Creating Family Culture :: Amber O’Neal Johnston [SOM Wk 4]

You are creating a culture for your family, right now, whether or not you’re aware of it or intentional in it. Your words and actions reveal the functional values you have for your family. Is yours a culture of fun and laughter? Grace and second chances? Integrity and grit? It could be all of those and more, or something simpler - it is unique to your family! Whatever it is, if it isn’t intentionally cultivated it will be like a garden filled with weeds - growing, but haphazard.

My guest this week is Amber O’Neal Johnston and one of the values that drives her family’s culture is that her kids would know they are seen and valued at home and in the world. And that other people are just as valuable too.  This, along with other values, drives the decisions they make about how they interact with the world around them, right down to the restaurants they eat at.  She challenges us to not only cultivate a family culture, but to grow as moms and people along the way. Her book, A Place to Belong: Celebrating Diversity and Kinship in the Home and Beyond is available now.

We’re taking time this summer (as usual) to be mentored by some experienced moms and benefit from their wisdom. I’m asking them about their “mom brands” and the unique families and assignments God has given them to help us embrace the specific and unique spot God has given each of us. 

Discussion Questions:

• What stood out to you from this episode? 
• What practices or resources have you used to expose your kids to other cultures? 
• Where has God called you to speak out in love when you’d prefer to remain silent? Spend time praying with your group for these circumstances.
• What is one value that you want to emphasize in your home? 
• Amber shared that she had to release her need to impress other moms in order for her kids to flourish - what expectation or ideal do you need to let go of so that your kids can flourish?
• How would being secure and confident in your family culture change your relationships with other moms or families? 

Connect with Amber Johnston: 

• Website:  https://heritagemom.com/ 
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeritageMomBlog 
• Instagram:  @heritagemomblog
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/HeritageMomBlog/_created/ 

Links Mentioned:  

• A Place to Belong: Celebrating Diversity and Kinship in the Home and Beyond by Amber O’Neal Johnston 

• Things To Do List from the Heritage Mom Website

Related Episodes:

• Finding Yourself in Motherhood :: Amber O’Neal Johnston [Ep 310]

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