Out of the Ordinary

This is a story about how the thing we imagine will make life better just might actually do that. And, like all great stories, might have some plot holes. Join us today as we get honest about what it looks like to live on that greener patch of grass and why we wouldn't choose to stay there. Links from this week's episode: Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every we...

This is a story about dust. About what matters and what doesn't and how it can make it hard to breathe. At the start of Lent, may we invite you to go deep into a lost basement and a South African farm with us and feel the dust on your hands and in your lungs. Because dead things aren't the end of the story. Links from this week's episode: Click here to join the conversations we have wi...

This is a story about how a productive life and a meaningful life are not necessarily the same thing. In the slow days of February when we're all slogging through the "anonymous days" that all feel the same may we suggest you try this? Links from this week's episode: Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every week around podcast. _______ Sponsor appreciation:...

This is a story about lack vs abundance. Sometimes the lives we see our friends leading feel like they amplify our lack. Lisa-Jo and Christie share an honest example from their friendship right now. We hope this helps next time you think God passed by your house when it comes to answered prayers. Links from this week's episode: Click here to join the conversations we have with listeners every...

This is a story about navigating the very thing you've been trying to avoid. If you've ever made choices only to be discouraged when you ran into the hurdle you were trying to steer clear of, this conversation is for you. It's an acknowledgement that as much as we crave control, we rarely actually are in control. And that somewhere out beyond the high waves is where we get glimpses of...

This is a story about supporting your partner as they pivot. This week on the podcast, our husbands join the conversation! Peter and Jon takes us behind the scenes, sharing what it's been like to be married to creatives who totally pivoted from the degree and career that was planned and launched out into the scary world of entrepreneurship. It's an honest conversation that helped Lisa-Jo a...

This is a story told in the words of my nine-year-old daughter. A hard, sad story that surprised us both when tears snuck out in the middle of telling it. She and her brothers have waited a long, long time for this yes and she walks us through what helped and how it felt. If you're in a season of waiting, you're not alone. We really do believe God is with us. With us in the tears and frust...

This is a story about a few of our favorite winter things. This is the podcast where we don't start the new year talking about goals. Instead, we invite you to get cosy, get comfortable, and cast your mind around this winter season for all the things that make it special. We're reflecting on the stories behind our favorite ordinary winter things today. If you've been listening for a wh...

This is a story about remembering our favorite gatherings. We invite you to sit back, get comfy and linger with us around the table as we recall why gathering is a sacred art and a divine calling that shows up in each of our ordinary lives. How gathering doesn't equal fancy and full is always about more than the food. At the end of a long year, on the cusp of a new beginning, pause with us to...

This is a story about an inside garden. If you want to bring some of the magic of a living, growing garden inside this December, this is the episode for you. It's easier than you think and also more rewarding. Each week in December we'll be counting down a new way to celebrate the season. Simple, ordinary, and totally do-able. We hope this Out of the Ordinary advent countdown calendar brin...

This is a story about what Christmas tastes like. Come and be introduced to pizza rice and mince pies and find out why these weird sounding foods taste like comfort, home and ease to us. Each week in December we'll be counting down a new way to celebrate the season. Simple, ordinary, and totally do-able. We hope this Out of the Ordinary advent countdown calendar brings you practical ideas and...

This is a story about music that climbs inside your bones and makes its home inside you. We tell the stories behind our favorite Christmas songs, both songs we share are a bit heavier this year than maybe in the past. This is music that reflects the mood here at the end of 2020 and will help carry us across the finish line. Each week in December we'll be counting down a new way to celebrate th...

This is a story about your five senses. Each week in December we'll be counting down a new way to celebrate the season. Simple, ordinary, and totally do-able. We hope this Out of the Ordinary advent countdown calendar brings you practical ideas and real joy right in the middle of your ordinary, extraordinary Christmas season too.  Follow us on Instagram to get a peek into our family's Chri...

This is a story about good surprises. Today we talk about what it looks like when the extraordinary breaks into the ordinary, like light through the dark, when it is totally unexpected. And we share how several listeners surprised us in the most beautiful ways this week. Thank you. You made us happy cry and we're grateful. And you gave us this conversation about how sometimes dead things turn...

This is a story about battlegrounds. States, friendships, families. We're all living through hard conversations these days. Is there a way to survive and maybe, even, thrive through them? Lisa-Jo and Christie walk us through their friendship and how to have a hard conversation. There's nothing more ordinary than a disagreement, right? Is there a way to have one that doesn't leave us al...

This is a story about what home smells like. We follow our noses home this week and what turns up is not what we expected. Not sweet, but smelly. More jarring, less pure delight. It surprised both of us. Also, thanks to the kind listeners for their very thoughtful responses to our conversations. You are the third chair at the table and you give us so much to think about. Click here  to join the we...

This is a story about how to go home when you can't go home. We know this year feels different in so many ways. Which means the holidays might look different and going home might not be possible for all of us. Today Lisa-Jo and Christie both share stories about interrupted travel home and what to do with that universal longing when we can't actually go home. It's the unexpected gift fr...

This is a story about how Christie surprised Lisa-Jo with the perfect gift. And a reminder about how everything big still always starts small. Here's to celebrating the small instead of keeping score. Thank you for being with us on this journey of unpacking all the extra in our ordinary lives. We're so grateful to have you as the third participant in all these conversations. Show links: Th...

This is a story about the difference between what is a pleasure and what is an essential. And how to tell the difference and why it matters? This conversation started because of a question a listener asked about how Christie finds the time to read poetry. Or how Lisa-Jo finds the time to watch so many movies. Listen in for their answers. Links from the show: Romans VIII album The Monty Don -- UK&#...

This is a story about a God who offers Himself in the most ordinary, basic food we could ever imagine. Always in the pantry---whether it's Wonderbread or a fancy French Baguette. There might be more to Christ calling himself, "the bread of life" than we've ever actually considered before. No shortcuts; this is the long way around considering why our love for bread is so enduring. Q...

This is a story about something Lisa-Jo (and all of you?) has been missing and craving terribly during this quarantine. Today Christie gives her (and all our listeners) a fix! Links from this episode: Paper&String Subscriptions: outoftheordinarypodcast.com/ps _______ Sponsor appreciation: In these uncertain times we're so grateful to partner with show sponsors that keep making our work pos...

This is a story about our favorite true crime storyteller.  Louise Penny has written 16 novels and each one understands the truth behind crime in a way very few CSI or True Crime podcasts actually do. What Penny writes are morality tale crime novels that understands how murder, like Christ taught, begins in the heart, often decades before the actual crime.  And what anchors us when we feel overwhe...

This is a story about why we channel our inner Julie Andrews at the beginning of each new season.  These are the stories behind our favorite fall things. As it turns out, our subconscious is totally biased when it comes to what favorites rise to the surface. We'd love to hear what favorites you secretly didn't know were deeply meaningful to you too! Tell us on Instagram! @lisajobaker @chri...

This is a story about lowering our standards. So low it will be sure to make you feel better about your own these days! Because this year September feels like the worst kind of pinchy, uncomfortable new shoes and we're here with our weirdest episode yet exploring the protocols for whether or not you should be required to wear pants at home, proper etiquette for second grade Zoom buddy hangouts...

This is a story about how sometimes our wants NEED to trump our needs. Following up from last week, t oday we share some very UNbasic and almost impractical tools that make ordinary life feel that much extra on the days we need it most. These are a few of our favorites from the past month. We hope they give you some delighted shivers, like they did us! Got an impractical tool you'd recommend f...