Well Grounded
Step into a world of meaningful conversations and heartfelt stories with lifelong friends, Diane and Leigh Ann on the Well Grounded Podcast!
Join us as we navigate the joys and challenges of life, parenting, and friendship, sharing our experiences and insights with honesty and humor. From laughter to tears, each episode promises to leave you feeling uplifted and inspired.
Grab your coffee and join the conversation! Subscribe now for your weekly dose of wisdom and encouragement.
Well Grounded
In Case You Missed It!
Join lifelong friends, Diane and Leigh Ann as they share some of their favorite moments from Season 1. They’ll share the origins of the Well Grounded Podcast, their favorite Latte Moments, and the most memorable topics of conversation. Stay tuned for a special announcement on what's coming up in Season 2!
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Some of our favorite moments from Season 1:
Episode 7 - Prayer 101 - 0:33-2:12
Episode 2 - Creating and Maintaining Godly Friendships - 15:02-16:33
Episode 1 - Coffee, Conversations, and Lifelong Friends Diane and Leigh Ann s Friendship Story - 2:22-9:43
Episode 2 - Creating and Maintaining Godly Friendships - 27:37-28:54
Episode 3 - The Joys and Challenges of a Full House in Summer - 7:25-9:23
Episode 3 - The Joys and Challenges of a Full House in Summer - 19:04-21:30
Episode 4 - Helping Your Grown Kids Navigate the Dreams and Desires of Their Heart - 16:21-18:08
Episode 5 - Big Emotions - 11:38-12:56
Episode 6 - Well Grounded Bonus Episode - 36:11-40:28
Episode 4 - Helping Your Grown Kids Navigate the Dreams and Desires of Their Heart - 7:30-8:38
Episode 8 - Connection Through Creation - 12:29-14:36
Episode 9 - We Answer -Your Questions - 28:43-30:14
Episode 10 - Marriage Matters - 18:47-20:08
Latte Moment Recipe: Kenyan Tea
Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/wellgroundedpodcast
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Subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite listening platform to be a part of our community and help others discover the joy of living a well-grounded life:
Welcome. Welcome back to the well Grounded podcast. And we are coming to you today with our last episode of season one. And we cannot believe how quick that has gone. Well, this is our 11th episode. So it's like really exciting to just think that all this time, all the content, all the prayers, all the different things that we've just come to this point. So we're very excited to share. Yes, yes, yes, production, pre-production meetings, it's always good. And so what we're going to do for today's episode, it's going to be a little bit different. We're going to just put together a whole bunch of clips and reels from all the different episodes. So it's kind of our favorites. It's going to be our favorite moments. It's going to be a way that you can kind of get a little bit of a synopsis from each of them, and then go back and listen to your favorites, or maybe to listen to one that you've maybe have missed. So we're excited for you. We want you to tune in and enjoy this next few minutes, and enjoy this last episode of season one. we are two longtime friends sharing about life, about marriage, about motherhood, all the things, our walks with the Lord, all of that. And today we have a great topic that we have been wanting to share with you all and ready to jump into that in just a minute. But we just wanted to make sure that if this your first time with us, that you find us on Instagram and all the things and you're always welcome, this is this is what we do. We just hang out and talk coffee and conversation. And so we've that we should invite all of our friends and people that don't know us yet to come and do this with us. So we're excited to be here. And today's topic is prayer is prayer. So has a topic. Yes. It's so broad. We're not going to cover it all in in a half hour. We just want to be able to, share some things that have really made a difference in our prayer lives. Get some insights, and with our kids and being able to share that with others. So, but before we do, guess what time it is? It is time for our latte moment. And I have almost finished my entire one before we even started. So good. Today is really interesting because we are going to take our latte moment with a Kenyan tea and we made this, before starting our episode today. And it's really interesting because this summer, my family and I, we took a trip to Kenya and we were able to see so many interesting things. Our sister in law has a ministry over there called blue Sky global, and she is doing fantastic things. And then we also, of course, went on a safari and saw all the animals, all the things. we've had a lot of thought and prayer that's gone into our verse for this podcast in our name of well grounded, but we really felt like, we wanted to emphasize being rooted in Christ and a friendship is just essential. Honestly, we don't know how we would do life without that. It's kind of the basis of anything that we do, whether it's, praying over our kids, our marriages and our friendships. And it just, it's sometimes it takes work like you're it just doesn't come natural to do that. Right. But for Leann and I, for you and I, it just really has been over time. I would say if you went back way back when, we probably were not. Hey, what can I pray for you about? Like, you know, but now our friendship is almost on a daily basis of what's going on. What can I pray for you about and how can I help? Yeah. You know, have you really. Yeah. Walking through that, that and, you know, one of the things that came out of those emails for prayer requests, those text for prayer requests, just having it in writing, is it instead of saying, okay, I will pray for you, just do it now. Just now, just pray it out. And sometimes just typing back the prayer. Yeah, we've done that in our chat with our friends that, just immediately your response and pray just happen and type it all out so that everybody can have that agreement and pray right then. So that whole I'll get to it, I'll pray later is hard. Like life is just moving fast and it's hard to do that. So going ahead and just doing it, one of the fun things that we're going to do with each episode is we're going to have something called the Latte moment. We are excited for that right now. I know we even have something in our coffee cups. We're excited to have some lattes here, but we're going to do a special coffee recipe each and every time. It could even be a tea recipe. It could be something fun. We like a good tea as well as a good coffee. But coffee is about connection. Yes. We I almost honestly think about this as a coffee. It's like a coffee connection to our lives. Yes. Where? It's a full circle moment. Yes. Years ago, when we had little kids, we didn't even have a coffee place to go to. There was not a Starbucks. No, we're going way back here. People did go to each other's houses for coffee. We would go to each other's houses, or we would go to a restaurant or something. But now that our adult kids want to hang out with us, guess where they want to go? Yeah, they want to meet at a coffee shop. Cute coffee shops. Cute. Or, I have to say, cute or cool or fun. The esthetic. It has to have an esthetic. And so it's just kind of that first full circle moment that we can just sit here today and just be thinking about how God has brought us here. Right. But back to the recipe. So each each latte moment, we are going to share a recipe with you. So today's recipe, I want to preface that I found this on the internet. I did not create this. This is nothing that you could fast and wonderfully, you could find this just like I can. But we are going to do something called a cinnamon roll latte. And, we're going to put that recipe in our show notes, and you can go and look that up at Well Grounded Podcast on Instagram. And I want you to try this like we want you to try it and let us know how you like it, give us a like and give us feedback. But this recipe to me I feel like is got a little bit of spice, a little bit of sass and a little bit of sweet. So it's perfect. The perfect combination to totally get us started on this podcast. So, make sure you look at those notes. And we're also going to be posting that later after the show, and you'll be able to, try it out yourself, but I think it's a great thanks. And listen. Cheers, cheers cheers. This is to new beginnings. So fun. New fun things. We had lots of random thoughts. We were always thinking, oh, what about this? What about that? That tweet and the list got very long. And then about a month ago, it was absolutely crazy. But, my husband just came up with this great idea to say, well, why don't we do this? Yes. And the funny thing is, this room that we're actually sitting in right now that you see all these different decorations was actually our my daughter's, my oldest daughter's room, and it had furniture and a bed and dressers and all that kind of stuff in it. And now we've completely renovated it and made it into this slightly awesome space. So there's significance in that too, I think. Yes, there's the child has grown up and the parents have now the bonds moms are out here doing this. So I'm excited about this space because I just think that no matter what happens with this podcast, it's just such a refreshment to me. That there is something new and like, yeah, you know, when your kids do go and start launching themselves into the world and you're not anymore the most important person in their life? Yes. It's a need to know that you can still have that dream. Yeah. That desire is. Yes, I just want to do shout out to Diane. Diane is the best at traditions and stuff. I mean it, I'm serious. But it's she's that friend that has the continuity and she's like, rock solid. We're going to make a plan. We're going to stick to that plan. We're going to make this a priority. And, you know, sometimes to a fault. But yes, I don't I didn't feel that way at the time. There were as as kids got older and we got into things, it was becoming more challenging for that regular. But we had years and years and years of that continuity and that consistency. Yeah. And built those traditions in and that my kids still talk about at Christmas parties. There was summer parties. My husband would play carols on the piano, and we would do caroling and sing. If you had a really great 4th of July, 4th of July, Easter, like just those fun things. And at that time, and still really to this day, I mean, we did not have extended family in town. Yeah. And so that was our family that that local, friend group and sweet group. I want to tell you that, you know, you were that friend for me when my mom was sick, and it's it is a special thing. And, you know, you're in a season of life when, sometimes you don't even know what you're doing from one day to the next. Right? And. Right, your friends become your lifeline, right? You, as well as a lot of my friends, you know, just rallied around me and my family and provided meals and made sure that we had things that we needed to to just make it through another week. And when the crisis did come, I knew exactly who I could call to get that support because, sometimes, you know, you literally the well is dry, right? There is no more left to give. And you were on the end of a lot of the, of those phone conversations. And it's it's treasured and in this and I think it's sort of led to us being able to even do this like, yeah, we have a lot of history, we have a lot. But we can truly say we've been in the the darkest valleys and the sweetest mountaintop. Yeah. And so and, and we want that for our daughters. We want that for our sons. We want them to have, our husbands have that, you know, we want them to be able to say, hey, I know I can count on. Yeah, these people or this person, you know, so. You relate to pulling up those, those counselors, the academic calendar for each of your kids schools? Yes. Like, oh, no, we have two different spring breaks for high school this year. We actually had four different spring. Oh my goodness. And I go, well, you know, that means we're just really not going to do anything together a whole month though. Someone spring somebody. I do remember seeing that on your in your schedule that you were having fun with somebody, but it was weeks I was yeah. Yeah. So I get that for sure. We, we're all about I would do like this printed out calendar, old school paper calendars that you love. Yeah. And it would have the big things. And it was on the refrigerator. So like June, July, August. And they could see, see what's coming up. This trip to grandmother's. This trip is happening. This rap is happening. So, like the big things or like we're going to see road camp this week or we're going to VBS this week or whatever was going on. Yeah. So it was like a fun, I had the white Ford. Oh, nice. Ford. Nice. And my oldest, who's very creative, she would a lot of times drawn and sometimes there'd be stickers and everything. So it was very fun. Yes. Yeah. Making it that so. So do you feel a loss of that now that everyone's older or like, the grown up version of our summer calendars is when the kids are going to be here, right? So when they're coming back. Yeah. And what that's going to look like. And for the most part, I would say I think you use the 90%, 10%. Won't you talk? We were talking about the topic that for the most part it's excitement, excitement. You're like in the driveway. So ready to get these kids home from college like you are, just like you've gotten their room ready. You take time. You just think about all the details. Yes, all the fun. We're giving out all our secrets right now. Where are we going to go to dinner. Like a special dinner celebrating the end of the semester. Like all those traditions and all those things that are they are for them. But they are for us, too. Yeah, let's be honest. Oh, yeah. I know sometimes we haven't been as organized. It just life happens and you know, but if we can build a little anticipation with them of like, here's the, here's what we're planning on this week, your home or this month, your home or something. Adjust back into family mode. Yeah, you are in independent living doing your own thing mode. But this week, this month, this summer, this holiday break. Yeah, family mode. And it really helped me to have that mindset because I didn't feel as offended when I was asked to do something or somebody needed me. So. Well, I know for me, one of the funny things, is how much my kids, when they come back from college, love to cook because during college they don't have access to a stove or an oven and things. And usually the first 2 or 3 weeks of summer, I mean, we have the best bacon ever, and I just think it is the best. They literally just find recipes. They look on Pinterest, they do whatever they need to, and they come up with these great. And I'm like, just let me know what you need and we'll make sure we get those ingredients, because it's a lot of fun, because it brings me joy to just see that, you know, and you model that you you set up that there's family time preparing meals and all the cute hospitality things. Yeah, I was at an event that the girls had put on for one of their graduations, and I was so impressed at how they work together. Your three daughters like like very different personalities, very different approaches to things, even probably how they would host something. But sure, they got in this mode of like they were cleaning up a really elaborate set up for this party and they just worked so well together. I was like, my job sounds like this is so cool to see them, to see that, like they know how to do it. They and they've been allowed to be creative in that. That's another thing. Yeah. People coming home may be making messes in your kitchen that you don't usually have or having more shoes out or whatever. Yeah. It's like this is temporary. It's kind of that, Saveur like people have told us, you know, when we were when we had young kids and we had the older moms in our life, they would tell us, you will miss that someday. Yes, you will miss the new toys over and over again. Everywhere you miss those things around the house. And I really 100% can tell you. Yeah. Because then all of a sudden, your quiet house, you know, is quiet, and you miss that. Yeah. when you have a dream and you have a goal. The opposite of that is a disappointment or a defeat. Yeah. And that does happen. And so, you know, we want to talk about the positive side of it. But also, you know, let's be real about those are hard. I mean when the job interview doesn't go the way you want it to, when the promotion doesn't happen, when someone gets let go, you know, there are tough times, that are going to be ahead. Yeah. And we can't shelter our kids from all those things. We can help them understand that it was part of our story, too, right? You know, we've all had that that moment in time, that it's okay. And that's when, you know, if you're in accordance with God's will, if you are seeking him and what you're doing, yes, he is going to give you the desires of your heart. And so maybe that defeat and maybe that difficulty is actually part of his plan. Right. And that's sometimes hard to understand. I know, I know, and we don't love that you don't love that part, but also to let him change the desires. Yeah. If you in good conscience were pursuing something and it is not working out, it is not. Yeah. What you thought it was going to be. That's okay. Yeah. It's just a matter of figuring out what do we do next I think so I've heard the, you know, the metaphor of like, I thought I was going to this tree, but at that tree I then saw three roads. Yes. That I couldn't see from back here. You get up there and then you have more choices that you didn't have for back here. And so there you're going in this direction, but then it changes. And that's the perspective thing that only time can give sometimes. And so what I a little further down the line a little older a little more wisdom. We get to turn back and say, hey, come on, you got this. We've been there and we know that it's going to turn out for you. Good. celebrating on different budgets, on different, time constraints, like, you know, you have to have everybody home for one weekend. You may not be able to go on the long trip. You just can't get them all together. And, yeah, some of those things, but I do I do feel like the planning is the thoughtfulness. The planning is the heart behind it and saying this matters. We're not going to let it, like, sneak up on us. And then you're like, oh, we didn't get to do anything, you know, kind of looking ahead and preserving that time, especially with those adult kids. Like, you have to. Yeah, you have to stay on their account, get on their calendars right. And it's I, I've been trying I can get a little review card from my kids, but, I've been trying to say, we want you here. Here's the plan. So that they can have the option. Sure. Because sometimes at the last minute, they just physically can't can't be there. Yeah. But, if it's something that I'm going to go the extra mile to let you know this is happening, we want you to be involved in it. I could probably learn from you on that one, because I probably don't give them that option very often. The places this is the plan and I expect you there. And so that's fine and definitely not the best way to do it. No, I was going to say, I think the more people you have there is that point of like, we've got it, you know, make this a priority. Yeah. What are you looking forward to about launching into the world? Like something, that's coming up that you can be excited about? I don't know, I'm just kind of excited to, like, be in a new season again. Like, I would say like, high school. Me didn't, like change, but like that spontaneity. Like, I've become more adaptable to change. Yeah. And so, like, again, I am just excited for, like, a change of pace, like, people like, at the conference, they were talking and they were like, listen, post-grad is different, but like, just like when you were in middle school, high school is better when you're in college high, when you were in high school, College is better. And so like when you're post-grad, post-grad is better because you just say good. Yeah. Like each season you can just kind of get better when you have good perspective. And so like I mean that's awesome there. Like you have more more free time to kind of like work on yourself. And so personally I like get into running because I'm not getting married. So I thought I'd run a marathon. I love that goal. It's a good one. Yes, because going to a Disney movie, you should do the Disney one. I mean, there's so many like people on line, they're like, listen, I'm not getting married, so I guess I'll go run a marathon because those are like the two things you do in your 20s. So I didn't know I did. So I was like, I don't I'm not sure I was getting married. I didn't think I could default to the what, are you going to run a marathon on a treadmill, not be running a marathon? Yeah, but I mean, it's just kind of like, I don't know, like finding. Yeah. My hobbies that I like to do, and, like, I found some in college, but then I kind of just ran out of time because I was a full time student and I was involved in my sorority thing and working, did a ministry on campus. And so it's just kind of like my time was split and I didn't really have time for hobbies because I was doing student stuff. So now I'm just kind of like, that's my that's cool. Shout out to pickleball. Pickleball. I'm excited to get back into pickleball because I've got some cute paddles online you can get from. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That whole section in target right now, that's all these. It's like tennis clothes, but they're pickleball, so that's why it's so cute. It's very trendy. Yeah. Good. I'm really excited to not run a marathon. I know actually, yeah, I'm very excited to get married and start that journey, along with my future husband. And then we're also going to be going into full time ministry. And that's something that I felt the Lord has been calling me to since 10th, 11th grade. And so just a real dream. And the reality is, and so it's just been this really sweet thing. Also to be able to do that with my husband, it's going to be just a dream. I didn't even know to dream. And so I I'm really excited about that. I think, well, I'm moving to a new state, another new state. I'm moving north Carolina. And so that'll be a big change. And so it's just I'm excited for the change. And like you said, like it was dicey, really hard. And now I love spontaneity and it's like I thrive in it actually. And so I'm like really excited for the new stuff. But I just make sure that I come with gratitude first, just so that the worry doesn't creep in first. Yeah, but there's a lot of I actually do have a lot of things lined up which I would not have expected, and it's literally only the Lord, truly. But I'm just like, come in with gratitude. This is not in my own doing. If I came up with this plan, it would. Yeah. You look so bad. But it was just the Lord doing things and me having to come with gratitude and then obedience. Yeah. And then this really cool things it's kind of a trendy thing, I guess. I've, you know, my kids have done these for years, different activities, that they have done, especially at the beginning of a school season. They kind of cast that vision, you know what? What are some of their things they want to get out of a certain year? You know, sometimes we might think, oh, dreaming it's such a long thing or a long range. Well, a dream or an a desire can be even a short term goal. Right. And things. And sometimes we have to help coach our kids on developing those goals for themselves. Because without a goal and without a plan, there's not going to be a successful future. You know, it really does go hand in hand. Yeah. We have learned through our career and, life that we've had, in our family that that's essential to success is to have those goals and dreams. So a dream. Where are you headed? Yeah. Where are you headed? You know, a dream can be as simple as something that, you know, what are your likes? What are your desires of your heart and things? And a dream board is is you can cut out pictures, you can make a Pinterest board. You can do whatever works for you. And it is a visual thing, I feel like Florida's really hard. The tropical plants are great. Yeah. But in general, I'm enjoying just kind of checking on my little handmaidens in the house. It's like if I have, like, a gardening, bench, I would be really happy right in the middle of my in the middle of the year. Like, yeah, yeah. How about you? Well, I definitely think probably that outside, you know, I, I do a lot of things I love even, like transplanting plants and just really getting dirty, you know, and I'm doing that. And so, like, it's a lot of fun too. And then it's also neat to kind of do that and then watch things grow. I didn't do it this year, but typically I do like an herb garden and I haven't been able to do that this year just because of the summer heat and things I might do in in the fall because we can funny weather, like we didn't have the rain we usually have. And I feel like I brought some things inside that were outside because they were scorching. The heat is too hot. Yeah, yeah. So where I'm from, we did pine straw. But in Florida, like, what are y'all prefer, mulch or pine straw in your beds? I would definitely say mulch just because, you know, we do the wood chips and all that kind of stuff. But, yeah, that's kind of what we do here. Yeah, I think, yeah, throughout our southeast, I've seen more of the pine straw thing. So, and then do you grow flowers or like, vegetables or fruit in gardens? Well, I haven't had a lot of success growing fruit or vegetable, so I probably have stayed away from that. I'll give a shout out to one of my sisters. And she has a huge garden out in Idaho. And every year she starts from seeds to plant, you know, big plants. And then she harvests everything by August and September and cans and does all that. So she has the whole process of it and things, which actually is an ode to my grandfather. My grandfather was a gardener. He had a huge farm in Minnesota, and he had all sorts of things, like rows and rows, like, I don't know how many acres he had, but they grew a ton of different things. And it's one of my early childhood memories, is going to walk in his farm, in his garden. And, so I think that green thumb might have come from that side One idea that I wanted to share was about having, like, a date night jar where you just kind of each of you maybe put 5 or 6 things in that jar, and then when it's date night, you just pull one out and it's a random thing. And if you know you guys each have something in there, then both people get to pick from it, and it's just a fun idea to just kind of make it make it new and fun. Yes. And when you have small kids, you're going to have to book the sitter. Yes. Even if you don't have a great, awesome plan. Like just get a babysitter if you can. Yeah, or have those couch dates. Tons of. Yeah, we had years of, oh yeah, sporadic going out and a lot of just kids are in bed. Make it a priority, don't get on each other, don't get on phones and go in different rooms. But like sit together, pick an activity. You're going to do together, talk or, decompress from your day. And I think that, you just hinted on the whole phone thing, you know, that sometimes it's so easy that that's a way we all decompress. You know, we kind of go into the scroll and, and, you know, to see what's out there, but, you know, take that time, make the eye contact, think about things and what also is kind of fun on a date night, especially if you're newly married, once you get your wedding photos back is to go and look back at your wedding photos. And you kind of remember the day because honestly, it is a blur. Like you get back from the wedding and you're just like, what? What happened? Yeah. So when those wedding photos come back and you can look at your wedding video and things like that, I mean, every anniversary, that's something we've done. So we've done that 26, almost 27 times. one verse that I did want to share, for this, this time today is coming. You know, a lot of people use this as the wedding verse. It's in almost, you know, every marriage book and it comes from first Corinthians 13. It's the passage from four through eight and it talks about love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no records of wrong. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, and love never fails. And what's really neat about that is we were at a marriage workshop one time and they said, every time you hear the word love, replace that with your spouse's name. And it really changes your perspective on how you think about them. And so if you do go through that and you say so-and-so is patient, so-and-so is kind, so-and-so does not envy, does not boast, does not proud. It really does change your heart, especially if maybe you're in a time of or a season that you're not in the word or doing things and that, maybe you're having some strife in your marriage. And so it's, it's really to me, that was very impactful that someone taught us one time. thank you so much for joining us today and watching our best. Yeah. And so something a little different to have that put together for us, but, we also just want to thank you. Those of you or the originals? Yes. All of our subscribers. Yes. Watched every episode. Also new faces. Yeah. Please welcome. This might be a good time to, look at your favorites or go back. Yeah. Next we are cooking up something so fun. Yes, yes. Season two. Yes. And it is called The Sisterhood of Motherhood. So good. Yeah. So we are going to be, inviting a panel of guests. So we know, you love having us. Of course, but we also. Yeah, other women who have encouragement. Yeah, definitely. Ages and stages of motherhood. Yes. And we want to share with them. We want to fight fear. Yes. We want to lean into the goodness of God that he has for our homes and for our children. We love that. From community. Yeah. Coffee and conversations. Yes, definitely. But we want to include some new faces with you for this upcoming season. It's great. Yeah. Between seasons. Yes. While you all got all caught up, make sure you follow us on Instagram. Yes, some enrichment things about always adding extra. Yeah, things like that is just a great way to follow along. Yes. Do you didn't know we're on YouTube or on any. Yes. Any platform you've got Apple and Spotify. Yes. So all of it come and join us. Yes. And we just want to leave you with all the ways that we want to discuss and share, at the end of each episode and that we want to say our blessing and that you may, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you may be rooted and grounded in love. From Ephesians 317 and we want you to be refreshed and encouraged and stay well grounded. Yay!
