Life with Sally

What fun it was to speak with Lara Casey! She has a wonderful team of women she works with in business as well as her lovely family, and she's a fantastic encourager— have you seen her beautiful life planners, the PowerSheets? She's blessing so many people and I'm so glad she's joining me today! Not only is she wonderful to talk to, she's also offering one of our readers a Write the Word Journal—and one for a friend! To enter, please go to this poster on my Instagram feed and tag a friend!

Sarah Mackenzie is familiar to many of you as the spunky, delightful leader of Read-Aloud Revival. I so enjoy Sarah's heart for her family as well as reading, and we had such a delightful time talking today! Sarah is an author herself, and lives in the Inland Northwest with her husband Andrew, where they homeschool their six kids (including identical twin boys). And she's been so kind as to offer one of our readers a copy of her book, The Read-Aloud Family—plus a second copy for a friend! Be sure to go to my Instagram page to tag a friend in a comment and enter. Sarah also has a wonderful podcast: Read-Aloud Revival. And you can find her on Instagram, too!

Many of you are probably familiar with the beautiful work of today's guest, Ruth Chou Simons. Her gorgeous watercolors remind us all that God loves us, and has surrounded us with a beautiful world. She claims she is "an unlikely mom to six young boys" and wife to Troy, with whom she leads GraceLaced's small but mighty team. When not painting, writing, and casting vision for GraceLaced.com, Ruth is usually busy eating chips and salsa, sorting laundry, cooking for large crowds, not finishing her sentences, and discovering off-beaten paths in the wild with her guys. She is a devotee of pho, a recovering perfectionist, a converted four-wheeling enthusiast, and a grateful beholder of redeeming Grace." I hope you'll enjoy our podcast today—I know we enjoyed creating it for you! Dear Ruth is offering a wonderful gift for one of our readers, today! Go to my Instagram page and leave a comment on the poster pictured below, to tag a friend in order to enter!

I so loved talking with both Emily Ley and her dear friend, Kristin Winchester, today! They have supported one another through very difficult, lonely times and the vulnerability with which they shared their story touched me. Both are mamas of twins and they came to deep friendship because one of them took initiative and the other responded. Their story is what our lives should hold—initiation, kindness, acceptance, support, and the willingness to be there for one another through many seasons. Kristin and Emily got to the heart of what life is like for most of us as we try to live well the challenging stories we all live within. Kristin is mom to toddling twins. Emily is mama to three lovely little ones, and runs her company, Simplified, in all her spare time. Ha! She knows the power of friendship and teamwork, and we know you'll be blessed as you listen. You can find Emily on Instagram, too! And she has a surprise for you: She's giving away one copy of the 2019 Simplified Planner plus a copy of each of her books, A Simplified Life and Grace, Not Perfection ! We hope you'll be encouraged by our conversation.

It's always a joy to share with my friend, Alyssa Bethke! Alyssa has an infectious smile, and we know her enthusiasm for life will be an encouragement to you, today. This is how she sums up the work she and her husband do on the interwebs … "We are Jeff & Alyssa Bethke. We have two kids, Kinsley and Kannon, and a dog named Aslan. We live in Maui, and we like to create things on the internet. In fact, that's probably how or why you're here! We consider it an immense privilege that people care to listen or read what we have to say. If we could sum up our mission on the internet it'd be to encourage men, women and families through online experiences and creative resources that are practical, fun and help each person on their journey of following Jesus." Find Alyssa on Instagram at AlyssaJoyBethke Podcast: the Real Life Podcast They also have these books available: Spoken For, Love that Lasts, 31 Ways to Creatively Love Him, and Finding Freedom

Sweet Jen Smith and I became friends a few years ago. How fun it has been fo me to watch her share her vision and passion as a young wife and then as a mother and now as a woman, filled with family, convictions, and so much to share from a passion she overflows with from a love of Jesus. We had so much fun catching up on my podcast again. I love her sparkle and her convictions. You will enjoy this podcast so much today. Today we talked with Jen Smith, from Unveiled Wife!

Doesn't this sound like such a fun life?! Elsie Iudicello lives in sunny South Florida with her husband and four young boys on a noisy farm brimming with an assortment of animals and tropical fruit trees. She is an author and speaker with a passion for Jesus and a great love for homeschooling, stories, tea, adventuring with her children, theology and avocados. We had so much fun talking about friendship for my podcast today—hope you will love listening in! Elsie writes for Wild and Free magazine and blogs at www.farmhouseschoolhouse.com. You can follow Elsie on instagram @Farmhouse_Schoolhouse for more updates on the upcoming release of her first book.

What a delightful group of women we are talking with this month! I hope you'll enjoy this recording with Haley Stewart. Haley is mama to four and wife to a beekeeper, author, blogger, podcaster … a prolific person, in general! She's also written a book titled, The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture. You can find Haley at all these places … Blog: https://www.carrotsformichaelmas.com/ Podcast: https://fountainsofcarrots.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haleycarrots/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaleyCarrots Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarrotsForMichaelmas/

I so hope you'll enjoy this conversation we had with Kate Merrick! Friendship is so very important to us, and Kate knows much about the importance of having girlfriends in times of joy and sorrow. Kate is wife to Britt Merrick and mom to Isaiah Harley, Daisy Love, and Pheodora Sunshine. They have a church in California and she's authored two books: And Still She Laughs and Here, Now (due April 2, 2019!) You can find Kate here on Facebook: Kate Merrick, Author. Enjoy the podcast—and be sure to order your own copy of Girls' Club!

I had a wonderful conversation about friendship recently with Sister Theresa that I'm so excited to share with you. It's such a grace to talk about this very important topic with wise women, and we hope you enjoy listening in to our podcast! Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP is a former atheist who, thanks to the grace of God, has returned to the faith she was raised in and now tries to help others bring their loved ones back to the faith. A few years after returning to the Church, she heard God calling her, so she left her job in Silicon Valley to join the Daughters of St. Paul. She is the founder of the Memento Mori project and author of The Prodigal You Love: Inviting Loved Ones Back to the Church. She now lives in Boston where she serves at the Pauline Publishing House in the Editorial Department. You can also find her here: Her website: https://pursuedbytruth.com twitter: https://twitter.com/pursuedbytruth Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pursuedbytruth/?hl=en