[SPEAKER_01]: Hello and welcome back to the Greta Eskerge podcast.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is episode seven and today, oh man, I'm so pumped.

[SPEAKER_01]: I got to interview my good friend Amber O'Neal Johnston and talk about her new book called Homegrown Guidance and Inspiration for Navigating Your Home School Journey.

[SPEAKER_01]: And let me tell you, this book is unlike any other homes look I've seen or read.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is a collection of thirty essays from a vast array of homes in different spaces.

[SPEAKER_01]: In their homeschool journey, we hear from dads, we hear from gramas, we hear from homeschoolers who are living outside of the US and other countries, homeschoolers who have just an only child, multiple children, [SPEAKER_01]: From someone like me, a second generation homeschooler, there is so much variety and there is so much depth to each of these essays.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're beautiful.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're powerful.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I love hearing Amber's story of how she came to write this book.

[SPEAKER_01]: You guys are gonna love this episode.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't wait for you to hear it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So let's get started.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hi, everyone.

[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to the show.

[SPEAKER_01]: Today I'm so excited to welcome my first second time guest.

[SPEAKER_01]: Amber, you're the first person who's been on twice.

[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, thank you for having me back again.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's exciting.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know, you guys, if you missed Amber's first episode, I'll link it in the show notes.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I will also introduce her.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you guys know who she is.

[SPEAKER_01]: She is, well, first of all, Amber's my friend, Amber O'Neal Johnson.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll tell you in her whole name.

[SPEAKER_01]: She is a fellow homeschool mom.

[SPEAKER_01]: She's an author of three or four books now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Wait.

[SPEAKER_01]: Four.

[SPEAKER_01]: Three, okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ooh, I lost.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's been so much happening.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've lost track on how prolific you are.

[SPEAKER_01]: She's a speaker and you guys, she's a phenomenal speaker.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've heard her speak multiple times, blows it out of the water, mom to four, and we're gonna talk about her newest book in a few minutes, but first Amber, can you tell us something we would not [SPEAKER_01]: You've know even if we were your friend or just reading the back of your book and looking at the bio there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, that is such a great question.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is something that you may not know well?

[SPEAKER_00]: Something I'm, you know, part of the wild and free community and Charlotte Mason lover and spend a lot of time outside and creeks and mountains and we live in Georgia, lots of hiking.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what people may not know about me is that I was raised in the air conditioning and I had never been on a hike before my life until I became a mother.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I wouldn't even know where you find a trailhead.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that is not a part of my background.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I am proof that if you choose to do something differently with your kids than what you had, you can make it happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, wow, I didn't know that.

[SPEAKER_01]: As your friend, I did not know that part of your story.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I love it because it just tells me so much about who you are.

[SPEAKER_01]: You are passionate about pursuing what's best for your family.

[SPEAKER_01]: And one of those things is homeschooling.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, your new book, Homegrown.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna look at the subtitle guidance and inspiration for navigating your homeschool journey.

[SPEAKER_01]: Guys, this book is just, it's so awesome.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like I am literally teary-eyed thinking about what you put together in this book.

[SPEAKER_01]: So why don't I don't want to tell you guys about the book?

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have an Amber Tell Us about Homegrown Tell Us about why you decided to write it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tell Us what it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, so I'll back up a little bit to when my kids were all really little and my husband came home one day and told me that he had met this woman Judy at the park who had told him all about homeschooling and he even told me, and I got her phone number for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I was like, you asked the woman for her phone number and he was like, yeah, for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, oh, okay, great.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm not calling this random lady.

[SPEAKER_00]: Forget about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: One day, I was at the same park, and this woman walks up to me, and she's like, oh, I recognize your kids, you must be Scott's wife.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, yeah, she was like, I'm Judy, and I was like, hey, that's so great, that's Judy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she started telling me about homeschooling and about her kids, and I was just kind of caught up in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I realized why Scott was so attracted to her story, and then she invited me over to her house.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when I walked into her house, it smelled like fresh baked cookies, which she served.

[SPEAKER_00]: I later, I had teas her and say she's never served me fresh baked cookies again.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it was all part of the master plan, but she had hot tea and a pretty tea pot and [SPEAKER_00]: She showed me what her kids were doing for their lessons and they were just a little bit ahead of my kids in age.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she created a picture for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: She gave me a snapshot of what could be.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she told me yours will be different.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this is what you can do.

[SPEAKER_00]: She was like, I believe in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will show you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will help you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll be honest with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, she told me about the hard parts and the things that were challenging for her family and the times when things didn't go well.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when I left that day, when I came, I was about twenty percent sure I was gonna homeschool.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was pretty sure I wasn't going to.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when I left, I was a hundred percent sure that I was gonna homeschool.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so this book is my attempt at bringing a bunch of duties and gyms.

[SPEAKER_00]: There was a couple of dads in there bringing them to someone's home to say, this is what it looks like for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is what I've learned.

[SPEAKER_00]: Take what you can and apply it to your own home.

[SPEAKER_00]: Leave what you can't behind.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be entertained but also be inspired.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know that those are the types of conversations that help people not just decide to homeschool but to remain faithful to it because it's hard.

[SPEAKER_01]: Wow, I hearing you tell that story.

[SPEAKER_01]: It just makes me love the book even more.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like that you had this person, Judy in your life and now [SPEAKER_01]: And she changes the trajectory of your life, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And now you want to be that person for all of us.

[SPEAKER_01]: So tell us how you are being a Judy and a James for us with this book, Homegrown.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I thought, you know, I do have insights and things to share with families, which I do all the time in my own individual context, but as much as I'm sharing with others, I'm also still learning.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think there's just, it's a journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: It keeps going, you never stop.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so there are points along the entire journey, the beginning and the middle and the end of the homeschooling journey, which starts a whole new journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have Grandmother's writing in this book, [SPEAKER_00]: are still in here with us, showing us the way lighting our paths.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I thought, well, better than just me, I wish that they could hear from everyone.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to hear from these people too.

[SPEAKER_00]: So all together, there are thirty contributors in the book with [SPEAKER_00]: your truly being one of them and for you being one of them as well and all thirty of us right in essay on a different aspect of our home and our homeschooling life.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not all some of its instructional really dealing with like the ins and outs of what we consider traditional homeschooling but some of it is how they're homeschooling through grief and [SPEAKER_00]: What the fathers feel their role is in homeschool.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what can they contribute when they're gone to work all day?

[SPEAKER_00]: And how are the grandmothers impacted?

[SPEAKER_00]: And what are they thinking?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or what do they wish that they had known back then?

[SPEAKER_00]: And people who were in the thick of it, and moms with one child, and moms with many, and city dwellers, and homesteaders, and mostly in the United States, but some in other countries.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, multi-cultural families to different socioeconomics.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's where homeschooling is headed.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's most representative of homeschooling today.

[SPEAKER_00]: It looks very different than it did even ten, twenty years ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and so I tried to bring that through in the book.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm, and you did a phenomenal job.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, when you, it's me if I would contribute an essay and I saw the list of other people that were also going to be contributing to the book.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, I had chills because I was like, I get to be in a book with my homeschool heroes.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, people I've admired for a really long time, like Sally Clarkson.

[SPEAKER_01]: people who I have known for less time like yourself and lessly and so many other people that I admire deeply and it was like the thought of being a part of this, this just like [SPEAKER_01]: kind of a love letter to homeschooling in some ways.

[SPEAKER_01]: And also, like you said, just this opportunity to say, look at all that homeschooling is and all that it can be was like, I imagine my, like, my kids who I pray.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, school.

[SPEAKER_01]: If there's a post to them reading this book and being inspired by people that I've been inspired by and it just it feels like really an important thing that you've curated and one of the things that you say at the end of your introduction in the beginning of the book is you say prepared to be uplifted and empowered gaining a deeper trust in the transformative [SPEAKER_01]: Potential of educating your children at home.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to read it again because I loved it so much.

[SPEAKER_01]: Prepare to be uplifted and empowered, gaining a deeper trust in the transformative potential of educating your children at home.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I just, man, I love that so much because you're right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it is transformative.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the potential for transformation is there.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have to be brave enough to step into it.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have to be willing to sometimes weigh through the hard times, the muck that is also part of homeschooling.

[SPEAKER_01]: You are offering a system for being uplifted and powered.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just a raw raw.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like here are the real tools for the journey.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have seen homeschooling be transformative in my own life as a kid who was homeschooled, and then now as a mom who homeschools her own kids.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I know that this message that you're putting out is so true.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I just, I think about [SPEAKER_01]: what a gift this book is that you've given to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I made excited and grateful.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I would love to know how it was different writing this book in comparison to the first two.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because like you said, you know, your first two books are your voice, even though like in your soul school, you're talking about other people's work, the books that they've created.

[SPEAKER_01]: But this one is your voice and a whole bunch of others.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's really fun to learn or hear from you how that was a different journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, first of all, I was like sure, I can write two books in one year because Soul School is more of a solo piece.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this one, I'm the editor of Home Girl.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, I have an essay in there, but, you know, I don't know, writing the entire book.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ha ha ha ha.

[SPEAKER_00]: life has so many jokes for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was my charter.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was like hurting cats sometimes, but it's, you know, when you have, when you're looking for writing from dynamic people that you want to hear from, there's a reason you want to hear from them.

[SPEAKER_00]: busy.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're busy at home, deeply entrenched in what's happening in their homes as they should be.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're busy outside of their homes.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so trying to nail down twenty nine other people in any realm, you know, twenty nine other adults to get the information and to, you know, go back and forth and to pull everything together.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was [SPEAKER_00]: a quite a task.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of the most difficult part, but the most beautiful part was me editing these pieces.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm sitting there at my computer, like reading these things for the first time, and I was feeling emotional.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I was sharing the emotion that some of the writer shared, the level of vulnerability in these essays is unparalleled.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's just not, usually if we only are gonna write something [SPEAKER_00]: kind of short form writing, we gonna go with the positives, you know, we tell a little success that we've had.

[SPEAKER_00]: And these have those for sure, but also success hasn't always been a straight line for everybody.

[SPEAKER_00]: And people are very honest about what that looks like.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I just felt overwhelmed with so many different emotions while editing and it felt like my own little private [SPEAKER_00]: party, my own little therapy session and all of the things.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I'll go to Dickens.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was the best of times.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was the worst of times.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, wow.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I can imagine.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's funny.

[SPEAKER_01]: I used to imagine when I was like, when I was in college, I studied creative writing and literature.

[SPEAKER_01]: And everyone said, oh, you're going to be a teacher because I was, you know, an English major, literature major.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I was very rebellious and I was like, don't put me in that box.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm not going to be a teacher.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to work in publishing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I actually imagined that I would be an editor.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I am so glad that God had a different plan for my life because I am not a detailed person and editing would.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would be terrible at it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It would kick my butt so awkward and I wouldn't actually want to hire me.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he had a different plan for me, but I can imagine like you said, like editing is so different than writing yourself and having written three books now and worked with an editor who helps [SPEAKER_01]: who had helped make my books so much better than I could have made them on my own.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think editors are incredible.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you stepped into a new role with this book, not just writing on your own, but actually taking the essays that were given to you and helping them become better and more beautiful.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have to say having read through, I'm not through all of them yet, but having read through some and being so excited about the whole list, you did a tremendous job.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to just share some of the titles of ones that I've read so far and liked.

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't pick it up and just go from the beginning, start at the beginning and go, I just skipped around because I was just so curious.

[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, I love Jenny, you're [SPEAKER_01]: She wrote the chapter, Mother Nature is a reliable, homeschool helper.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love everything, Jimi writes.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that was an awesome one.

[SPEAKER_01]: This one, the powder of good habits by Sonya Schaefer.

[SPEAKER_01]: Wow.

[SPEAKER_01]: So like helpful and convicting to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: but also really like spurring me on to good things.

[SPEAKER_01]: This one nurturing wonder formation and belonging in the home by Alberta Stevens.

[SPEAKER_01]: So so powerful.

[SPEAKER_01]: This one by one of the guys that wrote for the book, I wasn't supposed to homeschool a father's journey by Richard Smith.

[SPEAKER_01]: That one I loved so much.

[SPEAKER_01]: I wish we had more voices from dads in the homeschool community.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I love that you included dads, and then this one when homeschooling emails, and I don't know how to say, is it brinty, McNeil?

[SPEAKER_01]: Brinty?

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I just read that wrong, because sometimes I do that, that piece is so beautiful.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm curious if there were some that like in this space of homeschooling that you're in, were there some that really just resonated with you in a special way that at that moment?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: One thing I just want to point out is when you said, I just kind of skipped around, that's exactly what the book is designed for.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is designed for busy, homeschooling parents.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can just pick it up.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you have a short time, read a essay.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you put it away for weeks, months, hours, days, and come right back, you will jump right back in and it doesn't have to be read covered a cover, which I think is exciting.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's very pretty for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: So one of the ones that really spoke to me is Erin Lockner's.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's called Aristotle's Miles, the gift of together schooling.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so part of it, you know, when I was curating who was gonna speak into this book, who would the writers would be, I picked people who have unique things about their homeschool that I really admire.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Erin is a connector.

[SPEAKER_00]: She is relational, like nothing I've ever seen before.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so for her to be able to so eloquently write down how that came to be and what it looks like in the day-to-day in her home was really powerful for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that this idea of, let's see, where is that one?

[SPEAKER_00]: In that Henry wrote one where she talked about this [SPEAKER_00]: tension between being a homeschooled teacher and being a mom.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I really like that resonated with me because it's something I have to constantly remind myself that sometimes I don't always need to be like worried about the next thing or improving this or working on that every single thing doesn't have to be this overt learning opportunity because sometimes I'm just supposed to like cuddle and just like run my fingers through your head and give you smudges, you know, even if you didn't do your math.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even if you told a lie today, and we had to spend time on character development, at the end of the day, I am still your mom, not only your teacher, so I really loved that one so much.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, goodness, there were several, I will also say navigating life's wildfires by Tory Oglespie.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason is because Tory talks about how she had a vision for her home school.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then life circumstances and she details that made it so that her vision was no longer possible in the way that she thought it would be.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the stages that she had to go through of grief and acceptance and then though thriving.

[SPEAKER_00]: right and she talks about sometimes everything has to burn but what grows new that new growth that comes on the other side of it is also something beautiful and I thought wow that's just that's just that's just powerful it's like a whole sermon right there so um yeah I think that each one of these essayists brought um their [SPEAKER_00]: kind of authentic selves and their own unique circumstances to the table.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it ended up being really beautiful.

[SPEAKER_00]: You talked about this idea of being an editor.

[SPEAKER_00]: And before I started working on the book, I researched.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I spent a lot of time researching what is the role of an editor.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not about just like commas and semicolons.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is my job?

[SPEAKER_00]: And [SPEAKER_00]: One of the most profound things that I found is in an anthology where you have lots of different writers.

[SPEAKER_00]: The editor's chief responsibility is to ensure that everyone has keeps their unique voice, but that the quality of the essays is cohesive.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that was a challenge.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they're not supposed to all sound the same, but they're all supposed to be the same quality.

[SPEAKER_00]: So people should be reading through the book.

[SPEAKER_00]: They shouldn't be like, oh, wow, this person comes from or whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that was like its own broad its own unique challenge, but it really helped me to see that each person had something, some type of flavor or element of their storytelling or something special to bring to the table.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it really does come through because like you said each piece is unique.

[SPEAKER_01]: And yet I could pick up the book and just like I did just some through and be like, wow, I really want to learn about this right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to hear this person's story this intrigues me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And to be able to pull the authors that you invited to contribute are very diverse.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, like we are hearing from dad, like how do you let's hear from the homeschool dads?

[SPEAKER_01]: We're hearing from people.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you already said it all, like, grandparents, people, like in other countries outside of the US and all different stages of homeschooling.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that that's really important because [SPEAKER_01]: When I was growing up being homeschooled in the eighties and very early nineties, like there was not a lot of people doing it differently and doing homeschooling their own way.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember my mom feeling really boxed in by that because she wanted to do it differently than even the people that were in our small, very small homeschool community.

[SPEAKER_01]: And she sort of felt like [SPEAKER_01]: She didn't belong because she was doing it differently, especially like in my younger brother, they he went back to traditional school in high school because he wanted to play sports.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like sports were everything and at that time there were no options for homeschoolers who wanted to play sports.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was like go to school or don't play sports.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so that was what he needed to thrive.

[SPEAKER_01]: And to make that decision was really challenging, especially because there was judgment from other people in our homeschool community who didn't understand because she was outside the box.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's why Tories essay is so valuable because we need to know that there isn't just one way to homeschool.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you're both at this book, Homegrown Shows, that there are so many different ways to do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't agree more and I think, you know, you're talking about all the different ways that these contributors are diverse and then also, you know, there's a lot of ethnic diversity in the book and that was a cathartic.

[SPEAKER_00]: staying for me because I think that in a lot of ways the space as I spend time in a lot of homeschool spaces and a lot of times it seems like we have to choose like this is a we're very white space and I'm coming in boldly representing being different or it's a very black space and they're very few if any white people there or [SPEAKER_00]: you know, so on.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just was like, I wish that there was a room that held all of us and that we were all there talking about motherhood together, talking about homeschooling and our family life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I can't physically make that room happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wish I could.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I did it symbolically in this book.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that was really, really important to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's what [SPEAKER_00]: one of the many things that makes this project so unique.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's just nothing else out there like it where we're all like, hey, we have these differences, but at the end of the day, we love our children and we all want the best for them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we can all agree and meet on that place alone.

[SPEAKER_01]: You did it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You made the room.

[SPEAKER_01]: You put it in a book with a picture of a house on front of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So actually, you built a house for us all to hang out in together.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Wow.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I feel emotional about this book because it feels really important.

[SPEAKER_01]: It feels unique.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know any other homeschool book like this.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just speaks so much again about who you are and what you're creating for your own kids and now all of us and our kids and our grandkids and like it's going to change the world, Amber.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so proud of you and I'm so grateful for you deciding to be crazy and write two books in one year.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's one of the decisions when you don't know what you're getting yourself into.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yes.

[SPEAKER_01]: I often look at, you know, Grena, the enthusiast who's decided a year ago that, oh, plant things to things back to back would be fine.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's no big deal of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: In the moment, I'm like, wow, she really did not know what you would say yet, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what it does.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's truly bliss.

[SPEAKER_01]: So true, okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Amber, tell us where we can find your book, your other books, all things Amber.

[SPEAKER_00]: All things Amber can be found at heritagemom.com and they can read specifically about this book at homegrown-book.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm on Instagram and Facebook at heritagemom block.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will link those things for you guys because I know sometimes it's just so much easier to click the link and hey, if I can save you five seconds, I'll do it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And before we wrap it up, I would love to know how you're chasing joy in your life right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: I always ask my guest that because yeah, I like to hear what is bringing you joy in your life today this week.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm going to say my marriage and I think that we've had some hard seasons and lonely seasons where we've been so focused on the kids or on work and all these other things that I knew we loved each other but I was a little worried like [SPEAKER_00]: Are those days where we really had our mojo?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are they kind of gone?

[SPEAKER_00]: And now we're here as deeply invested, you know, friends and lovers, but are we still gonna ever have fun?

[SPEAKER_00]: And this season has been really fun for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've been doing things in a lot of laughter and revisiting some of the activities that we did early in our relationship that we really enjoyed and bonded over.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's been really good.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know hard seasons will come again, so I'm joyfully enjoying this one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Have fun with it.

[SPEAKER_01]: That was that is a great way to chase joy for sure.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you might be the first person who ever, whoever said that as an answer.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm like, I don't know, close to eighty episodes in.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it was time for someone to talk about having fun in marriage.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well done.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe that's your next book.

[SPEAKER_01]: Who knows?

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so glad.

[SPEAKER_01]: you were here today.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing about your book.

[SPEAKER_01]: But most of all, thanks for creating this house for so many of us to come together and to just learn from one another.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love this book and I'm just singing its praises.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for writing it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for having me, Greta.

[SPEAKER_00]: Until next time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well friends, I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Greta Eskerge podcast.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, you can help support the show by liking and subscribing, and especially by telling all your friends about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'd be so grateful if you'd also leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

[SPEAKER_01]: Reviews go such a long way in the success of a brand new podcast like mine.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know I couldn't do this without you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for listening and for being part of my team.

[SPEAKER_01]: God bless you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Bye-bye.