Episode 84

What a treat this episode was to record! A conversation with my friend Jaime Fennwick about our recent women’s walking retreat in the Cotswolds! What are the Cotswolds, you ask? Well we explain everything in this episode.

We talk about where we went (England!) and what we did (lots more than walk!) what we ate (the food was sooooo good!) where we slept (the nicest inns and hotels!) the incredible nature we saw (God is the master artist) and how He met us through the week in the beauty we saw and in the friendships that we formed. He even met us in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm! Ultimately what we found was this trip was so much more than a sightseeing tour. It was soul care.

Jaime and I are so excited to share a glimpse of this trip with all of you. But even more we’d love you to consider joining us on our next trip! We don’t have the exact dates yet, but you can be the first to know by signing up for alerts and newsletters from Jaime and I. You’ll find all the links below as well as on our Instagram pages. This was honestly one of the most wonderful trips I have ever been on. I hope you’ll be inspired to walk through the Cotswolds too! Or at least your own neighborhood.

Where to find Jaime and info about our next retreat:

Get updates about the next walking retreat here

Read Jaime’s blog here

Find Jaime on Instagram here

Find Greta’s blog here

Find Greta on Instagram here

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

Episode 83

Oh friends, this episode made me smile so big! I loved, loved my conversation with Hosanna Wong. Hosanna is an author and spoken word artist and she is intent on equipping people to share the gospel around the world. She also loves basketball and sports so much that she and her husband call themselves a sports family and especially a basketball family. In fact, we spend the first 5 minutes of this episode (at least) talking about sports and basketball. But then! Then we get to the heart of our conversation, which is all about Hosanna’s new book, “What God Says About You”.

Friends, this book is fantastic! And Hosanna’s heart for Jesus shines through each page, the pictures and the words too. This children’s book came about from a spoken word poem Hosanna wrote and shared around the world. The poem is called, “I Have a New Name” and she wrote it for herself, but it resonated with so many people as she shared it. But it was in 2023 that she heard kids sharing her poem online and it made her sit up and realize that kids need to know who they are in God’s eyes too. Thus, the book was born.

I loved hearing Hosanna read to us from her book and also to hear her explain some of the different names in the book and what our kids can take away from it as they read it.

In fact, I found myself in tears as I listened to Hosanna read. The message of her book is powerful and profound. And it is needed! You are going to love it and want to add it to your bookshelves right away.

PS. Be sure to have your kids count the dogs as they read the book!

Other things we talk about in this episode: the weight of writing children’s books, Illuminate Literary Agency (Hosanna and I’s literary agency!), the way the truths in this book can combat the shame, the immense value and importance of speaking God’s words over our children, and even how parents can use What God Says About You to reenforce the truth that they are made in God’s image and their bodies are worthy of respect and protection.

Where to find Hosanna:

Find Hosanna’s new book here

Find Hosanna’s new book on audio here

Find Hosanna’s other books here

Find Hosanna’s website here

Find Hosanna on Instagram here

Other resources mentioned in this episode:

Find Greta’s book, It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn here

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

Episode 82

I am so over the moon excited about today’s guest! I have followed Ashley Campbell online for about 16 years but this is the first time we have actually talked to each other and it was just so much fun! Over the years I have found Ashley to be such a source of inspiration to me. I watched her raise her 5 kids, home schooling them, making art with them and on her own, and living an intentional lifestyle in pursuit of dream. That dream was to take their family of 7 on a trip around the world for a whole year.

Then they actually did it and she wrote a book about it!

Ashley’s new book I’ve Never Been Here Before: Our Family’s Year of Budget Travel, Wandering the World and Finding the Sacred is even more wonderful that I imagined it would be. And in today’s episode we get to hear all about the details, planning, dreaming that went into creating this trip and then about the trip itself. Ashley is candid about the parts of this experience that were challenging, exciting and so fulfilling. We talk about what her family learned about the people of the world as they met other teens on basketball courts and soccer fields. Spoiler alert: it was far better than they imagined!

I know you will be so inspired by this episode and even more by reading Ashley’s book. The photography is all from their trip and the stories will just fill your soul. Be sure to go grab your copy after you listen to today’s episode!

Where to find Ashley:

Find Ashley’s new book here

Find Ashley on Instagram here

Find Ashley’s website and blog here

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

Episode 81

It's been a while since I’ve sat down to talk with you heart to heart, and I felt like it was time. Mostly because I know that in my desire to help you protect your kids from the devastating effects of pornography it is important to share them with you.

In today’s episode I am covering 3 things I want you to know about pornography right now. First, I’m talking about how pornography steals sexual integrity, and secondly, how erotic (some people call them spicy) books are pushing girls into consuming pornography. The last one is more encouraging: how it’s easier to talk to your kids about pornography than you think!

You’ll have to listen to hear about each one, but I am certain you will find this episode encouraging and helpful. I hope you’ll share it with friends because we all need to do our part and join in this fight to protect our kids.

I mention quite a few things in this episode that you’ll find in the resources listed below.

Be sure to take some time to look through them.

God bless you!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Find the Forest Frank video here

Find Greta’s book, It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn, here

Find info about Forest Home family camp here. *Mention my name for that first time family discount.

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

Hey friends, today we’ve got something special for you: a bonus episode straight from the Pardon the Mess podcast!

Every Monday, host Courtney DeFeo shares a short prayer to help you lift up your kids. This year’s series follows Christian Parenting’s brand new prayer journal, A Great Cloud of Witnesses.

Each week highlights a biblical hero of the faith, paired with Scripture-based prayers for your kids. Here is a sneak peek into week one:

This first week is all about Noah—a man of incredible faith and obedience. While the world around him turned away from God, Noah walked in righteousness. Building the ark probably looked foolish to everyone else, but Noah trusted God’s word even when it didn’t make sense. That’s the kind of faith we want for our kids: to listen to God’s voice over any others and walk confidently with Him even when it means standing apart.

If you love this episode and don’t have your copy of A Great Cloud of Witnesses yet, it’s not too late to get yours! Go ChristianParenting.org to get your copy and follow along. And don’t forget to tune in to Pardon the Mess every Monday for more prayer episodes.

Order A Great Cloud of Witnesses today

Follow Pardon the Mess on Apple or Spotify

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

Episode 80

Friends, in honor of Grandparents Day coming up next week, I am so excited about today’s episode. Today I talk with Isabel Tom, author of the book, The Value of Wrinkles: a Young Perspective on How Loving the Old Will Change Your Life.

The moment I came across this book it absolutely intrigued me. It is an area in my own life where I’d like to grow, and where I’d like our family to grow. I am sure I am not alone in this, but sometimes we either don’t slow down enough to admit it, or we just don’t know where to start.

Isabel’s book doesn’t heap on the guilt in this journey. Instead, she fills this book with gentle reminders and practical tips on honoring, valuing and loving the older people in our life. While her book isn’t a step by step on how to get your older relative in a senior living facility, we do talk about things like honoring older people with hearing loss, including food that the older guests at a party can eat, or helping our older friends and relatives get gifts for our kids, or choosing a place for them to live that is 5 minutes closer than 15 minutes away. There are things we talked about that I had never considered.

Our conversation is filled with good stories, laughter, and tender moments that Isabel shares so graciously. I loved this book and I loved my conversation from Isabel. I know you will too!

Where to find Isabel:

Find her book here

Find her website here

Find her “Grandkid Investigator Kit” here

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

Episode 79

This episode covers some very hard topics. With my guests, Clinton and Charity Munoz, we talked about restoring marriages to wholeness after pornography addiction and sexual betrayal and brokenness. But in spite of the difficulty of the topic, what we found is that we can both laugh and cry together because God is with us in it all. The three of us have personally experienced God turn our painful story into purpose and that is worthy of joy and hope.

It's a story worth telling!

What Clinton and Charity share is that people in broken and hurting marriages need: honesty and vulnerability and then stories of hope and healing. And they do an incredible job with that. From well-meaning but harmful advice that didn’t do a thing for healing Clinton’s addiction, to Charity finally reaching her limit and giving him a hard boundary that he would have to get help healing or leave, they walk us through it all. And Clinton shares that Charity’s boundary was the greatest gift he’d ever been given. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is call someone out on their sin. Just like the prophet Nathan with King David.

Ultimately, they decided to pursue healing separately and together and eventually they created their organization, Restored to More, to bring couples like them together.

Restored to More is unique, so powerful and filled with hope! I love the work they’re doing.

Lastly, if you are thinking, “this episode isn’t for me because this isn’t my story,” please listen to this podcast. Clinton shares the most beautiful example of a friend who educated herself on this topic in order to be more informed and available to her friend walking through this valley. May we all follow her example because there will be a day when we need to be that kind of friend!

Please listen and share this episode and don’t forget to leave a review of the podcast if you have not already. God bless you friends!

Where to find Clinton and Charity:

Find their website here

Find their podcast here

Find them on Instagram here

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Find Pure Desire groups and ministry here

Find CSATs and other helpful resources for the healing journey here

Find the book, Intimate Deception: healing the wounds of sexual betrayal here

Find my book, It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn here

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

Episode 78

Friends, it’s no surprise that I start this episode by going down a rabbit trail. This time it was about hazel nuts. But the real reason I have today’s guest, Tara Sun, on the program is to talk about her new book, Overbooked and Overwhelmed: How to Keep Up With God When You are Just Trying To Keep Up With Life.

Tara and I talk about the story behind the book and I especially loved talking about some of the parts that resonated with me most. One of those was how we both struggle to say no because we both love saying yes. There is a chapter in her book that addresses this by inviting us to be on mission for God and recognizing that sometimes that means saying no to things that aren’t part of that mission.

Another important thing we talked about is that this book isn’t going to give you the perfect organizational system or the best baskets and bins to buy so that you will feel more peaceful and less overwhelmed. What it will do is point you to the true source of peace and that is Jesus.

There is so much more we discuss in this episode. I know you’re going to get so much out of it. I did! Listen and share with your friends! And don’t forget to leave a review of the podcast if you haven’t done that already. Help me spread the word! Thanks friends.

Where to find Tara:

Find Tara’s book here

Find Tara’s website here

Find Tara on Instagram here

Find Tara’s podcast here

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Find the book Domestic Monastery here

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