The Family Room with Billie Jauss

How do you prepare for the Christmas season? The considerable debate every year is when do you put up your tree? Decorating for Christmas was my mom's thing. She bought a tree. Then placed it in front of the picture window in our living room, which was only used at Christmas. There was an entire Christmas village, including a train under the tree. She went all out. My family attended church for Ch...

Do we all have stories of difficult family members? My brother used to pull up in the yard with the same question each holiday. "Who's fighting now?" There was always some scuffle between a couple or more of the family that only escalated during the gathering. My first instinct was to defend everyone. Then someone would turn on me, and I would run to a safe place. When it was me fighting with anot...

Most of the time I am a very happy and joyful person I see the goodness of God and feel pretty peaceful, then life happens. In the last couple of years, I've lost 4 people in my family. My sister and her husband, my brother then my mom. I found it hard to be thankful happy, and peaceful at times. As a believing Christian, I know to pray without ceasing, but sometimes when I don't get answers or my...

As a mom of adult children, I've had time to look back over all the years of being a mother. There are times in my motherhood that have left me shaking my head at how bad I was at it. Then there are times when I focus on the joys and celebrations. Listen in as I share 11 Things Every Mom is Thankful For in Parenting I think you'll like this list! You've got this, mama! You will survive. Do you kno...

In this episode, I want to share with you the #1 thing I'm most thankful for in my writing journey. I never wanted to be a writer. But God had a different plan. Listen to hear. Could you do me a huge favor and rate the show on Apple Podcasts? It's super easy: 1  Click to open The Family Room in the Apple Podcasts app 2  Click the + (plus sign on the top right) to Follow 3  Scroll to the bottom unt...

I'm going to be honest. I don't always know why things happen. Why do good people have to suffer? Why do children die? Why is that abuse? Why did a hurricane have to destroy my community? Why did I not have damage? I struggled before I dedicated my life to Christ, and I still struggle at times now. Going through seas of difficulty will either cause you to drown or force you to grow stronger. They...

Most days, I'm a pretty strong woman. But then there are the times when I feel defeated and weak. Usually, it's when I'm trying to be in control of my environment and accomplish things on my own. What does woman need to be a strong woman of God? Listen to hear the 5 Keys to Being a Strong Woman of God. Could you do me a huge favor and rate the show on Apple Podcasts? It's super easy: 1  Click to o...

I've had many crises in my life. That's how life goes. The most recent being a hurricane. I've lived through hurricanes in NC and our first as a married couple in Florida with Hurricane Andrew. Through many of those, I've been extremely anxious. I tend to worry, predict and plan for the worst. However, when I've been practicing managing my thoughts and stopping the negative ones when they start I...

The Christian life involves hard work. It requires us to give up whatever endangers our relationship with God, to run with endurance and to struggle against sin with the power of the Holy Spirit. To live effectively, we must keep our eyes on Jesus. We will stumble if we look away from him to stare at ourselves or at the circumstances surrounding us. A passionate life flows from fixing our eyes on...

I've been doing a lot of thinking about friendships. I have some amazing friends, and then there are some I'm not so close with. Others cause drama that I can get caught up in because I want to salvage the relationship. Then there are friends that support you in everything you do. The best of friends support you and challenge you when you're on the path. It's really hard to determine who is going...

At the ten-year mark of our marriage, we were broken. My husband was chasing his career, and I was chasing three boys. We were going in two different directions.  I knew I needed to figure out who I was. I needed help. When we have an important decision to make or change, we can feel that we can't trust anyone, not even God. But God knows what is best for us. He is a better judge of what we want t...

YES, you can!!! Social comparison is when we compare certain aspects of ourselves (e.g., our behavior, opinions, status, and success) to other people to assess ourselves better. Or, as I do too often, a worse assessment of myself.  When my kids were little, I beat myself up so much because I wasn't as organized as the mom, who had seven kids and two dogs, but still showed up to all the games of mu...

Welcome to the first episode of the family room. How Women Can Gain Control When We First Feel Overwhelmed? A little explanation of the name. In baseball, the family room is a room where we gather to do Bible Study, leave our kids with a babysitter, and chat with each other while we wait for our husbands after a game. It's a safe place to gather, just like my family room at home. I love to invite...

The Family Room Trailer: It's a place for women who feel overwhelmed to sit for a while, be encouraged in Biblical truth, and be motivated with practical tips so they can learn to live life to the fullest right where they are. We'll talk about faith, marriage, motherhood, and of course a little baseball. Billie is a baseball wife and mom who learned a lot of lessons over 33 years of marriage raisi...