Christian Parenting.

Hey, friends. Welcome back to Part of the Mess. I'm your host, Courtney Defeo, and I am so excited.

If you've been a part of this the last

couple years, you know that every school year, we kick off the beginning of the school year by praying together, and then we pray together every Monday of the school year. If you're new here, you're like, what are you talking about? Well, you've landed here at part of the mess. I'm your host, Courtney Defeo, and on Thursdays, I do interviews with all

kinds of people, just learning and wanting to talk about faith and parenting. I can take all

the tips I can get it. And even though I have one in college and one in high school, I am still

learning every day about how to follow Jesus and just really leave my family and honor God.

And we are kicking off a brand new season of praying together.

We've got a brand new journal called A Great Cloud of Witnesses.

And I'm going to tell you all about that in just a second.

But warning, this one is a touch longer.

Normally on Mondays, I'd like to keep these episodes under 10 minutes,

sometimes six or seven.

It depends on what's going on of the topic. And then Thursdays here on Pardon the Mass are our longer episodes. That's where I'm going to do an interview and talk to different people, whether it's an author or a friend or a school teacher, about parenting and faith. And that's just where I am. I've got two kids, and even though they're older, I am still learning every day and saying, Lord, how do I honor you with the family that you've given me? How can I grow closer to you through parenting? And I love learning from other people. So make sure you tune in on Thursdays. But here on Mondays during the school year, we have such a fun ritual, I would say, that we've done here at Pardon the Mess for several years. And we simply get a journal, which is done by the Christian parenting team. And by the way, if you didn't know, part of the mess is just one of many podcasts that are under the Christian parenting network. And they write this journal every year and it is so good. I get to peek at the topic and I get to peek at the sections. I wrote a couple of them,

but the team really put this together and I just love it. And I'll be honest, the couple years ago, when I started here as the host, I was like, I don't know. I'm going to be able to do that. Do I know enough about the Bible? Can I pray well enough to lead these people? And I honestly needed it so much as a mom. And I look back and think, I'm so thankful that every Monday of the last two school years, and now this will be my third, I have prayed with you very specific things for my kids. And I can look back and see things that I'm still waiting on. I can look back and see things that God did answer. And so I hope you've held on to your journals over the years. It would be

kind of fun to go back and kind of make notes of where you've seen God show up. But again, if you're new, I want to introduce myself. I'm Courtney Defeo. I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. And I've been married to Ron, 22 years. I think is that right? 2003. Yep, 22. I have to always do the math. I have an older daughter Ella that just started at Auburn, and then I have a younger

daughter, Ella, that just started at Auburn, and then I have a younger daughter,

Larson, who is a junior in high school.

And we're just like you.

The house is a mess.

We love Jesus with all we've got.

We mess up.

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