Crystal Paine Show

You aren’t enough — in your own strength. But, in Christ, you can do ALL things! As Alli Worthington says in her new book, Standing Strong , “You may not feel able to stand strong. You may be filled with self-doubt. When you hear others talk about great women of God, you may say, ‘Oh, that’s not me.’ “But friend, it is you. You are more than you think you are. “A superpower exists inside you. If y...

"Do you let your kids have phones? If so, how do you protect your kids and what kinds of apps or parental controls do you have in place?" I get some kind of variation on this question multiple times every week. Since this topic is one that really depends so much on the family and the situation and each individual child, I was hesitant to share what we do at our house. However, after we con...

Every day, in every hard situation, we can choose faith or we can choose fear.   We can choose to focus on the what if’s, worry about what might happen, and fret over the worst case scenarios.   Or, we can remind ourselves of how God has been faithful in the past and trust that He is going to continue to be faithful and good in the present and future — even in dark, difficult, or even downright im...

“A woman’s highest calling is not marriage or motherhood.”  @jamieivey  says this in her latest book and on this week’s episode of The Crystal Paine Show. I wholeheartedly concur. But while most of us probably agree with this statement, how often do we let marriage and motherhood become completely all consuming — whether it’s the overwhelming longing to be married and/or have a baby or in how we w...

Want to change your life in some way? It starts by consistently changing one small thing... Get up 15 minutes earlier every day. Go to bed 15 minutes earlier daily. Exercise for 15 minutes every day. Invite one person over for coffee every week. Eat one salad every day. Drink two more glasses of water every day. Read for 15 minutes every day. Spend 15 minutes playing with your child every day. Wor...

It's the beginning of a new school year for us and many of you. With that, come new routines -- whether you are homeschooling or your kids are going to school in-person. In this episode, Jesse and I share strategies for having a better morning routine and how to set up a morning routine that serves you and your family well. We talk about why a successful morning begins the night before, how to...

This school year looks a lot different for many families. Some of you are never planned to homeschool and your school went virtual so you've been unexpectedly doing school at home. Some of you made the choice to homeschool this year as that was what you felt was the best choice for your family. In this week's podcast episode, Jesse and I share some of our best advice for brand-new homescho...

(See more pictures and videos of Champ here .) A year ago, we were in the middle of our foster care home study and praying for who God would bring into our home for us to love on. We were at peace about pursuing this path, but we were still apprehensive and wondering what it might mean for our future. There were so many unknowns, so many what if’s, and so many things outside our control. I look ba...

You all love it when we do Answering Your Burning Question podcast episodes. It's been awhile since we've done one, so I posted recently on Instagram asking for questions you’d like Jesse and I to answer on the podcast and you had lots of great questions. We went through as many as we could on this episode -- including talking about Kathrynne's new job, budgeting, where we'd love t...

A few weeks ago, Jesse and I recorded a podcast episode sharing our thoughts on parenting a strong willed child (or a "strong child", as we prefer to call them). We got so many great responses from people about that episode, but one was a question from a mom asking if we could talk about how to parent a child with the opposite type of personality -- one that is more passive and people-plea...

As promised, Shaunti Feldhahn is joining me on the podcast this week to talk all things marriage and communication around money. Shaunti and her husband Jeff are researchers who have worked together for years on numerous books and research projects. Their latest project surveyed thousands of couples on the topic of marriage and money. Throughout three years of research, they discovered five game-c...

"I would love for you to do an episode with Jesse sometime on how he's taught your kids about budgeting, money, setting up a bank account, etc." This request came in a few weeks ago, and I knew it would be a perfect podcast topic! So, in this episode, I interview Jesse on how has has instilled wise money management principles in our kids -- especially as they have gotten older and have...

Board games and card games can be such a great way to have some frugal fun! Best of all, once you've invested in a game, you can play it over and over and over again -- without ever spending another dime! In this week's episode of the podcast, Jesse and I share our family's top five favorite games. We had a very hard time narrowing the list down to just five, but we did it (well, we di...

"Could you share some parenting advise for raising my enneagram   8  daughter? She is very headstrong and persistent, but has a complete disregard for rules and regularly challenges authority. As an  enneagram  5 (and people pleaser), I do not understand the way she thinks. We have gone around and around and I've tried to get to the heart is the issue. But it seems her bottom line is she i...

One of the things our family loves to do together is watch shows and movies. Recently, someone asked what our favorite shows are to watch together as a family. So, we all talked together as a family and put together a list of some of the shows we've most enjoyed together. On this week's podcast episode, we share that list + we talk about why we don't have a TV in our living room and ho...

We’re back! Jesse and I have really missed recording podcasts, but it was also nice to take a break and figure out a good rhythm of having three older kids and two babies.  In this episode, we not only share Kierstyn's birth store but we also answer the questions many of you have asked over and over (such as why we chose to go with an OBGYN versus a midwife, what was different about this birth...

A lot of you have asked for my thoughts on how we’re dealing with the Pandemic as parents. In this week's episode of The Crystal Paine Show, Jesse and I share some of the ways we're approaching parenting right now and what's working for us. As always, every child is different and you know your kids best, so I’m only sharing how we are approaching things at our house... and these princi...

I usually have almost endless ideas for content. However, with the world in so much upheaval, I've struggled with how to be a podcaster. Should I only talk about the pandemic because it's impacting everyone's lives or should I go ahead with producing normal content? As I was grappling through this, I decided to ask for feedback and thoughts on Instagram on what you would like for us to...

By popular request, we had fun this week sitting down and talking about some of our favorite creative family fun things to do at home. If you are looking for some simple ideas of things you can do at home (or in the car) while still social distancing, you don't want to miss today's podcast episode! We also give you an update on what's happening in our lives, how we're adjusting to...

Since we all have been home pretty much 24/7 recently self-isolating, we thought it would be fun to do a laid-back family episode for the podcast week. I asked on Instagram what questions you'd love for us to discuss as a family, and you all submitted such great ideas. In this episode, we talk about: Our individual pet peeves (and Jesse schools us on the origin of "pet peeve") How the...

Well, like I’ve alluded to other places online, the past two weeks have been packed full of so many different, unexpected things. Some good, some hard, some just plain different than what we expected. It feels almost as if we’ve lived through an entire month in just a week’s time. In this week’s podcast episode, we sit down and talk about some of the BIG updates/changes/unexpected things that happ...

I know that the whole world is kind of in upheaval right now and there's a lot of unknown and uncertainty. I debated whether to go ahead with publishing this podcast that was planned for the week as it didn't really have much of anything to do with what's going on in the world. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that probably some of you would like a break from t...

Early Friday morning, Kathrynne (15) got on a plane to fly to Suriname (in South America) for 9 days with a teacher and a small group of girls from school. (This picture was taken at a park there yesterday.) This is the girl who — just 5 years ago — was scared and completely uncomfortable to be around kids her age. This is the girl who has struggled with so many panic attacks and anxiety. The girl...

Feeling burdened, weary, tired, or heavy-hearted today? Try the One-Minute Pause! Here’s how it works: Set a timer for 60 seconds. Take a few deep breaths. Then, verbally release the weight of what you are carrying. “I release my stress or worry over my job to You, God.” “I release my fear over my child’s future to You, God.” “I let it go.” Literally let yourself breathe out your fear, stress, wor...

Today’s culture is often one that feels so fast-paced. We are busy and strapped for time. What is this frenetic pace doing to our souls? I’ve been reading Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge and the first chapter of his book and the questions he asked inspired this episode. Many of you know that I'm currently working on a new book. As part of the writing process, I’m going through old Instagra...