Episode 117: The World of Words: Terrie Sizemore's Faith, Family, and Publishing

Children  0:00  
We think you should know that Imperfect Heroes podcast is a production of Little Hearts Academy USA.

DJ Stutz  0:10  
Welcome heroes and heroines to Episode 117 of Imperfect Heroes, insights into parenting, the perfect podcast for imperfect parents looking to find joy in their experience of raising children in an imperfect world, and I'm your host DJEJ Stutz.

Before we get started, I'd like to tell you about a great opportunity. Are you ready to become the ultimate guide in your child's development journey? Little Hearts Academy USA has a new self paced Cicerone Master's class, a transformative course designed to empower parents with the knowledge and tools they need to foster their children's social, emotional, and academic readiness for school. And there are four comprehensive modules to help you dive deep into understanding your parenting style, and how that impacts your child's growth. Learn to navigate the critical stages of your child's development with confidence and ease and understand how to best support your child as they get ready for school and throughout their early grades. Register for the master class now by visiting the website, www.LittleHeartsAcademyUSA.com or by simply clicking the link in the show notes. 

And ladies and gentlemen, it is now my absolute pleasure to introduce my guest today, Terrie Sizemore, who is a remarkable individual with a wealth of experience and a deep passion for nurturing the hearts and minds of children. Terrie's journey has been one of unwavering faith spanning five decades as a devoted Christian. Her faith serves as the bedrock for her life, shaping her perspective on the world and guiding her in all of her endeavors. But Terrie is not only a woman of faith, she also brings a rich tapestry of expertise to the table with years of service as a registered nurse. And as a veterinarian. She has a perspective on caregiving and nurturing. And Terrie also held an educators license in Ohio, where she taught a wide range of subjects from kids in preschool all the way to high school students. Her extensive background in education, including a deep dive into children's growth and development equips her with valuable insights into the intricate stages of a child's journey.

During today's episode, we have the privilege of delving into the world of early childhood development, exploring the magic of books and how they expand a child's knowledge, understanding and vocabulary. Terrie's newest book, The Little Book of Big Ideas, Activities, Crafts, and Celebrations promises to be a treasure trove of creative ideas for spending quality time with your children, ideas of things that you can do year round with them. And moreover, Terrie is not just an esteemed guest. She's also the publisher of my upcoming book, which is sure to captivate young hearts and minds. And it's titled Roman is Bigger, and this heartwarming story delves into a young boy's journey of self expression and understanding. So without further ado, let's dive into this enriching conversation with Terrie Sizemore, a woman of faith, a nurturing soul, and a true advocate for the joyous growth and development of our little ones. There's so much to learn. So let's get started. 

Hey, everyone, thanks for deciding to spend the next few minutes here at imperfect heroes podcast. And I just want to remind you that you can always find me on Rumble now and the channel is Imperfect Heroes. And then we're on YouTube as well with Little Hearts Academy USA. So if you want to see the visuals of us talking, you're more than welcome to do that. And then I want you to be sure to follow and leave a comment if you hear something that you're interested in or that sparks a thought or a memory. Leave something in the comments. We'd love to hear about what we do and how that relates to you. So I hope that you'll be sure and do that. And I'll tell you if you go on the podcast and leave us a five star rating and a review. You will get a free digital copy of my new book, Living in Kindness. It's the journey, the journal and the workbook. And so you'll get that free if you'll just leave us a rating and review. And then just let me know you did that. And we will make sure that that gets to you. So today we have such an exciting topic. And I say this a lot. I don't know how I get so lucky with so many amazing guests and people that I've been able to connect with. But Terrie is one of those amazing people. So Terrie Sizemore, why don't you talk to us a little bit, but all the cool things you're involved in.

Terrie Sizemore  5:31  
Why don't I thanks for having me today. Yes, I've done quite a bit in my life. But recently, I have decided to open a publishing company. And my passion is children's literature. And I do several different things in addition to children's literature. But I have over 100 picture books. And that's exciting to me, because I have taught on every level preschool, kindergarten all the way up through high school, and I've mentored others and done Sunday, schoolwork. And so a lot of different times when there have been some teaching opportunities, some fun educational opportunities. And so I can combine all of that all of my experience in the past with all my passions with the publishing house, and the different types of books that we're excited to bring to everybody.

DJ Stutz  6:19  
And I'm so excited that you have been able to combine picture books with making reading fun for kids. And then inserting that little piece of faith and values and all of those things that you're inserting, and you've got such a great match, a terry sent me some of the artwork of some of the artists that she uses for her books. And it's just phenomenal. They're just beautiful.

Terrie Sizemore  6:46  
I appreciate that my artists are from all over the world, from Belarus, to Russia to Ukraine, some of them are in the middle of a war torn country, some of them have fled to Poland, South Africa, Brazil, America, Canada. So the artists are from everywhere. It's kind of a small world after all, and it's allowed me to really match the right artists with the right project. And it's been fun doing it. And it's been great to work with them and their artistic ability is amazing. And the authors are also from all over the world as well between South Africa, England, South Brazil. So it's been really fun to do that. And you're right, the art adds everything to the lovely words that I've been given either by one of my authors, or that I feel God's inspired me to put into one of the books.

DJ Stutz  7:41  
Yeah, I think that if anyone's listened to me for very long, they know that I believe the faith approach is the best approach. And it's just been a lot of fun. I am also interested in how you are connecting with those picture books and maybe some of your favorite books and how do you work to make children's literature and education actually fun for the kids. You've heard that saying you build it, they will come Field of Dreams. I believe if you make it fun, they will learn.

Terrie Sizemore  8:13  
I agree 100% I have so many educational books. We have books. I wrote them down because I knew I would never remember all of them. We have butterflies and moths, snails and slugs, eels, frogs and toads. I have one guy think He's my boy book author because those are mostly ants, spiders, worms. Yeah, NASA dresses, squids, beetles, the phenomenon of how we sleep and what happens when we sleep. Wood lice Eisah pad bats, crabs, which is one of my favorite snakes, and ABC series that was created by my author. This just happens to be the letter C. But what we did was for each letter, she has presented a whole bunch of words that begin with C. And so then we created it. This is a cheetah who's in a canteen cooking. Chickens are the chickens are hiding from the cheetah, who wants to cook them. It's kind of funny, and a crocodile who has a crooked smile. So we employed fun things. And then we made sure that we had it so that it was all picture friendly, curly cloud. And so she she did a nice job with that. And then the same author did the world of opposites. So we have buzz and Ted. And they're so cute. Like when they talked about one having curly hair and one having long hair. We put curlers in the hair, and the artist really brought all of that to life and then all of the opposite words are highlighted in the book. And we have books on cats horses, dogs eres things like that. It gives all these fun facts about those animals. And then it's kind of told in rhyme. So it's fun with the pictures and tortoises. So they just have tons of fun. Tons of cute things like they're playing cards on the cover. I know and no, the kids can enjoy this as my craft book, my favorite one of my favorites. My artist in Brazil did this. And they just talk about all the fun things about crabs, and putting them to life, the crabs under the sea, just doing fun things and the different types of crabs that there are. So as the child's learning to read, kind of having fun listening, because when I had my stepdaughter, and she was a little delayed in reading, so she loved picture books, they were just fun. And so I could go to the library, I could go to my favorite bookseller, and I could get the books. And she'd love to go over and over. And then finally she started reading them and, and that's what kind of built it up. And it kind of made my passion even greater. We have books on wasps, worms, and extinct animals marsupial's, the concept of metamorphosis, single celled organisms, things that live deep down where there's no light in the deep sea, fungi

DJ Stutz  11:26  
tree I can tell you when I was teaching kindergarten, and so the ocean was one of our themes that we'd look at. And so we do the different layers. And some of the other teachers were like, they're too young to understand the layers. I'm like, oh, no, they love layers. And in fact, when you said the deep dark down, you know, the abyss and the midnight zones were their favorites, especially with the boys, the girls tended to like the sunlight zone, you know, because that's all the pretty fish. Yes, and all of that. And the guys wanted to know all about the monsters that were

Terrie Sizemore  11:58  
their monsters, too. I learned to That's the funniest thing, even creating the books with my authors. I even learned, I learned about the bioluminescence of the animals down there and what it does, and then you're right, they look a little like one of those movies, you don't want your little children to watch some

DJ Stutz  12:17  
kindergarten, you know, I got

the fun thing was a lot of those animals look very monstrous. But then when you show them the actual size of these fish that are down there, they're not very big. Most of them are not, they're really small. And so, you know, they'd

be like, Oh, that's scary. Look, I'm

like, yeah, let me show you how big they are.

Terrie Sizemore  12:44  
Yes, yes, anything to spark their imagination, they're wanting to learn more about the world around them, in some way, because learning is really fun. They mean, I graduated from high school when I was 16 years old, and went to college for many years. So education was something and I'm still learning every single day, I'm learning something new, something fun, something about being out there doing fun things.

DJ Stutz  13:11  
Yeah, absolutely. One of the things that I've noticed in the books and that you do, or at least the ones that I've seen is that when you're talking about little guys, preschool, kindergarten, even into first grade, that there's not a ton of words on a page so that they're turning the pages often enough that they maintain interest. So when I'm reading a book with my class, well, that's one of the things that I look at is that it has great information, the pictures inspire creativity and curiosity. And that you're able to turn the pages often enough so that they're not getting bored with it. And that's something I've noticed with your books is that they are perfect for that paid train. So parents, and teachers, too, if you're looking for some of those books, those are some of the things, some of the criteria you want to keep in your mind when we're talking about these early learners. So that they're able to do that. And then what I think too, is it's fun that with your books, they can act out the story. Yeah, they could act out the page. And it's funny because we talked about the boys with bugs and stuff, but Well, ladybugs, everybody loves those girls love them to butterflies they do, but it's funny. I was on the phone with my daughter, Rocky. She lives in Reno and they've had a lot of rain the last few days. And they had all these worms that got on their patio. Right. And she has a five year old daughter Ingrid

was like that words we have to say they've got a cup and they're picking up and rocky said they're kind of gross, but I was so cute that she wanted to save them So they were picking worms and

putting them in a cup and then took them to their garden and put them in the garden. And then she said, it rained all night, that night. And so when they got up in the morning, there was like twice as many worms as before. And he was all we have to save.

Terrie Sizemore  15:18  
And so I like her, I like her. I am my little children would bring me the worms, and I take, they're very beautiful. They're very beautiful. But you can keep those, you know, they weren't my favorites. But I do appreciate all that worms do for us, we have been a loss. Without them. They're very, very helpful in our world. And you're right. And the other thing about the spider books and some other books, they were designed so that we're not really afraid of nature either, generally, right? Who wants to go up to a grizzly bear, but just not to be afraid, but to want to be inquisitive and know about our world and trees and all the little bugs in the world? You're right.

DJ Stutz  15:59  
Yeah. And so that's just something that's fun. And I love that with your books. They're not illustrated in a way that encourages fear.

Terrie Sizemore  16:10  
Yes, I have told them the expressions and everything. Even when somebody's angry. It's like you can they need to look a little distressed, but not like anger, like they're gonna do something crazy. Do you know what I mean? Right. I, I think the emotions are real. But I think I just wanted to portray them in a way that could be easily assimilated by the child to you know, so there are some of my books. I have a seven part book about Winnie in a wheelchair, and she helps some children work through some things, you know, so whether it's talking about the four seasons with many are doing time travel and meeting famous people in the past some of the people I never heard of like Nellie Bly, you know, I learned about her. And so when he does those things, but when he does a whole myriad of emotions, that children, he she kind of worked through those emotions with the children to just kind of fun, but kind of real sensitive. I hope I did it in a way that covered it, but didn't scare anybody or buddy upset, you know?

DJ Stutz  17:21  
Yeah, yeah. Well, and too, I love the diversity. So having Winnie she's in a wheelchair, and, and we're normalizing a lot of that, which is great. And I just like that you're finding that inclusion and making it normal. And those are the things like I've been saying that we really need to look at in the books that we're presenting to our kids that they're making learning exciting, and fun, but that we're also understanding that because when he can't use her legs, she's still a great friend, she still can do a lot of wonderful things.

Terrie Sizemore  17:53  
Exactly. And she does in her stories, too. Yeah, great app, and

DJ Stutz  17:58  
so much fun. And then we've talked to a little bit and I'd like to go into it a little deeper of books as we include faith in them. And, and so how do you go about doing that? And what are some of the things that you look for as you're engaging with authors and illustrators, when they touch on that subject?

Terrie Sizemore  18:18  
Well, some of them are also faith based artists that are very much on the same page I am. And some of the work is just plain and simply about God. So I wasn't subtle. It wasn't cuz some of them, I plan to have a series of books about the human body. Since my background is in nursing and veterinary medicine and medicine has been my whole world. I wanted to create books for children to understand about the human body, like the eye, the heart, the skin, things like that. So I wrote them in a way and the embryo. And I wrote them in a way that screams creation, but never talks about creation. I don't know why I chose to do that. But I wanted the reader to actually see how incredibly marvelous we are like the eye has 135 million light receptors in the back of it, that receives light information and transfers that into electrical information, sends it into our brain at 100,000 million impulses per second. So the facts are incredible. And they just, they really, really do speak to my heart about the wonderful creator. And then other books like my Psalm 23 book is all about the third 23rd song, my favorite song, and it's just the song itself, and how we are his little lambs. It's the word itself. And then I created a three part series called lighting candles, and it's mostly for young adults and adults. And it's just blogs the the blog oxid I did on different aspects of our faith prayer, the word of God persevering, the exhilarating experience of knowing God personally. And then they have a little section where they can write in, like you do on new workbooks, where they can write with how it applies to them. How prayer how Elijah persevered in prayer that day on the mountains, and sent his servant to go see if anything was happening, was there anything and nothing. And he kept praying and came back, nothing came back praying. So we're taught in Scripture to persevere in prayer. And Daniel, how he prayed three times and the angel payment said, God sent the word it gets sent the answer the minute you prayed, but I was delayed in the heavenly. So we do need to persevere. And then there are moments, we just need to say, God has assured me of this. So sometimes prayer is a is a dynamic thing for me. Sometimes it's, I prayed it, it's done. I know God's gonna do this. Other times, it's a work where I'm continuing to grow in my faith and grow in what God's trying to teach me through a situation to persevere through. So I was hoping people would find just a way to connect more with God and His Word through those type of books. And then one of my favorites is divine designs. Because what I did was, there are so many unique animals in the world, like a tool. You know, I live in turtle country here, you know, I see them every day. And I love them. I see gopher turtles on my bike rides on the roads. When I'm driving down, I see painted turtles, I see soft shells, I see everything. And so it's a wonderful world. And they're so unique, and elephants and rhinos, and just the fun animals. So it was all of the little angels at the design table, and all had some little thing. And God said, Yeah, we're going with all those ideas. And he obviously did create them all. And they are fine designs, the neck of the giraffe, the manatees, the whale, whales heart is as big as a Volkswagen show, you know, it kind of gives you a sense of how amazing God has been in the designs that he's made, as well as teaching a little bit about each one of those very unique animals. So some of the work I do is just very plainly Christian. And then other things. They have like a soft message of Christian values, like the little kitten and her little red mittens. She loves her little red mittens, and then she loses them. And so in the middle of losing them, she's very sad. And she begins to remember them. And then she begins to look for them, finds them and another little kittens pause, and then decides she's going to go home, pack up all of her mittens, and she passes them out to all of the kittens in the community so that they all can enjoy the mittens she's enjoyed. And then I think parents, what we did was we have a little craft where we would give two pairs of mittens. So the child could keep one pair and give one pair. And I did. Yeah, it did the same thing with socks, you know, they could give a pair and keep a pair. So the child was learning that even in the middle of something very difficult. We can learn something good and we can come out of it even a little better. Sure. I was hoping that those things would happen. And then just write and just write it's about all of these children who meet up with Eddie and his grandpa on the playground. And they talk about all their different characteristics whether they have to wear glasses, or they have freckles. Or they're tall or they in Grampa shows them how everything about them is just right. And little Edie thinks that he has a voice that's too loud. But Grandpa says Now when you're on the baseball field, and you're calling for that high fly, you have to have a little bit of a loud voice. Yeah. Comes in handy. And God has created all of us and I have a Christian woman in South Africa named Renee Curtis who develop this. She did the artwork. She is a gorgeous artist, one gorgeous. Look at that. I had a Canadian artist do the sketching, and she did the artwork. She has two autistic children. And so her book is about not all fairies are the same. And meaning that not all children are the same. And so we accept the differences. Autism is something that's a little more common now than it seemed to us to be of moose million the golden rule about how it's a good value to do the golden rule and how We get along a little better with others. So we have a lot to choose from. And so I kind of the themes that I want to get across, I want a soft message not beating anybody over the head. But just so that they can see that you kind of have some fun with it, too. Yeah, yeah.

DJ Stutz  25:17  
I mean, there's just such a broad thing, you've got nonfiction books, and they're totally educational. You've got some just fun books that have values within them, worked in within them. And then you've got some that are overtly faithful and faith based. And so I wonder if people were listening closely enough to realize that your company is publishing books or little guys on up through adults. And so even if you're an adult looking for something inspirational to read, or fun to read, you've got those as well. So I am really thinking that if you are a parent that is thinking about homeschooling, if you're a teacher that has little guys, and you're looking for something that is a little different, and not the same old story over and over again, right, I don't know how many times they can read Rainbow Fish. I don't like that book, by the way. But don't really read that one. Oh, man is huge in primary grades and early education right now. And it's got this beautiful fish, and he has these beautiful, shiny scales. And the other fish are jealous, and they think he should have to share his scales. But they do it in like the rainbowfishes the bad guy because he doesn't want to share his scales. And it's supposed to be about sharing. But to me, it's like, that's his skin. You have to dismantle this visual, you feel good about yourself. And in the end, he winds up giving all his friends one scale so that he only has one skill left. And so he's no longer beautiful, but he fits in with the other kids. You know?

Yes. And it's a huge

right now. It has huge. And I'm like, No, this is not okay. Why can't one fish say? Yeah, he's got sparkle scales, but I'm super fast, or I'm really smart, or I'm really strong, or I'm really, you know, and so instead of getting happy with who you are, we're gonna go after. Well, he's snooty. Well, yeah, you want his skin, I would be snooty, too.

Terrie Sizemore  27:25  
I know, I like to sharing the mittens a little better.

DJ Stutz  27:28  
I did too. I do too. And I love that they that you get the two mittens to make the story come alive for the kids. And you can do that when you've got a book that you love. So what I would do, because in some of the cases, Rainbow Fish was like required, so I'm okay, fine, then I'll read it, but I'm putting my thing on it. And so I would put a big poster size picture of Rainbow Fish. And I would cut out you know, those little foam craft things that you can cut out and, and they can be sticky. I haven't cut them into small pieces. And one of my centers was working to be good friends for a rainbow fish. And we're giving him back his shiny scales that get to take the paper off the back and put the scales back on Rainbow Fish. So

you're gonna make me do it. That's fine. I'll do it my way then.

Yeah, anyway, that's just me.

Terrie Sizemore  28:25  
Yeah, well, I think I agree with you. 100%. And that brings me to You've inspired me in another direction as well. Because you write all of my books, they're meant to either bless the person individually, or help parents and children kind of have a time together to, you know, like the parent and child. I have these little crafts for their little thumbprint crafts cute. Go on a little wooden easel, the caterpillar book. That was from being weirdest animals book, but it could be from anything. And then I have little stamps that made cards with them. So don't make greeting cards, send them to grandpa, and they can decorate around have a little stamp in there. I have a little starfish and little squids. So it depends and not only to enjoy the book, but to inspire the parents. Because when I was with my stepdaughter, and I'm a kid at heart anyway, you know, I've never stopped kind of thing. I've never stopped creating or wanting to do things. So going and buying a dollars worth of pencils, colored pencils, or magic markers and doing some cards and having them send off. They can practice writing, they can practice spelling, and it's not feeling like a thing that they have to be learning. They're just having some fun doing it. And so the little sly way of doing that. And then I have novels. That's true. changed case of William whippersnapper and the magic tape are two really kind of sweet little novels from my English author, you know, what I would do is I would read a chapter and then my daughter would read a chapter and then we talk about it, you know, so perfect. We got to do reading, and more vocabulary and interactive time, that was really special. Because sometimes you could sit there on a rainy day and think what could we do. And I think I'm gonna do a book because I want to give people ideas on what to do with your children, whether it's reading a book, whether it's writing a little children's book together, put it together, be happy to publish, children are very creative. It's wonderful to work with them. And I have another author from Mississippi, who is a director, she's a transplant surgeon, she wrote 75 stories, we put them all together about different women that became surgeons. And so everyone has a story to tell everyone could be inspired by different things. And so as my my veterinary books, which started out with D is for dog went to C is for cat, and then H is for horse, I've really wanted to do goats and sheep and cows and everything as well. But their family books, they're written in a way. And like you said, lots of fun pictures. Some of the materials really Snore, snore, you know, it's like, oh, but the fun pictures kind of liven it all up, you know, with the kids who just can't get enough of their horses, like I am a horse person. So I really treasure the little ones trying to climb on. This kind of helps everything that helps somebody wants to learn want to spend time together, doing some fun activities together. Because life is fun. You know, we work hard. in veterinary school, they said you're gonna work hard, but we want you to play hard, too. And I think that it gives the child and the parent, it means everything to the child, whether you're playing a board game like yatse, or Scrabble or monopoly, you're learning something in the middle of all of that, whether it's making words or counting money, you know, you can use everything to your benefit as a parent, to just kind of inspire that child to grow and to learn and be the best they can be and give them the time. The thing is, and I'm not the reigning the school system, but sometimes with 30 kids, sometimes they get a little missed in the mix. But when you're one on one on you with your own children, you're not gonna miss that. They don't know what the word hors d'oeuvres is. Do you know what I mean? Right? So it's kind of helping them learning to read learning to enjoy everything they can enjoy the world. The classics, I'll tell you I never read Moby Dick. I never read rap. I wish I did. Sometimes I'll go back and I'll read something that I didn't read as a child because it had a big impact on a lot of people's lives. And so I want to see what what the good was in that.

DJ Stutz  33:12  
I've done that too. I've gone back and read the Treasure Island and yeah, a lot of those books. You know, I love Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. And Robinson Caruso. Yes. So yeah, those are books. Yeah, absolutely. Well, so I think we're at a point though, right now, in today's society, that we understand that the education system is failing our kids, it's just very obvious. And so it becomes our job as parents to make sure that our kids are getting what they're going to need. Right? And that they are going to understand and so those nighttime reads before bedtime, or having fun taking a night and say this is our Wednesday night, and we're that you pick a book and you're we're going to act it out or really engage in it, but that is now becoming well, it's always been our job, but it's flooding more squarely on our feet as parents as the education system is clearly not doing what it needs to for kids. And there's a lot of options with that as well. For more information you can get a hold of me on my website. And so speaking of that, Terry, how would our listeners and watchers find out more about your books and where to get them?

Terrie Sizemore  34:30  
Well I have a little website called best little online bookstore.com all of the books are sold on Amazon and to be honest, you can order them from me they take a lot longer to get from me. It's kind of a funny thing, because the the printer will print them for Amazon in a day. But they'll take a month to get them for me. It's amazing. So if you see something that you like and the best of online bookstore, because it not only has the books it Has the artwork and the publishing house. And so if you want to consider publishing a book with me, I'd be happy to entertain that I only do G rated material. So that's anything that you want. Some folks have wanted to do more stories, and it's just some of the violence is not something. And it's not that I begrudge those publishers. It's just not what my Publishing House Publishing, it's just not your niche. That's right. But everything is on Amazon. As far as the crafts go, I am going to develop a little book, I thought it would be completed today. And it was my idea kind of blossomed into is how to make the holidays wonderful to you know, Christmas, baking cookies, decorating little crafts for Christmas, and harvest time, in the fall, summertime, springtime growing little flowers and pots and just fun things you can do with your children. And as you're growing pots and pots of flowers, you can tell them how the bees help pollinate things and how that person just about the world around us. And if you don't know, Google's always there, you know, shoveling it, you know, it's a great thing. Now the computer going while we're trying to study something new together. And everybody's always learning. And so I just see it as a wonderful world. I like I said, it's been kind of nice to move to Florida. I see manatees I see sharks in the ocean, too. Yeah, scary, scary, but we do see them. And we see a lot of different kinds of birds. We see eagles here. Kestrel, you know, there's a little audubon society we can go to. And those I'm sure anywhere you live, there are museums, there are the libraries, there's everything to help put all of that education together. So what I would do with my stepdaughter was I would see what she was learning that day, and see how she understood everything that was being taught, and then I'd fill in the gaps. And if I didn't know, fill in the gaps, because I can't say that every subject is my subject, like seventh grade math. But there is somebody who can help and somebody who can get those children through those times, so that they can move on to some some pretty sweet goals in their life, as well as doing it for their children as well, when they grow up, right and make the nicest thing Yeah,

DJ Stutz  37:22  
the best, it's the best. And if you have questions like maybe you'd need some extra help with the math or whatever, if you look back on some of my past episodes of the podcast, I've had people on that can steer you in the right direction in any of these things. So just look at the titles and stuff. And you'll be able to find something that, you know, you might have a question on, and we can help you with that. So Terry, we're gonna have all of your information about your website, and how to find things in the shownotes. So everyone, go down to the shownotes. And find that out, you'll just have to click on the link, and it will be right there. And then also, while you're there, be sure to leave a comment, rating review, follow all the things do all the things that will help us reach a wider audience, we really appreciate that. So Terry, before we go, I always ask my guests the very same question, and I'm going to ask you now is, how would you describe a successful parent?

Terrie Sizemore  38:21  
You know, I've had some time to think about that. And there are two things that I think really define a successful parent. And the number one is when we realize that the hearts of our children are in our hands, they really love us, they treasure us as the people in their lives that are taking care of them. And so when that your child knows that they know that they know that they know that they are loved by those parents, whether it's one or both parents or a blended family, whatever it is, when those children know that they are loved. That's success. And that doesn't mean showering them with million dollar gifts, it means that you have shown them that they are valuable to you and that you love them because they're yours and you love them. And the second thing I think is to share your faith with them in a way that makes them want that faith for the rest of their lives. My stepdaughter sat on my lap when she was eight years old and gave her heart to Jesus. And I know that she's in heaven. She passed away when she was 22. Cancer high. But I know she's in heaven. Because that little girl wanted Jesus. She wanted the Jesus that I had shown her so much love about. And I think that at the end of the day, that's what they want. You know, the children want to know that their relationship with God is the most important thing that's happened in my life. I gave my life to God when I was four 14 years old. And he had to do a lot of seeking me out and coming after me. But he did. He got his relentless. He loves us within everlasting love and furious love that doesn't want to let us go in any way, shape or form. And those children, knowing God personally in their own life, I think is a big success for us. And it's always their own choice, the child makes the choice. But I think the way we love them really does steer them to that. I know a lot of parents who have children who said they heard their parents praying for them. And that made an impact in their life, and they wanted to show what it takes for God to be in their lives. I think that's very important.

DJ Stutz  40:47  
I saw agree, and to let the kids hear you, having a family prayer at night where you're all together is just such a great blessing. So, Terrie, thank you so much for spending this time with us and enriching us with all of your knowledge and the things that you have to offer. And I'm sure we'll be talking again soon. Okay, goodbye. And God bless. Sure. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai