Just One Small Thing Podcast for Catholic Parents

Ready to learn more about you (and your kids and husband?). Well, you are in luck! I have a wonderful, fun (sanguine) woman on the podcast to introduce you to and get you excited about the four Temperaments.  If you have yet to look into the four temperaments, I encourage you to listen in. Chances you are you won't be a "pure" temperament. More likely you will have two strong temperaments, but loo...

  Hey there my friends! Welcome back to our series on the virtues of the Rosary. Today we are wrapping up our walk through the virtues of the Joyful Mysteries. We have already talked about the Annunciation (joy), the Visitation (service), the Nativity (detachment from the world) and the Presentation (consecration). So, that leaves only the 5th Joyful Mystery, Finding the Child Jesus in the Temple....

  Hey there my friends! Welcome back to our series on the virtues of the Rosary. This week we are discussing the 4th Joyful Mystery, the Presentation.  The virtue for this mystery is Consecration. I really enjoyed researching and recording this episode because of all the connections I found with sacraments. The connection between the Presentation and Baptism is clear, but there is always a really...

  Hey there my friends! Today we are continuing on with our little Virtues of the Rosary series on the Just One Small Thing Podcast. I love doing series, especially powerful series like this one that not only digs deep into the virtuous life we are all called to, but also offers real material for us all as we pray the Rosary--or at least that is my hope! Today we are tackling the 3rd Joyful Myster...

Welcome back to the Just One Small Thing Podcast, my friends! Today we are going to continue to dig into the virtues assigned to each decade of the Rosary. Last week we talked about Joy for the first Joyful mystery. Today we are going to talk about SERVICE for the second joyful mystery, the Visitation. Once again, you can find all of these virtues as well as scripture, reflections and prayers in m...

Hey friends! Today I'm excited to kick off another series on the podcast. I has so much fun (and got such a good response) doing the Lenten Series that I've decided to spend the next several weeks looking at virtues. I debated for a while where to get these virtues from. I ultimately decided to reflect on the virtues commonly assigned to the mysteries of the Rosary.  Now, there is no "official" se...

Hey friends! Today's podcast is a little different, and perhaps a little more personal that usual. We recently went through another miscarriage and are dealing with that. This loss is particularly hard because we are still grieving the loss of a baby at 20 weeks, who died on Thanksgiving of last year.  I thought about not mentioning this recent loss at all on the podcast, but you all have so gener...

Hey friends! I am excited to share today's episode of the podcast with you! It features one of my favorite people--my beloved cousin Jodi--and discusses a SUPER important topic: Praying for Priest. But, instead of just generally trying to inspire you to pray for priests (which we all should be doing) this episode discusses a super specific and wonderful way to REALLY support the priests that serve...

Holiness is a lifelong journey and I have come to understand that, at least for me, much of this battle will be fought in the mind. Most of my sins occur only in my mind.  My attitude, my anger, my daydreams, and my laziness are very often things that others, even those close to me, never know about me. And yet, we know that true holiness requires consecrating every part of ourselves, including th...

Hey there! So, I just finished reading Catherine of Siena by Sigrid Undset . The book was incredible--but I still can hardly believe how insane the life of Catherine of Siena was. I went into reading this book knowing embarrassingly little about St. Catherine of Siena. She seemed pretty meek, and lived way back in the 1300's so I was worried that I would find her boring.  But I was so wrong. She h...

My husband and I just got back from a week in Fatima and I am so excited to share a little about it with you. Now, I bet that most of you have very little interest in the details of our travels, so instead of blabbing on and on about that, this episode shares three key ideas from Fatima that are just as relevant for those that have never travel there. These ideas are also just as important today a...

Hey there! Today I am, once again, proving that I have no fear. I am tackling a BIG topic: holiness. Why am I tackling this topic? Because I'm perfect? Because I have some sort of saintly-insight to share with you? Nope. I'm talking about holiness because I too am a sinner, but, like all of you, I am called to holiness. The call to holiness is universal. The spiritual journey is THE MOST IMPORTANT...

Hey there my friends! Today's podcast episode was born out of a little project I have been working hard on behind the scenes. For the past few weeks I have been reading everything I can get my hands on about prayer so that I can help you (and me) really understand what prayer is and how to grow in holiness through prayer. But, while doing this study on the topic of prayer I was struck again and ag...

Hey friends- Today's podcast episode is a bit of a personal one, so if you are sick of hearing me share about the baby I lost last fall, you might want to skip this episode. You see, although we have been infinitely blessed by and through the still-birth loss of our little Maximilian on Thanksgiving Day of last year, we are approaching his due date, and suddenly the pain is very real once more. Al...

Hello and welcome back! Here's hoping that you had a JOYFUL Easter and that you are still celebrating in earnest!  After all, we are an EASTER PEOPLE. I thought we would kick off this Easter Season with a podcast I have been meaning to record and send out into the world for a while now: WHY MARY. Here's why I wanted to do a podcast on Mary. The first few months of this year I have been talking abo...

Hey there my friend! First things first, happy Holy Week! I LOVE Holy Week.  I love all the pomp and incense and long services and drama.  I just LOVE IT. Isn't it so great to be Catholic and belong to a church that really let's us enter into the Passion each and every year? Praise be to God! On a much smaller note, the latest episode of the Podcast is up and ready for you. The episode discusses t...

Hey friends! Well, in case you've missed it, we've been spending all of Lent really digging into the seven vices we all face. To do this I have been pulling SO MUCH wisdom from Venerable Fulton Sheens incredible book, Victory Over Vice . We have already covered Anger, Envy, Lust, Pride, and Gluttony. Today we tackle Sloth. First off, I sort of hate that word, Sloth. Maybe it is my Midwest, farm gi...

Hey there friends. Today we are tackling the Vice that I have been dreading since the beginning: Gluttony. For some reason the idea that food can lead to sin is just a little bit hard for me. It is hard for me to understand, and hard for me to look straight in the face. I LOVE FOOD, and, like many of you I would guess, I have lots of food issues, coming from a variety of different source.  I have...

You guys are just blowing me away with your response to this Lenten Series on the Podcast where we are digging through the Vices we all face.  So far we've talked about Anger, Envy and Lust, and although I am flattered, and want to give myself a big 'ol pat on the back, I really shouldn't!  All of the wisdom I am sharing here comes directly from the great Venerable Fulton Sheen and his incredible...

Hello dear friends! Well, based on the HUGE response to last week's podcast, I have a feeling I'm not the only one that struggles with vices!  Thank you to all of you that wrote such encouraging and vulnerable emails and Facebook messages to me after listening to last week's podcast on Anger! Confronting the vices in our lives is sometimes painful, but always fruitful and I feel so blessed to be d...

Hey there and welcome back to the 3rd installment of the Lenten Podcast series on the Vices. Today's episode focuses on LUST, and, before I go into the details of this episode, I want to warn you that I felt I needed to use real language while discussing this topic. Nothing I say is vulgar or scandalous, and everything I say is strictly inline with Catholic Teaching, but I do use real, clinic name...

First of all, I pray that your Lent is off to a beautiful and Holy start! To be completely honest, I have been CRAVING Lent. My life has just started to feel a little too noisy and busy and I am glad the Church is wise enough to give us a season to get back on track. So, I decided to take advantage of this season and do a little series on the Podcast. Lent is meant to be a season of quiet and grow...

We are one week from Lent, so it's time to start planning! I really love Lent. I love an opportunity to get back into those good habits I've lost track of and just dwell in the quiet a bit more. I also love being a part of a Catholic community during Lent because we are all in this together. I love the support I often get during Lent from my Catholic friends and hearing about how they are attempti...

As part of the Lent Build-Up Fun (and yes, it is fun!) today's podcast episode is about the joys and benefits of Spiritual Reading. Some people around here are total rock stars when it comes to reading about Catholic Saints, Catholic Teaching or just Moral Living...but if you are like me you need a bit of encouragement to get back into spiritual reading from time to time. I love reading about the...

Today's podcast addresses an issue I hear about from Catholic Mothers all the time: How do I teach the faith to my children . I hear this all the time, often from very faithful women, who just worry that they aren't doing enough. I get it. I often struggle with those feelings myself, and in a way it is GOOD that we feel this way. Teaching our children the faith is a big deal. In fact, it might be...