause to notice and reflect? The answer is so good, Christie wonders if it's really too good to be true
• Lisa-Jo shares a special invitation for local listeners

Podcast links:

You're invited! Lisa-Jo will be reading from her brand-new book at the best new bookstore in Lancaster, PA. Join Christie to cheer her on!

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

START listening to the audio book or reading the ebook for It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping here

Get Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Only a longtime friend can get away with asking some of the questions Christie asked Lisa-Jo today. We hope they are a balm to your own scarred places. 

In this week's conversation:

• A kind of live therapy takes place between Lisa-Jo and Christie
• Failure turns out to be a powerful catalyst for new things
• Growth looks unlike what we expect else maybe we'd never even try
• If you've ever felt like life is one wave after another and you can't catch your breath, welcome. 

Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

START listening to the audio book or reading the ebook for It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping here

Get Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Today's episode began with big smiles, journeyed through tears, and ended with laughter.

In this week's conversation:

• Lisa-Jo explains why her new book is an Ebenezer stone
• Christie and Lisa-Jo realize each witnessed God making things new this week
• personal stories of church hurt and church healing
• what it looks like when God makes the sad things of life un-true 

Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

START reading the first free chapters of It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping here

Get Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

In today's episode Lisa-Jo shares the story of how God brings each of us to a feasting table, set with a chair all ready and prepared. And what happens if you're willing to sit down. 

In today's conversation:

• Lisa-Jo finds herself unexpectedly back in a courtroom setting 
• When your hometown is no longer your hometown.
• The difference between an invitation from God vs a pushy God
• How the Kingdom of God moves at the speed of relationships. 

Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

START reading the first free chapters of It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping here

Get Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

In today's episode we unpack:

• The surprising work Christie has been doing
• How good it is to feel seen and to have our unique gifts acknowledged
• If God is a creator, shouldn't we embrace the creators in our communities?
• How to start this conversation where you are 

Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

START reading the first free chapters of It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping here

Get Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold). Your ratings and reviews (leave one here) are so appreciated!

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Life is full of surprises, and often, it's in the most unexpected moments that we find profound meaning and guidance. In today's conversation Christie and Lisa-Jo discuss one specific instance that arrived much later in Christie's life than might be typical and how these instances are opportunities to stay receptive and attentive to God at work in the mundane and challenging.

In today's episode we unpack:

• The significance of turning 50 and being a beginner again 
• Receiving strength from the Holy Spirit, whether we feel strong or not 
• The shift from relying on feelings to being receptive to God's invitations
• A unique church experience for Christie and how it met her in a weary season 
• 
  

Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

START reading the first free chapters of It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping here

Get Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold). Your ratings and reviews (leave one here) are so appreciated!

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

In today's episode Lisa-Jo and Christie realize they have both learned how to avoid disappointment and prepare to be happy on a special day ...

• Lisa-Jo is astonished to learn this about Philadelphia
• Christie shares everything she's discovered about celebrating milestones
• These friends ask: how can we better communicate expectations and desires in relationships? With spouses? young kids? teens? with our friends?
• Plus, different communication styles and learning to "stay in the room" to unravel communication knots together
• 
  

Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

START reading the first free chapters of It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping here

Get Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

In today's episode Lisa-Jo and Christie unwrap a Peck of Purple Peppers and share the story of a sentimental seed and the final book in a gardening trilogy.

• It's a book launch gift haul -- unwrapped on air. 
• Which of the the three Jane Austen gardening sisters in Christie's Trilogy are YOU? 
• How to name a book
• The powerful narratives that seeds and plants carry through generations.
• How our family's shape our stories 
• Bonus: Christie reads an excerpt from her new book "Seedtime and Harvest"
• Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

START reading the first free chapters of It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping here

Get Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

In today's episode Lisa-Jo and Christie celebrate a four-year project that is finally complete. What's it like to stand at the finish line?

• A conversation between friends on the creative process and completing a trilogy
• Thanks to Lisa-Jo, Christie discovers that her book is like a Jane Austen heroine
• Which of these three books with their distinct personalities should you read first?
• How writing a trilogy teaches you contentment (and how that carries over to parenting and marriage)
• Why some creative projects deplete us and some feel like play
• Why Gardening Matters To Christie (and why it should matter to you too)

Claim Your Pre-order Gifts Here Only available through March 4

Watch Christie's book trailer here.

Learn more about the man behind the camera, Zac Simmons, here.

Pre-order Seedtime & Harvest here

Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

Pre-order Lisa-Jo's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Pre-order Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

Lisa-Jo has a personal epiphany in the bathtub this week and Christie offers insights on the healing that comes from addressing our shadows.

• We're facing our demons this week -- from the safety of the bathtub!
• Lisa-Jo looks in the mirror of her past and doesn't like what she sees
• Christie points us to the cyclical nature of life that can bring order and understanding out of the darkness--especially as it relates to parenting teens.
• Lisa-Jo tells the story of confronting one of the worst shadows from her past on a stage in front of 4,000 people. 
• We want to uncover the transformative power of confronting our past and finding meaning in the pain.
• Christie recommends: Like Dew Your Youth: Growing Up with Your Teenager by Eugene H. Peterson
• Lisa-Jo's bathtub read: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

Pre-order Lisa-Jo's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Pre-order Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Emily Graffius on Instagram @emily.graffius and learn more about her work as a TBRI Practitioner, Speaker, and Parent Coach & Cultivate Connection Facilitator. Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

In today's episode, Lisa-Jo and Christie do something they've never done before ... they invite a third friend into the conversation! This special episode was recorded in person in the Black Barn!

• We are together again in the Black Barn!
• Meet our friend and special guest Emily Graffius
• Find out what it's like behind the scenes of the podcast
• We answer ALL of Emily's questions (are they your questions, too?)
• Lisa-Jo and Christie's friendship and why we WON'T be breaking up or falling out
• Insights into motherhood and how to form lasting friendships
• This one ends with a real eye-opener as Lisa-Jo discovers the true nature of her relationship with (wait for it ...) her pillow!

Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

Pre-order Lisa-Jo's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Pre-order Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Emily Graffius on Instagram @emily.graffius and learn more about her work as a TBRI Practitioner, Speaker, and Parent Coach & Cultivate Connection Facilitator. Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

In today's episode, Lisa-Jo and Christie reflect on the emotional and creative journey of writing and releasing their upcoming books. They discuss the concept of impact, the pressures of going viral, and the deeper significance of friendship and service. 

• Discussion of the process of writing and releasing a book
• Personal stories behind the books
• Emotional journey of sharing your work with the world
• Our cultural obsession with making an impact 
• Reframing impact and success 
• The impact of sacrificial friendship

Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

Pre-order Lisa-Jo's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Pre-order Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

We are back after a five-month hiatus, and we have so much to tell you.

About rest. About work. About creativity and parenting teenagers and the very Big Milestones coming up for us this year.

If you've been feeling overwhelmed and overcommitted, this conversation between two old friends is for you.

• The difference between stuffing vs savoring. 
• What is more exhausting -- parenting toddlers vs parenting teens--and why. 
• The thing we've hinted at is finally real and alive in the world. 
• Christie gets the closest she's ever come to setting a goal.

Podcast links:

We are now ad-free! You can help support our show with a one-time donation here or a recurring gift right here. Thank you. We are excited about becoming fully listener supported.

Pre-order Lisa-Jo's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Pre-order Christie's new book here (or wherever books are sold)

Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

Who needs rest from creating?

In the beginning, God didn't just rest from work but He rested from creating. 

After burn out,  Lisa-Jo and Christie wrap their arms around us and give us grace to pause.  Whether you're entering a season of creation or needing a break from creating we can all relate.

Sometimes a season calls for a stop. for a pause. for less. You might not need anything new but need to revisit and savor what you already have. 

"Maybe I don't need something new.  Maybe what I need is already here and I need to slow down and savor it." - Christie Purifoy

Do we lose momentum in our life if we rest? 

This is a story about how to make ordinary life a little bit easier.

LJ and Christie laugh, talk, and recommend equipment for ordinary living: shoes, headphones, jasmine!, and more. Also, we learn that Lisa-Jo has never heard the memorable 1980s advertising slogan: "Calgon, take me away!"

Podcast links:
Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

_______

Sponsor appreciation: We're so grateful to partner with show sponsors that keep making our work possible.

Click here to visit Green Chef and use code ordinary60 to get 60% off plus free shipping! The #1 Meal Kit for Eating Well!

Click here to visit Nutrafol to grow thicker, heathier hair with $10 off with the code ORDINARY!

Click here to treat yourself to the best shapewear on the market and save 20% Off @honeylove #honeylovepod

Click here to visit Stellar Eats and get 20% off your next order on healthy and tasty baking mixes!

Click here to visit Earth Breeze and get 40% off your next order with laundry detergent Eco Sheets! 

What does it mean to pursue goodness? Have we slighted it? Let's stay rooted in our deep and worthy ordinary virtues even though they aren't on a typical list for new year's resolutions. "I'd really like to be like Ted Lasso." Do you agree with Christie on this? Ted Lasso makes goodness and kindness appealing and powerful.  *viewer discretion advised for R rated moments*

True goodness fights for you, inspires you and makes you braver and bolder. Life isn't about us being good enough for God. Christie lets us know that beauty has been linked with truth and goodness in all different kinds of philosophies.

The writings that are mentioned: Sean of the South by Sean Dietrich and Phantastes by George McDonald. 

Podcast links:
Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

_______

Sponsor appreciation: We're so grateful to partner with show sponsors that keep making our work possible.

Click here to visit Green Chef and use code ordinary60 to get 60% off plus free shipping! The #1 Meal Kit for Eating Well!

Click here to visit Nutrafol to grow thicker, heathier hair with $10 off with the code ORDINARY!

Click here to treat yourself to the best shapewear on the market and save 20% Off @honeylove #honeylovepod

Click here to visit Stellar Eats and get 20% off your next order on healthy and tasty baking mixes!

Click here to visit Earth Breeze and get 40% off your next order with laundry detergent Eco Sheets! 

This is a story about a book Christie loved and Lisa-Jo did not.

Actually, here are stories about quite a few books! Because these are the childhood favorites that helped make us the women we are.

In this week's conversation, we discover just how much our favorite books reveal about our deepest selves and our relationships. Christie and Lisa-Jo trade memories and titles from The Secret Garden to Lord of the Rings and quite a few you've probably never heard of, let alone read!

Listener invitation: Take a shelfie! Yep, that's a selfie of your bookshelf. We'd LOVE to see your favorite books -- tag us in Instagram @lisajobaker and @christiepurifoy

Podcast links:
Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

_______

Sponsor appreciation: We're so grateful to partner with show sponsors that keep making our work possible.

Click here to visit Green Chef and use code ordinary60 to get 60% off plus free shipping! The #1 Meal Kit for Eating Well!

Click here to visit Nutrafol to grow thicker, heathier hair with $10 off with the code ORDINARY!

Click here to treat yourself to the best shapewear on the market and save 20% Off @honeylove #honeylovepod

Click here to visit Stellar Eats and get 20% off your next order on healthy and tasty baking mixes!

Click here to visit Earth Breeze and get 40% off your next order with laundry detergent Eco Sheets! 

This is a story about painting a dining room nearly charcoal black. And the hundreds of hours it took.

This is a story about how it turned a dining room into an everyday extravagance.

This week Lisa-Jo and Christie remember the great farmhouse dining room painting saga of their first Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania and how it nearly ruined Christie and her husband's respective backs and arms and attitudes. But how it was more than paint. It was the kind of extravagance we get to give one another on the daily.

Because this is lavish, insanely beautiful grace -- being willing to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, the boring into the extravagant, if only we have eyes to see, and sometimes paint buckets and brushes.

Did Lisa-Jo recognize the transformation? Did her family appreciate the effort taken to create extravagance ahead of their visit? Did Jon and Christie survive the hundreds of hours it took to paint walls and CEILINGS a dark charcoal color? Tune in today to find out as they remember that single room that nearly broke them and all the back-breaking, heart-aching work that went into preparing the way.

Podcast links:
Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

_______

Sponsor appreciation: We're so grateful to partner with show sponsors that keep making our work possible.

Click here to visit Green Chef and use code ordinary60 to get 60% off plus free shipping! The #1 Meal Kit for Eating Well!

Click here to visit Nutrafol to grow thicker, heathier hair with $10 off with the code ORDINARY!

Click here to treat yourself to the best shapewear on the market and save 20% OFF @honeylove #honeylovepod

Click here to visit Stellar Eats and get 20% off your next order on healthy and tasty baking mixes!

Click here to visit Earth Breeze and get 40% off your next order with laundry detergent Eco Sheets! 

If you're like us then you also associate summer with certain foods. And therefore with certain memories. These are the foods and memories that have shaped our summers for decades. 

We hope listening leaves you hungry. And also, makes you remember. The tastes of your favorite summers and the memories that you can bite into when you close your eyes and picture your plate. 

Listener invitation: Won't you tag us on Instagram and share YOUR favorite summer food memory with us?  Just share a photo and tag @lisajobaker and @christiepurifoy 

Podcast links:
Follow Lisa-Jo on Instagram @lisajobaker and Christie at @christiepurifoy and please leave a review about what you think about today's podcast!

Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around the podcast.

_______

Sponsor appreciation: We're so grateful to partner with show sponsors that keep making our work possible.

Click here to visit Green Chef and use code ordinary60 to get 60% off plus free shipping! The #1 Meal Kit for Eating Well!

Click here to visit Nutrafol to grow thicker, heathier hair with $10 off with the code ORDINARY!

Click here to get 20% OFF @honeylove #honeylovepod

Click here to visit Stellar Eats and get 20% off your next order on healthy and tasty baking mixes!

Click here to visit Earth Breeze and get 40% off your next order with laundry detergent Eco Sheets!