Our Time to Rise in Midlife

National trends show we are sending kids off to college with impressive resumes, but without the tools to handle their emotions or make meaningful social connections. Educator Margo Long joins The Open Door Sisterhood to give us the "state of the union" as far as teenagers' social and emotional health. A lifelong educator of educators, Margo has spent her career training young adults as they enter...

Every year Alex and Krista do a round up of their favorite things from the past year. From beauty products, gift ideas, kitchen gadgets, clothing picks, TV shows and more, they give their best and most useful tips. It's Valentine's Day and though YOU are really our favorite, we also like to share other "practical" favorite things with you. Part 2 of this episode will be sent to our email subscribe...

Eryn Eddy wasn't setting out to develop a lifestyle fashion brand. She simply wanted to reinforce the message she was giving her music fans, "You are worthy of love." Her unplanned t-shirt adventure has turned into a business shipping products around the world. But in all of that fashion merchandising, Erin began to absorb the message for herself. She began to dig deep into what it means to be wor...

Learning to stand up in our confidence is a life-long, ever changing journey. What even is confidence and how do we get it? and why do we feel confident in some areas and not others? As we look at getting Healthy in 2021, we feel that this topic of confidence is important for our journey ahead. Alli Worthington, author, business coach, and speaker gives us sharp insight on this topic. Her book, St...

Moving our bodies is essential for health. Running and walking is one simple, yet powerful way to do that. Running and track coaches Shawn Young and Dorina Gilmore-Young give us some strategies on how to start even if the thought of running a block sounds exhausting. We cover so much more than running though. We hear their story of love after tragedy, how running can be a spiritual practice, findi...

s your relationship with alcohol complicated and layered? Do you or does someone you know struggle with wine-o-clock or with keeping alcohol in check? You aren't alone. In fact, it is a common struggle. Jenn Kautsch, founder of sobersis.com, is a pioneer of sober minded living. She leads a community of women who are gray area drinkers. No labels, no all or nothing mentality, but women who feel as...

As we head out of the holiday season and into the new year, we may be tempted to swing from extremes when it comes to food. We've enjoyed more than we should and now we are going to focus on rigidity. Tilly Dillehay challenges us to examine our relationship with food and our own tendencies that take us away from God's good intent: to enjoy the gift of food for the flourishing of our bodies and rel...

One of the most profound places we leave our mark is in the family. Christmas is a time we are spending concentrated amounts of time with those we love, and with those who are hard to love. Rhoda Shultz is the queen of Christmas and the queen of family. But it hasn't always been easy. She wrote a book about their difficult experience with their son, his prodigal journey, and what it looks like to...

Ruth and Patrick Schwenk were living a busy life of faithful service, planting a church, raising their four children, when 43-year old Pat was diagnosed with a blood cancer. Their faith became paramount as they navigated questions of mortality, certainty, and God's character. Could they trust that God was with them in the middle of this storm? A tender, honest conversation about what it means to h...

Do you truly believe that God wants to use ALL of who you are for His purposes? Your natural gifts, abilities, and strengths, but also your pain, sadness, and failures? When we are continually trying to live someone else's life, we will never find purpose or satisfaction in our own. Jamie Ivey talks with The Sisterhood today about what it looks like lean into your unique self and integrate all of...

Katherine Wolf was just 26-years old when her life changed forever. She suffered a significant stroke that left her disabled. In a wheelchair, deaf in one ear, blind in one eye, and one hand that doesn't work, she spent years learning to eat and stand up. In this first episode on our new series of Leaving Your Mark, Katherine inspires us with her resilience and faith despite her continued challeng...

We thought we'd do something a little different to close our "Still Home For The Holidays" series. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we chose a section from the "Reclaiming the Table" chapter of Krista's book  Reclaiming Home  to read to you in the first part of this episode. Krista talk about the importance of the family table and some tips on how to prepare meals in advance. In the second part of t...

Looking for practical, helpful, and easy tips on Holiday decorating? You've come to the right place. Shannon Acheson of homemadelovely.com offers her best tips and holiday secrets. We talk about organizing Christmas decorations, decluttering, how to put together a holiday vignette, what do when everyone has a different opinion on decor, and how to make old items new again. Before you get your hous...

Every year families need to make adjustments to changes and for many families this will be a year of pivoting from holiday traditions. We are bringing our expert holiday merrymakers Jody McNatt and Terri Conlin to the podcast to share with us how they have made holiday changes over the years as their families have grown and what they are doing this year to keep the Christmas spirit going in their...

We will {still} be home for the holidays this year. This month we are in a series by that title. Our hope is to help you get creative as you navigate a holiday season like no other. Sharing her best holiday hacks, The Lazy Genius, Kendra Adachi, joins us to talk about decision making, gift ideas, and how to streamline our processes. She also gives us her #1 gift idea for friends and teachers, and...

If ever there was a year to celebrate Christmas, it's this one. We need the reminder that God loved the world enough to enter our space. Yet, we are coming off of a year of incredible heartache. We are carrying that additional stress into an already hectic (and yes stressful!) time of year. How do we increase peace? In this episode, Krista and Alex give us their top ten tips to helping create some...

For the past five weeks we've been talking about how to have hard conversations around suicide, politics, race, sexuality, and social media. Today's episode wraps up that series with hosts Alexandra Kuykendall and Krista Gilbert sharing their takeaways on the series. They discuss what they learned, what they are doing differently, what is sticking with them, and how they will approach hard convers...

Election Day is 3 weeks away. Whether you're a person who typically likes talking political ideas, or you tend to shy away from these kinds of conversations, we can all agree this election cycle is proving to be tense. Likely you've already had some difficult conversations and you're wondering how to move through the next few weeks (and beyond!) Our guest Sarah B. Anderson knows what it is to talk...

As a nation, we are talking about race. True to the Sisterhood, we are diving into honest conversations around this topic. This is part 2 of a two part series, so go back and listen to last week's episode if you missed it. Today we are interviewing our guests about their personal stories. We discuss what it is like being a person of color in their communities, workplaces, and families. You will be...

As a nation, we are talking about race. For some these conversations have been going on for generations and for others open conversations about race are new territory. No matter where you find yourself in the larger conversation, this episode is for you. Both of our guests are professional hard-conversation-havers. Maggie John is Producer and Host of the Canadian television show Context Beyond the...

Suicide and mental health are increasingly important social issues. In the United States suicide rates continue to rise, and many psychologists and counselors warn we are in a mental health crisis. It is wise for us to learn and pay attention, for ourselves, our children, and those we love. Kayla Stoeklein's world changed suddenly and dramatically when her husband, a well known mega-church pastor...

We are diving into the topic of hard conversations. There are some general principles that apply when having respectful, mutually honoring conversations around difficult topics, and then there are a few specific topics that carry a particularly heavy burden. Sexuality is one of those hot button issues of the day that triggers high emotions. We hear from listeners often that this is one of those to...

Hard conversations are a part of life. This is especially true in our current climate. In this new series titled, "Hard Conversations," we will be tackling how to move through these interactions with conviction, grace, and respect. Today we bring on Daniel Darling, author and Senior Vice President of National Religious Broadcasters, to talk about how we engage in helpful and sharpening conversatio...

We know that this is a school start like no other. It is an especially uncertain time for college students and seniors in high school. We bring you a sisterhood expert to help navigate conversations with the young people you love about school and life decisions during COVID. Emily Jamieson is an academic and life coach for young people. She spends her days helping them navigate school and life dec...

Whether you are homeschooling or part-time schooling this year, chances are you need to re-purpose a space in your home to accommodate the needs of your children and family. In this episode Krista Gilbert, a professional home coach, breaks down how to get creative about space, and how to make your home work  for you  in this season of COVID and life. We discuss creative ways to think about the spa...