Crystal Paine Show

"How do you stay so positive?" I've been asked this question by multiple people in multiple ways recently so Jesse and I decided to devote a podcast episode to the topic. I thought it would be insightful for us to both talk about this, because I tend to be more of glass half full kind of person while Jesse is more of a glass half empty person. But it's been so cool to watch Jesse i...

"How did you manage to read 15 books in January?" I've gotten this question over and over again the past two weeks. Truth be told, I had to stop and ask that question myself when I got to the end of January and realized I had finished 15 books in the first month of the year! As I reflected on the last month, I realized that there are 4 tweaks I made in January to how I approached readi...

Over the past few months, we've gotten lots of questions about this very unexpected and surprise pregnancy. So we decided to devote a podcast episode specifically to answering these questions. We had so much fun answering them in this week's podcast -- and talking about the books we're reading and two things that are saving our lives right now. In this episode, we share: A body wash I&...

Last week, Jesse and I shared some of our favorite tips and tricks for keeping the spark alive in your marriage on the podcast. We didn’t want to stop there, though. This week, we invited Matt and Lisa Jacobson to come share their perspective and secrets on how to keep your marriage alive and thriving. Matt and Lisa have been married 27 years, have eight children, and are speakers, podcasters, and...

I reached over last night and took his hand and said, “I really like you.” It might seem like such a simple gesture, but after 17 years of marriage, I’m so grateful that we don’t just love each, we LIKE each other, too. A good marriage doesn’t just happen; it requires two very different people to be willing to put forth time, effort, and sacrifice. To choose their spouse everyday — on the good day...

About a week and a half ago, Jesse dropped his phone in the lake while duck hunting. To our surprise, instead of this being something that was a sort of frustrating expense and inconvenience, it turned into an unexpected blessing. On this episode, Jesse and I talk candidly about how addicting the phone can become, changes we've implemented to spend less time on our phones, and what has been wo...

Our Journey to Becoming Foster Parents “What’s your plan for foster care? How many kids are you planning to accept at a time? What ages of kids are you planning to foster? Are you hoping to adopt from the foster care system?” These questions and many more have been asked by very well-meaning, caring people over the last few months as we’ve shared the news that we were becoming foster parents. If y...

Like usual, as the year winds down and we head into November, I start thinking of what over-arching theme I want to pursue in the following year. My word for the year came pretty easily to me, as it often does. I sat with it for a few weeks to make sure I really loved it. And then I asked Jesse for his thoughts. He agreed that the word seemed fitting for 2020. So without further ado, my word for 2...

Note: I said in the episode that next week we'd be talking about foster care next week. Well, I completely forgot that next week was Christmas! Whoops! We'll be taking next week off for Christmas but then we'll be back the week of New Year's with an episode on our Word of the Year for 2020. And then the following week, we promise to do the foster care episode! Thank you for your gr...

"When do you start talking to your kids about money and how old should they be before you talk to them about it?" We get this question often and we decided to tackle it head on in today's podcast episode. And by that, I mean we talked about a number of things that might be a little be controversial. :) We approach the conversation of money with our kids much like we approach anything e...

One of the most requested podcast episodes has been for us to talk about our Christmas traditions, what Christmas looks like for our family, and how we do gifts for our immediate and extended family. In this episode, we sat down with Kathrynne, Kaitlynn, and Silas and had a discussion on our favorite Christmas memories, why we make a December Bucket List, what we chose for our bucket list this yea...

What do you do when you experience failure in your life or your business? One of our wonderful listeners asked how you get back up and keep going after failure, and Jesse and I had a lively and honest discussion around this in this week's episode of the podcast. Failure is a part of life, but it shouldn’t define who we are.  For instance, for a long time, Jesse identified as a lawyer and that...

We had a lot of fun with this episode -- and we learned a few things about each other in the process of recording it! What's today's podcast episode topic? The Enneagram and marriage. Whether you love all things Enneagram , are skeptical of it, or don't even know what it is, I think you'll enjoy this candid conversation about our differences, how we have worked through them, and wh...

On this week's episode of the podcast, we're talking about how to build a strong father-daughter relationship -- and I brought in my resident expert, Jesse, to give us input. (I didn't mention this on the podcast, but we also asked the girls to both give input on what they feel helps to build a strong relationship and that was some of the basis of what Jesse shared.) It has been so bea...

Any time I mention that I no longer drink coffee, I get so many questions on why and how I did this. I decided it was high time I write a post about my journey with quitting coffee ! Why I stopped drinking coffee Let's be clear. This is not something I ever wanted to do and I never ever dreamed I'd be a non-coffee drinker! {So there's still hope for all you coffee drinkers out there wh...

As a mom, there’s not much that warms your heart more than seeing your child find such fulfillment in loving on others. We usually go to South Africa every year to spend time with our friends there and to see the progress and work being done by  Take Action Ministry  — the ministry that is near and dear to our hearts and the one we are very involved with there. (If you’re interested in reading abo...

Okay, I know I've said this before about other episodes, but I truly think today's episode was one of my very favorite podcast recordings to date! Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Aundi Kolber is a therapist and I felt like I got a therapy session just by spending an hour with her?! :) Listen in to the episode and you'll see what I mean. Aundi has a gift of sharing so el...

In 2014, Jesse closed down his law practice, we moved from Kansas to Tennessee, and he came home full-time. That was over 5 years ago and it’s taken us a few years to find our rhythm. We’ve both learned and grown a lot in these last five years. It hasn’t been easy. He struggled through a period of depression. I struggled to figure out what it looked like to love him well through that. But in the l...

Are you in a season of life that feels stretching, exhausting, or overwhelming?  If so, today's episode just might really encourage you! I share 4 strategies for surviving stretching seasons that I'm currently implementing right now in the middle of morning sickness and a really, really full work schedule (gratefully, I'm finished with 3 of the biggest work weeks of my year and things...

When Jesse and I first got married, we always took Sunday offline. It was a day for us to just enjoy going to church, resting, and being together as a family. In recent years, I’ve fallen out of that practice (I'm not even exactly sure why, but I did). In addition to going to church and volunteering at church, Sunday became a day for me to also play catchup on a lot of blogging work and emails...

The biggest surprise of our lives: I’M PREGNANT!!!!!! The fertility specialist said we weren’t even a candidate for IVF, but y’all, our God is bigger than a specialist’s diagnosis or multiple tests that said it would never, ever be a possibility. When we got the devastating new last year that we would never be able to conceive again — even with a lot of fertility help — we decided to grieve and fi...

“We don’t need to hustle to prove something God already says is true.” I can’t stop thinking about this quote, ever since I read it in Rebekah Lyon’s book,  Rhythms of Renewal .   If we’re gut honest, how often are we working so hard in an effort to try to impress someone else, earn someone’s approval, or prove something to ourselves or others? Jesus came so we can stop striving and instead rest i...

“We can’t win when we go it alone.” -Jessica Honegger In this week's podcast, I share more of my struggle with friendships. I talk about the truths that have set me free to develop deep relationships and some of my best tips for finding good friends. If you've struggled to develop deep relationships or you know someone who struggles with finding and keeping friends, I hope this episode enc...

Kristin Maher, author of the new kids’ book, The Awfulizer: Learning to Overcome the Shame Game , sat down in my office studio last week and had a really honest conversation with me. We talked about what shame is, how to help our kids understand and recognize their Shame Voice, and what to do when your older child doesn’t feel like they are good enough. We also had a really frank discussion about...

We're in the middle of getting back to the swing of things around here now that school has started back. One of the things that has made such a difference for us in jumping back in to getting everyone out the door early in the mornings is the fact that we had a great morning routine throughout the summer. In this episode, we talk in-depth about our morning routines, what they look like, and wh...