My most downloaded episode, maybe ever, was Episode 007 called You Can Do Hard Things. Today, I'm gonna introduce her sister to you: You Can Do Fun Things.

I've decided that this year I want to make more of these Work & Play episodes about play, and I'm gonna try to be a little more lighthearted, which can be kind of hard for me. But that's the goal for this year, and that's what today's episode is all about—encouraging you (and me) to incorporate more play in your life and to do fun things.

Just a few months from now, in the start of 2023, that will mark 10 years since I did my first Contentment Challenge, where I give up shopping for three months straight to pursue a more content life and a closer walk with the Lord.

A few years ago, I came up with a core purpose statement for my work and this podcast, and that is: Practical tools for an integrated life. That is what I'm after. I want my teachings, my content, everything that I give to you or anyone who's listening to be very practical, and I want them to be implemented into an integrated life.

Everyone right now is telling us that we should be buying more, that we should have more, that we should be dressing in cuter clothes and decorating more perfectly. And today, I just want to be a voice that says: You don't.

today I am telling you all about my Christmas gameplan, which is simply the planning that goes in to making Christmas a wonderful, peaceful time of year—because let's face it, it can be very stressful and very hectic if you don't thoughtfully plan ahead.

The heart of what I want to talk about today is simply the idea that we can say a lot and we can have a lot of great ideas, but really our lives come down to what we do. My encouragement to you today is simply to let your yes be yes.

Have you ever heard of having theme days? It's this idea that you choose different themes to focus on for different days and it helps you batch things or just simply not switch back and forth mentally between tasks so much.

Well, I'm back from taking a month off of the podcast! This episode is going to be a little bit of a catch-up of what I've been up to, what's coming in August, a little bit of a change of plans with the podcast, but as all good. And I'm going to break down at my favorite weekly rhythm for you, which is my Sunday plan.

Well, today is my last episode before I take a month off of the podcast in July so I'll look forward to connecting with you again here in August. And I thought I'd end these fun summery episodes with just a mix of lighthearted and some serious recommendations of sorts, sharing 10 things that are saving my life right now. I hope you enjoy!

I am challenging you and myself during the month of July to tackle one photo project, just one, that's it! And today I'm going to give you three options, three different photo projects to tackle and exactly how to do each one.

Welcome to the summer episode where I'm doing something I've never done before—having a little fun with this episode and I'll be sharing everything that reminds me of summer, including some great recommendations. I hope this episode makes you really happy!

Today's episode for May is for Mamas is all about using a timer in motherhood. This is going to be fun.

I'm going to talk about tension and anxiety and how to get past it, how to get through to the other side. I'm going to share some practical things that I've walked through in my life very recently and I'm going to share the things that helped me get through it.

There's something about meeting regularly as a family that brings you together. You can talk about the calendar and your schedules and your plans, but emotionally you can connect and you can share things you're looking forward to or problems that you're having. Today, I'm going to share with you the simple outline that we follow for our family meeting and I hope it's helpful to you.

For the last six months, I've taken a break from social media and it has been so good. Today, I’m going to give you an update on how I liked it, what I missed, the best lessons I learned and how I'm going to do things differently when I come back.

The key to success is contentment.

I mean, think about it—if you can find a way to truly be content, to be happy in every circumstance, wouldn't it be awesome? Every day it would be incredible. I mean, we'd wake up so grateful and so happy because we're content! This episode is about fighting for contentment with simple habits in our lives. Habits that can help us pause and realize just how good we have it. Habits that help us to live at ease and to live content.

This episode is going to be a fun one. I firmly believe before we can look ahead and move forward, we need to pause and look back, and this episode is going to do just that. It's going to be all about 2021. The things that happened in my life that were highlights, experiences—I recommend trips that we took, books that I read, things I tried and liked, and more.

Here is the best of 2021!

It can be helpful. It can provide income. It can be addictive. It can be a trap. Today, I want to talk about simple practices that I have found incredibly life-giving to keep social media in its place.

And now for the shortest podcast episode of 2021, I hope this encourages you and is just what you need today.