Learning to Let our Kids Go with Grace and Joy with empty nest coach Pamela Henkelman

Episode 112 

Friends! I am so glad to have Ebie Hepworth with me on the podcast for the first time. We became friends after I was on her podcast and then we just had to keep our friendship going. After you listen to her story today, you will want to be friends with Ebie too! 

We started talking about one of Ebies red flagswhen people keep their butter in the fridge. Yeah, I know, we always go deep here on the Greta Eskridge podcast. But hey, guess what? We did go deeper than the problem of refrigerated butter. Ebie shared her testimony of growing up in the church, walking through hard things in her teen years and pulling away from the Lord and then meeting Him again as a college student. Then we talked about her work fighting sex trafficking, how God led her to her husband, how they served the Lord together overseas, adopted 2 kids from Africa as a young married couple, are raising a child with life changing medical diagnosis and special needs, have walked through infertility and surprise pregnancy with twins and more. Guys, its a lot and its all so good. 

And my favorite part was when we talked about real joy-- its source, and how God uses our joy to bring people to Him, because joy is contagious. Because the thing about Ebie is that she is incredibly joyful person but has walked and is walking through hard, hard things. She reminds us that when the source of our joy is not our circumstances, we can hold onto it through hard times.  

The good news is that there is lots more of Ebie to come when her first book releases this September! You are going to want to pre-order the book, Midnight Halleluiah: Why Hope is Still Worth the Risk and get to know Ebie now, so youll be primed and ready to read it this fall. It will be incredible. 

And dont forget you can get more info about my upcoming Womens Walking Retreat in the Cotswolds right here. This retreat is perfect for any women who is looking for an opportunity to rest, celebrate, reflect, heal, or simply spend a week chasing beauty, adventure, and friendship. Spots are filling up so make sure you get info and reach out soon if you are interested. 

But if a family trip is what youre looking for right now, then consider joining me and my family in Italy this Christmas! Well be hosting a trip to Rome and surrounding areas the week after Christmas with Select Tours International. The trip will be all planned out for you so you can absolutely rest and focus on time with your family! But we have also built in plenty of time to explore and adventure on your own. Its the best of both worlds and we cant wait to spend a week with you learning history, appreciating art, eating the most delicious food and creating lasting connection through adventure! Find out all the details here! 

Find the resources from todays episode here: 

Find Ebies website here 

Find Ebie on Instagram here 

Find Ebies podcast here 

Find Ebies new book here 

Listen to Gretas episode on Ebies podcast right here (we talked about my newest book and my story!) 

Pick up your copy of Gretas newest book, Its Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn right here 

Find info about Gretas Walking Retreat in the Cotswolds here 

Find info about joining Gretas family in Italy here 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Episode 111 

Today I am talking with the comedian JJ Barrows. And yes, this episode made me laugh, but I also cried, because we went DEEP! I found JJ when one of her videos was recommended to me and since it was about growing up southern Baptist and not being allowed to shave my legs past her knees, I had to watch. Growing up southern Baptist myself, I resonated with her story quite a bit. But after that one video I had to check out more and fell in love with JJ. She is wonderful. Shes hilarious, creative, interesting, passionate, a new mom, and author, and as I said before, not afraid to go deep. I really resonated with her ideas about using comedy to talk about hard things and how healing laughter can be. So that was something we spent quite a bit of time on in this episode.  

Plus you get to hear the leg shaving story! 

You are going to love this episode and you are really going to love JJ. 

Listen and share this episode with a friend. 

And dont forget you can get more info about my upcoming Womens Walking Retreat in the Cotswolds right here. This retreat is perfect for any women who is looking for an opportunity to rest, celebrate, reflect, heal, or simply spend a week chasing beauty, adventure, and friendship. Spots are filling up so make sure you get info and reach out soon if you are interested. 

But if a family trip is what youre looking for right now, then consider joining me and my family in Italy this Christmas! Well be hosting a trip to Rome and surrounding areas the week after Christmas with Select Tours International. The trip will be all planned out for you so you can absolutely rest and focus on time with your family! But we have also built in plenty of time to explore and adventure on your own. Its the best of both worlds and we cant wait to spend a week with you learning history, appreciating art, eating the most delicious food and creating lasting connection through adventure! Find out all the details here! 

Find the resources from todays episode here: 

Find JJs website here 

Find JJ on Instagram here 

Find JJs book here 

Find info about Gretas Walking Retreat in the Cotswolds here 

Find info about joining Gretas family in Italy here 

And pick up your copy of Gretas newest book, Its Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn right here 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Episode 110 

Well guys, get ready to hear me gush in todays episode! I fangirled big time over this interview, because I got to talk to Daniel Nayeri, an incredible, multi award winning author, and writer of one of my most favorite books of all time. If youve been around at all since last fall, you will recall hearing me talk about the book, Everything Sad is Untrue. This book was so incredibly good that the minute I finished reading it, I downloaded it on audio so I could listen to it in the authors voice. I needed to experience it again. And then, wonder of wonders, I got to hear Daniel speak in person when he came to visit the nearby college where my sons girlfriend goes. Thats when I decided to take the plunge and ask Daniel to be on my podcast. It felt like a great big ask. I was nervous. But he said yes and it was such an absolute joy to talk to him! 

This episode is fun and I admitted a lot. Like how I didnt read the book right away when it was published even though I saw lots of people talking about it. And how I didnt realize it was a biography until I was well into the book. Yes, these things are true. Daniel took it all in stride. I also talked with him about poop. Yes poop. There are a lot of poop stories in this book and I wanted to know why and how his editor reacted. Daniel shared all and its a good part of our conversation. I promise. It was so fun to talk with him! I am certain you will love this episode like I did. Check out the show notes for links to his stuff. Hes written a lot of books. I have read 4 now and want to read more. You should too! 

*Dont forget you can get more info about my upcoming Womens Walking Retreat in the Cotswolds right here. This retreat is perfect for any women who is looking for an opportunity to rest, celebrate, reflect, heal, or simply spend a week chasing beauty, adventure, and friendship. Spots are filling up so make sure you get info and reach out soon if you are interested. 

*And if a family trip is what youre looking for right now, then consider joining me and my family in Italy this Christmas! Well be hosting a trip to Rome and surrounding areas the week after Christmas with Select Tours International. The trip will be all planned out for you so you can absolutely rest and focus on time with your family! But we have also built in plenty of time to explore and adventure on your own. Its the best of both worlds and we cant wait to spend a week with you learning history, appreciating art, eating the most delicious food and creating lasting connection through adventure! Find out all the details here! 

Find the resources from todays episode here: 

Find Daniels website here 

Find Daniel on Instagram here 

Find all of Daniels books here 

Find info about Gretas Walking Retreat in the Cotswolds here 

Find info about joining Gretas family in Italy here 

And pick up your copy of Gretas newest book, Its Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn right here 

Sign up for Morning Minute

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Episode 109 

Oh this episode is special! Today I am talking with my new friend who feels like an old friend, Leslie Harter-Berg, author of the brand new book Youre So Strong: on Grief and Letting Go of My Favorite Compliment. Leslie is the daughter in law of a dear friend of mine, so I felt like I knew so much of her story. But reading Leslies book allowed me to know her so much better. Her book is honest, raw, real, funny, tender, helpful and hopeful. And yes, it is a book on grief, widowhood and losing her husband suddenly at age 30.  

Leslies book is the kind of book you need to read whether the story is your own, or to prep you to walk through the story with someone else. We should all read this book! 

But before you do, listen to my conversation with Leslie. We laughed, I cried, I gushed and fangirled, and we got to the heart of things. Leslie is an absolute gem. I know youll love this one! 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

Find Leslies brand new book here 

Find Leslie on Instagram here 

Find Leslies videos and help for widow and widowers here 

Find Leslies website here 

Find Leslies Substack here 

Find info about Gretas Walking Retreat in the Cotswolds here 

Find info about joining Gretas family in Italy here 

And pick up your copy of Gretas newest book, Its Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn right here 

Sign up for Morning Minute

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Episode 108 

I loved having my friend Carrie De Fransico back on the podcast today! Carrie is my real-life friend and has been a home school mentor to me in navigating home schooling teens, and especially in navigating home schooling kids with dyslexia. You can listen to her first interview with me right here. We talked about homeschooling kids with dyslexia. Carrie is a voice of peace and joy and overflows with practical wisdom about home schooling. I am grateful I know her and so glad to help you know her too! 

In todays episode we started (and maybe spent a bit too much time talking about ) with talking about Carries shoe choices, but we did finally get back on track to talk about her brand new book, A Home Education Handbook: Nine Questions to Ask for Simple & Balanced Home Based Learning. This book is such a fantastic resource for anyone home schooling because it really narrows in on what matters most. I told Carrie this book is really instructions for more than home schooling kids. It is a guide for a beautiful, intentional life. I hope youll listen and enjoy it as much as I did. 

*Dont forget you can get more info about my upcoming Womens Walking Retreat in the Cotswolds right here. This retreat is perfect for any women who is looking for an opportunity to rest, celebrate, reflect, heal, or simply spend a week chasing beauty, adventure, and friendship. Spots are filling up so make sure you get info and reach out soon if you are interested. 

*And if a family trip is what youre looking for right now, then consider joining me and my family in Italy this Christmas! Well be hosting a trip to Rome and surrounding areas the week after Christmas with Select Tours International. The trip will be all planned out for you so you can absolutely rest and focus on time with your family! But we have also built in plenty of time to explore and adventure on your own. Its the best of both worlds and we cant wait to spend a week with you learning history, appreciating art, eating the most delicious food and creating lasting connection through adventure! Find out all the details here! 

Resources from this episode: 

Find Carries book here 

Find Carries website here 

Find Carries podcast here 

Find Carrie on Instagram here 

Find Gretas newest book here 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org