Episode 90: The Connection Between Faith and Family with Bailey Olsen

DJ Stutz  0:13  
We think you should know that Imperfect Heroes podcast is a production of Little Hearts Academy USA.

You're listening to Episode 90 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, DJ Sutz and Bailey is back. And today, we are getting caught up with some of the things going on with her and her kids. And then we are talking about the connection between faith and family. There's so much to learn. So let's get started.

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Well, bringing up kids is hard. And does connection to faith make it any easier. Well, let's listen. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for coming to join us today. Today is episode 90. I can't believe it. Yeah, and last I checked, 90 ends in zero. So that means that my niece and dear friend Bailey Olson is back. Say hi, Bailey. Hello, everybody. So for those of you who don't know, Bailey and I are both the oldest of seven, we are a generation apart. While my family had five boys and two girls, her family had five girls and two boys. And so that's kind of fun. And Bailey is in the hot seat. As far as raising kids. She's got two adorable little guys. She's a teacher. She's a gymnastics coach. And she's amazing. Tell us just a little bit about what's going on with you in gymnastics, because that's a new development.

Bailey Olsen  3:37  
Yeah, so I like she said, I am a mom of two, their ages right now are seven and eight. And I got to this weird point in life where they were in school all day. And I teach but I only teach part time through an awesome hybrid program. So I give homeschooling families, I give them less than plans to do at home, and all the supplies to do their stuff at home. And twice a week, they come in to me to teach them their core subjects and twice a week. They do their school at home from the lesson plans that I give them. So I had three days a week, where I was just kinda lost. And I don't want to go back to full full time teaching because it's a huge commitment. And I still want to be there for my kids and all their sports. So anyways, I ended up deciding to spend my free time actually doing gymnastics again and competing again. I did it in college. So it's been, it's been about, let's see, about 14 years since I've done gymnastics, and I got back into it. So I'm competing again, which is kind of fun. And kind of a weird place to be in as a mom, both me and my daughter competing together, but it's really fun. It's a lot of fun and it fills my time. And it's me excited to like wake up every day. Yeah,

DJ Stutz  4:56  
well and you're in amazing shape. And so she'll send me the videos of some of her events that she's competing in along with videos of her daughter. And I'm just amazed, I am just amazed at what you're accomplishing Balete. So also, I wanted to talk just for and just hit on it, because it's not our main topic. But how you're helping homeschoolers. And so these students, they're not online twice a week, they actually come into a classroom twice a week, my understanding that,

Bailey Olsen  5:28  
yeah, that's correct. So at the beginning of the school year, we give them all the supplies they need. So paper, and scissors, and pencils, and markers, and the teachers manuals, we give, we give all of that to them at the beginning of the school year, then I provide them on Mondays and Wednesdays, they do work from home. And I provide them like, Okay, what lessons are you going to work on from which book, I have, you know, reading assignments for them, I have, the programs have awesome activities built into them. So I basically just space out those activities to help parents read these paragraphs on this page before you teach your kids tomorrow. And then they get to teach their kids those things. And then in class, we only come into class, the kids only come in for four hours, twice a week. And we just do language arts, math, science, and social studies. So those are four core subjects. And those are the only four that we actually teach every day. And then we also do community electives. So we've reached out to a bunch of communities like the gymnastics programs, the ninja programs, there's a cooking program, there's horseback riding, there's swimming, there's a Lego building place, all just in the community. And they can sign up through that for an hour class a week. And they can sign up for within the tuition, which is part of public schools. So if you enroll through our public schools, you don't have to pay anything for two community electives per semester. So it's actually a really, really cool program, we find that a lot of families who homeschool have a hard time like maybe the parents aren't qualified, or maybe they have no idea where to start. And it is an overwhelming process. So if you're like not a teacher, by trade, or you don't have a lot of experience in teaching your kids, this program, it's just a hybrid program locally here, but they have them all around the country. And it's just a good way to get started without putting your kids on screens. But also not feeling like you are completely overwhelmed with what to teach them and how to teach it because it gives you like a script.

DJ Stutz  7:46  
But you get the benefit of that homeschooling, knowing what your kids are learning and having that input. So what is the name of that type of program, if parents want to look for that around the country.

Bailey Olsen  7:59  
So the town that I live in is called Oxford, and the program that we have, so it's Oxford, Michigan, and the program that we have is called Oxford hybrid primary. But there are all different kinds of them around the United States. So something that I would just look for hybrid, or fusion, those are the two words that usually go with these types of programs. Because you're like, using together public schools and homeschools. A lot of times, if you just go to your school district's website, they will have a list of programs that your kids can enroll in. And this is one of them. So it is a public school. It is paid for through the state, it is part of our Oxford public schools. And we have like normal seated school, and then we have hybrid program. And then we have a completely virtual program. And the virtual program actually is almost all on the computer. It's not my favorite one. But it is right for some families, right. And even for me, like I love teaching it, but it's not it's my kids love seeded schools so much that they just liked that more. They tried both, and they liked seeded school more. So that's what we did. So so

DJ Stutz  9:15  
just another option for listeners. And if they're considering wanting to maybe do some homeschooling or learn about it. This is a great gateway into that so good for you. And I think that kind of bleeds into our topic for today very nicely. We're talking today about faith in families, and what role faith plays in raising our kids and having the families grow up with that. And a lot of times homeschooling is a faith based decision. And so this is something that might be an option for you if you're interested in that. So, I know Bailey and I both grew We're up in very faithful homes and church, going to church, the youth groups, the programs for little kids was all a big part of our lives growing up. And I can remember being a little kid going after school on Thursdays for a program. And then when I became a teenager, it was the Wednesday night, kind of things going on. And, and of course, Sunday was a big deal. And I know my dad, your grandpa was very involved in the leadership roles in our congregation, your father, as well and your mom have been involved in leadership roles in their congregations, as well. And so I just wanted to really talk about that. Because I've always said, and I've told my guests that I never want to walk away from faith being part of the conversation. And so if faith is part of your story, and I don't care what faith it is, it could be Catholic or Jewish, or I've had Muslim I've had, of course, Christian, and I'm trying to think of some of the more alternative ones that I've add. But I just don't want to walk away from that, and have that not be included, as part of their story of what they're talking about, and how it fits in. Because I think it is an important part of raising kids. So like I said, I'm not so concerned about which church you go to. Or maybe even if you go to a church, there are a lot of people who don't have a formal religion or church experience as part of their faith tradition. But they are still very faithful people in their study, and in their decisions, and all of that. So I just kind of wanted to address it, because I know that faith was very a big part of me raising my kids. And now I know for you raising your kids. And so I think one of the things that I start with, and maybe this is a good place for us to start the conversation is just prayer. And how prayer plays a role in our kids learning about God and learning about where they stand in faith. Do you want to talk about that for a second?

Bailey Olsen  12:17  
Yeah, absolutely. So actually, in my whole journey in my life prayer, it's funny that you bring up prayer first, because I have a whole section in my journal where I left many pages on written in, because I want to focus on a section on prayer. And why do we need to pray? If we believe in this higher power? Who knows us which I do, I believe in a higher power, who knows me personally, who has my best interests at heart? Who's looking out for me on my day to day, why do I need to pray? And why do I need to tell him what I want? Because he knows he knows what I want, right? And ultimately, I trust him. Like, if I'm praying, I mean, personally, we really want to have more babies. And it just hasn't been in the cards for us. And so if I'm praying really, really hard to get pregnant, but it's not in his plan for me, why am I praying for that? I've had a whole circular my mind keeps going around and around. And for me, I come back to my my real reason why I'm why I want to raise my kids to pray consistently and about everything is because I want them to realize that in the world, the world is bigger than them. There are higher powers at play. And if they believe that the world is just this, this is just even if God isn't real, even if there's no higher power, and it was just a big bang, and it all just happened and we all just die someday. And that's that's the whole thing. It just kind of stinks to believe in that. It just kind of makes everything to me feel kind of worthless, kind of pointless. So whatever you believe whatever faith it is, in something bigger than yourself, I think that it just helps kids have a bigger perspective of life. When hard things happen. They can find purpose and reason. And I think praying to a higher power helps you. If nothing else helps you work through it in your own mind. Right? You're praying for a miracle. And that miracle doesn't happen. Where do you go? What happens? Do you save well forget it, then there must not be anything bigger than me because he didn't give me what I want. And I didn't get this miracle. How come other people get a miracle? I'm not getting a miracle. Or my daughter she gets really scared at nighttime and while we say try singing one of our church songs or say a little prayer and sometimes she says, I said like 10 prayers and I'm still scared How come other won't make me not scared? I think these are just really good conversations to have, even when they're so little, I think it helps them just zoom out, so to speak, so that they can see more of the picture. And just realize that the world is bigger than them. And the world doesn't only revolve around that,

DJ Stutz  15:21  
right. And I've had the same kind of thoughts too. In fact, sometimes, sometimes you're ready for your morning prayers, and you're in a hurry. Something's come up, or your schedules off or whatever. And you feel like saying, Okay, God, you know what I need? You know what I want? World peace. Thank you. Jesus Christ, right. And I don't want to make that a habit. I'd rather do that than not acknowledge him at all. As I start my day. Yeah. And so I feel sometimes, in my prayers, there have been times when I've thought, I don't even know what to pray for this boy, this child is doing this. I don't even know what they need. But you do. And so whatever they need, do, like, open their hearts or, or help them figure this out, or help me to know what I can do or not do what I shouldn't do. Because sometimes I opened my mouth at the wrong time and the wrong way. I know I'm the only one that ever happens to for sure. Never. Yes, please help me not make the problem worse. But I think too, there is something that is important that yes, God knows our desires, and God knows what we need. But there's something that is important. Prayer is for our benefit, not God's. And so we can ask for these things. But it helps us process. What is it we're asking for? Why are we asking for that? And so as we teach our children, those simple prayers of their youth, three, my grandkids go to a religious preschool. And it's so cute to hear the little purse that they learned in school, and it's their turn to say the prayer over the food and a dinner. And so you'll say, oh, icky, do you want to say prayer? Yes. And her little prayer that they do at school before they have snack or lunch, includes like a little singing at the end. And it's Amen. Oh, man, ah, I'm hearing her sing that. It's just darling. And so that enriches my faith, as well as hers. And, and so then you can have those conversations then to with your little kids. I think even a, a three year old can start learning to pray a one year old, can start learning to show respect and reverence during a prayer. They can start notice I said the word start? And

Bailey Olsen  18:20  
so showing sometimes,

DJ Stutz  18:22  
yes, yes.

Bailey Olsen  18:24  
I think also it helps us build a relationship with our higher power, whatever that is in your faith, because this is about kids. So let's imagine right now, you're the mom, and you just provide everything for your kids, but you never talk to them. And they never talk to you or they never communicate with you. Even though they can communicate. They don't acknowledge you, they don't look at you, they don't see you. Meanwhile, you're doing all their laundry, you're packing them lunches, you're getting their water bottles, you're giving them all the things that they need, you're setting out their outfit for the day or making their bed in the morning, and they never even acknowledge that you exist. Okay, as a mom, first of all, I'm offended. But second of all, as a child, is that helpful to that child to not even acknowledge the place where all of this help is coming from. We are a great resource for our kids. We are somebody that can really help them through that right and they need to acknowledge us not just for us and to make us feel good. It does help us make us feel good. I don't know how our Higher Power feels. I'm sure it feels good to feel like knowledge. But I think that we're so it is for our kids because they continue to grow up thinking just magically their laundry is gonna get done and just magically, their dishes will get there and magically they will have food and they never acknowledge or never have to ask for their needs or their wants. They're not going to understand how to get If they're not going to understand that they will someday be responsible for each and every one of those things on their own. So I think that as they build a relationship with us and tell us, thank you and say, I would like a drink, please, we can help teach them how to do that, right? Like, my kids are seven and eight. They're pretty, they're pretty independent. Now, when we're at the dinner table, and they're like, Mom, I want a drink. I'm like, okay, use your two little legs, the drinks in the fridge, you can just go get a cup, and you can just get some water right out of the fridge. It's it's really easy, your your big. And I think that I think that God does that for us, too, as we ask for things. And we're like, please just do this. For me. He's like, okay, but you got two little legs. And you can just run along right there and do it. So I think that, that it helps us become more independent and more capable as we build that relationship with God. It helps us to become more independent, and more reliant on him at the same time, which is really cool.

DJ Stutz  21:02  
Yeah, well, and I think to November, we did the, the five day challenge on gratitude. Our challenge in March is going to be on kindness. But when you look at gratitude, there's something about, you can get your child this toy they've always wanted, right? And you can watch them playing with it and how excited they are, and happy they are. But for them to recognize that, Mom, you went and got this for me and you spent the money or whatever. Just as simple, even as simple, thank you, means so much. Not even just to you, it means a lot to you. But it changes your child's attitude on life and outlook and the people that are around them, when they're able to see the good that someone's done for them. And just say thank you. It's the same I think with God, when, when we see just a beautiful sky. I've talked about this a couple times. But one of the things I loved about Las Vegas, which wasn't a lot, but one of the things I loved about Las Vegas was they had these beautiful skies, and the clouds would come in. And there were times I had to just stop my car as I was driving, pull over. And just look at the beauty of the clouds that were in the sky. Just gorgeous. And to thank God for just this beautiful scene that I was looking at in Denver. When we live there, the sunsets are just we joke around the Bronco sunsets, cuz the blue and orange and, and they're just gorgeous that now right now as we're building an Idaho and we'll go up there, we'll see the fog comes in sometimes, and it's freezing cold. And people who live in these cold areas will recognize this, but the fog will actually freeze on the branches of the trees. And it is the most beautiful thing. It is just gorgeous. And to thank God in that moment for what is around us, where it opens our eyes further to the other miracles, and the other beauties and the other things that are going on around us. And it's just like when we teach our child to say thank you to a friend or teacher or an adult, for doing something kind. It opens their eyes to other kindnesses that are going on around them. And so as we thank God for all of these things, it opens our eyes more to the understandings. You know, one of my favorite scriptures is in the Old Testament. I think it's judges three, verse five, if it's not judges, it's Joshua. So there you go. It's one of those. It says, sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow, we will see wonders. And I just see I do I see wonders every day. And I'm so grateful for those. And I think it changes our attitude that and you let me know if you think this is true. But when we're grateful, and we have that relationship with God, even during the hard times, we're better able to see the wonders around us that enabled us to get through those hard times.

Bailey Olsen  24:29  
Yeah, absolutely. I would completely agree with that. Knowing, again, like you said that there's something not just to make us as a society, our children and us less selfish, less self centered, but also to be able to get through things that really are super hard, because you're able to like I said before, kind of zoom out and see more of the picture and understand that this too shall pass.

DJ Stutz  24:55  
You know.

Bailey Olsen  24:56  
So we've talked a little bit about why we should do that. Why We should raise our families in whatever faith. And so I thought maybe we should talk a little bit about how to do that how we can get started with that. And I think obviously, you even already said prayer, teaching our kids to pray, and recognize things that are bigger than them. I think that's a really great place to start, I also think, pointing things out to them that are just bigger than them, right? Like how huge the Earth is, and showing them different places on like, I mean, we have these amazing contraptions called computers. Very cool. And you can take virtual tours all over the world. And then you can even take tours of space, which is really cool. Yeah. And just think, like, Okay, here's the world. And just the fact that the world has all these different places. And then, on top of that, the world is surrounded, and kind of like a bubble, and our clouds and our moon, they stay in our bubble. And if we didn't have that special bubble around us on the Earth, our bodies couldn't survive, we couldn't survive, what the atmosphere is, outside of this world, and outside of just this world, which is huge. There are other planets, there are stars, there's a huge sun that warms all of us. And I think that the kids learning that there's so much more than anybody can understand even even the most studied, faith based human. There's more than they can understand, in this world and beyond this world. And I think that is one way that we can help teach our kids that there's just there's more to life than them. And I think that we can continually point those things out to them, and then point out to them, the tiniest things, right, we have these tiny little seeds. And we plant these tiny little seeds. And they give us food. Right? They give us trees which clean our air. They give us plants for the animals to eat. They give us things that are just beautiful, right that beautify your. And I think that as they see that God cares about these little seeds, and as put a system in place so that they grow as long as they have what they need. And then he also cares about the huge big universe picture, I think they will see that they fit right in that picture. I don't know if that makes sense.

DJ Stutz  27:40  
No, it totally does. And to find the just the order of things is so amazing. And I think there's a lot of evidence that we're learning scientifically that support the Big Bang Theory, but we don't have any, at least as far as I know, any evidence on what caused that Big Bang? And to me, Why could not be God? Yeah. Why couldn't. So my dad, your grandfather, was a man of science. And so he was well known, he was considered the number two authority in the world in the field of electro chemical engineering. And so you know, no slouch. And I remember having a conversation with him one time about science versus faith, because he was also a man of faith. And he told me that science supports faith. And so if we approach it that way, with our kids, you know, he said, all we're learning, all sciences are the laws that God abides. And we have so little knowledge of what's going on compared to he says, we're not even going to preschool yet. As far as our knowledge and science and as to what's totally out there. And so bringing some of that into their learning as well. The fact that there are seasons, God put that into place, the fact that a little teeny Have you ever seen a carrot seed? They're Yeah, they're my Nene. They're like the head of a building almost. And yet they provide food for us and for animals, and all of those things are just miraculous. And I think kids have that natural state of wonder and awe. They get excited over things. They get excited to see that. If you put a lima bean in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel and tape it to your window, that bean turns into a plant. And when they're little, it's just like, Oh, that's

Unknown Speaker  29:46  
so cool. You know?

Bailey Olsen  29:48  
It's like magic. it well.

DJ Stutz  29:50  
It is it is. You know, there's that big piece of it. And I think another thing, too, is learning how to listen for the Word of God for the Spirit speaking to us teaching our children to do that, but also, for me, in raising my kids listening to that as a parent, and making decisions for my kids about my kids. One of my stories and this is she, this was when Candace was in high school, not a little one, but she was a little miss cheerleader, and all that and a bag of chips. And there was a day that it was spring, it was beautiful. And a bunch of the kids were going to just cut school and go up to Mount Charleston, which is just outside of Las Vegas, and actually has a ski resort, if you want to do something unusual and fun, go skiing in Las Vegas, because it's there. And but they so that bunch of them, were going to go out and go hiking and and I'd had this rule with her that if she wasn't cutting classes for grades were okay. It's the same rule Brandi had with me. In the spring, that first nice day, you'd want to go surfing with your friends at the beach. And so I just had to let grande know where I was going, because she freaked out over stuff like that. And so I did the same thing with and she said, Mom, we're all going to go, her grades were fine, blah, blah, blah. And something spoke inside of me strongly. I said, Don't let her go. And I felt terrible, because I'm thinking she's met all these requirements to be able to go, I'm arguing with that voice inside. And it's like, don't let her go. Don't let it go. And so finally I went to her and I said, Candace, I am so sorry. You can't go. I don't know why I have this big feeling that you shouldn't be going, blah, blah, blah. She was furious. I mean, she had every right to be right. She was very upset. And by some miracle, she listened to me.

Bailey Olsen  32:08  
I was gonna say, Did she really not know? Cuz?

DJ Stutz  32:10  
I know. Well, you and I both know Candace was one would be like, I'm doing what I've got to do and stuff. But she did. She listened to me that one time. And it turned out that while they were up there, one of the kids fell off. Like kind of a cliff. It wasn't 100 feet. But it was enough to hurt him. He broke his leg, they had to lifeflight him out. All those kids that were up there were busted at school. And any the cheerleaders that went were grounded from I think two or three games. And so who knows if who fell or whatever, how Kansas would have been involved? I mean, not getting to cheer for a couple of games isn't that big in the big scheme of things. But

Bailey Olsen  32:56  
in your little high school life? That's kind of a big deal.

DJ Stutz  32:58  
Yeah, exactly. But I think too, that when we have faith as parents, and we're listening for that spirit, it helps us protect our kids.

Bailey Olsen  33:12  
Absolutely. I would definitely agree with that. You know, I had a similar story of Mount Charleston and senior ditch day, except I didn't tell my parents and I did go up there. And we were sledding, not skiing, we were are hiking, we were sledding. And someone had to go to the emergency room as well. But we did not get implicated in any way. Because we were not doing anything bad except skipping school. But we did get busted by by our parents. One of the kids decided it would be fun to sled down into another kid, which both kids agreed. So one kid standing like halfway down the hill. And he's like, yeah, just sled into me, I'll lift right over you. Anyways, he did. And his whole face was bloody, and it was a whole thing they had to call people to help. So it was you know, so I guess if you live in Vegas, don't let your kids ditch school and go up to Mount Charleston because

DJ Stutz  34:09  
and it's yours, those kinds of decisions. And, and that line of thinking that just helps me know, we do not need 16 year olds to vote. Bad decisions. Yeah, that I

Bailey Olsen  34:25  
would agree. I think. I think that by by listening to the spirit by building that relationship with God, or whoever it is that you're the higher power that you believe in. I think that as we do that it helps us just find a deeper sense of ourselves, and to learn to trust, a higher sense a deeper sense of ourselves and feel like we have purpose rather than I'm just being a psychopath. You know, I just have a feeling I just, I have a gut feeling and if you have someone there that you trust, like a god I write that you trust that you're saying, I trust this feeling because it's not coming from me it's happened. By all accounts, she should be able to go. She's done exactly what I've asked, but I have a gut feeling that she shouldn't do it. And I think the stronger we build our relationship and our children's relationships with God, the better we can protect them and help them get through those hard things, unscathed. You know? Yeah.

DJ Stutz  35:24  
Do you have any stories or things that you've done to help your kids learn to recognize that voice and that spirit within them, and then act upon it?

Bailey Olsen  35:35  
So this is kind of a tricky one for us, because everybody feels this very differently. So my daughter, she just is so sweet. And she just like will read. We have these magazines in our church. It's called the friend magazine. And she is a Little Reader. So they it's like a subscription. And they, yeah, it's like a kid's magazine. And she just reads them and looks at the picture. And one night, I go into a room and she's crying. And I'm like, are you okay? What's wrong? She's like, I just feel the spirit so strong right now, because I was looking at this picture of Jesus with little children. And I just, I know, he's real mom, I feel it. Okay, she's just so sweet. And she feels those, those promptings those feelings. And then she shared that story in her little children's class. It's called primary, she shared that story with her brother. And anyways, my son, he is a Spitfire. And he's got a lot of spice. And he's actually told us multiple times, Mom, I don't know what she's talking about when she says she feels it. I don't feel anything. I just listened to your stories. And so it's definitely tricky, because I think every single kid is different and feels things differently for my son. He is very, very sweet too, by the way, just in a really different way than my daughter. He I've noticed, feels, strengthened, strengthen and feels the spirit by serving. So I've tried to find moments when I see him feeling really happy. And point out to him, like what is happening when he's feeling happy? What is happening when he's feeling sad, just help him work through He's got big emotions. So we're trying to figure out how to deal with them and have him notice what's going on with making him feel good, what's making him feel bad. And almost all the time when he's feeling really good. It's because he helped his sister, or a friend or something. But a lot of times, it's his sister. And he'll just be so happy. Like, other day, he packed her snack for school and wrote her a little note and put it in her snack. And he was like, so happy after that. And I'm like, do you see to see how good you feel right now? What made you decide to do that for her? And he's like, I don't know, I just I had that idea. And so I did it. And I'm like, so how do you feel? And he's like, I feel so happy. I'm so excited for her to open or snack. I feel so good. And I point that out to him. And I'm like, see, that's because you listened to those good promptings those good feelings. You know, then sometimes he gets mad and pushes his sister or takes her bookmark out of her book, which sounds like a small thing, but it's a really big problem in our house. And afterwards, he's always grumpy. And I'm like, How do you feel right now? And sometimes he's like, I feel good, because I'm mad. I'm like, okay, I get that. Because sometimes it does feel kind of good to just let that anger out. And I'm like, but look at your sister. How does she feel? And he's like, sad. That my cat does that make you feel seeing that you made your sister sad, he's bad and mad, you know? And I'm like, Okay, well, did you follow a good feeling or bad feeling? And he says, I followed a bad feeling. And then he works through and fixes it. So for me in my life, I think it helps my kids to point out to them when they're feeling good. And what made them think to do the good thing that made them feel good. And when they're feeling bad, and what made them feel bad,

DJ Stutz  39:21  
right. You know, that reminds me your story reminds me of we both have a mutual friend that has just played a huge part in our lives as just being a wonderful friend, and he's very faithful man. I'll give his first name staad. And I remember him telling a story. When his son I think it was his oldest son was small, and they were just reading stories of Jesus kiddos Bible kind of thing. And it was bedtime. And he read the story and his son said, Dad Can you read that again? He was like, Well, yeah, sure. And his sunset, I just really liked the way it makes me feel inside. And the next thing that happened though, is what I really noticed is he said that he told his son, that is the spirit of the Holy Ghost. That is the spirit of God burning within you. And I want you to know that so you recognize that feeling? Next time you get it. And so I really think that this friend of ours set a really good example in, in teaching our kids, how the Spirit works within them. Because you're very right, the Spirit speaks to each of us in very different ways that are very personal. And so to help your kids find, how does the Spirit speak to them, you have to be open to it's not necessarily going to be the same way it speaks to you. But helping them recognize those good feelings, how you feel when something prompted your son to do that kind of thing for Riley. And that was the spirit, helping him to do something kind and wonderful. And so I think all of those things are really important, as we parent, and as we raise our kids, and to be kind and independent and dependable and thoughtful, all of those things. I think. I don't think I know that faith really, is the key to all of that.

Bailey Olsen  41:43  
Yeah, I completely agree. I think that all in all, it just gives us a better view of our lives and more skills to manage it as it comes along.

DJ Stutz  41:56  
All right, I totally agree. So Bailey, are you thinking Is there anything else you want to touch before we I think

Bailey Olsen  42:03  
we've covered it all. That's all my notes that I have today.

DJ Stutz  42:09  
We made these little notes of what we want to do. And the cool thing is when Bailey and I, we look, I see her notes that Bailey and I will discuss Oh, okay, for this next episode that we're going to do together, we'll agree on a topic, but then we make our notes separately. We get these differing, you know, ideas and thoughts. And so, anyway, Bailey, thank you so much for joining us again today. And I really appreciate it now the next time we get together. It'll be episode 100.

Bailey Olsen  42:44  
Yeah, we'll have to come up with a really good one. That one. Yeah,

DJ Stutz  42:47  
I've got something in mind. I'll run it by you. Yeah, it I want to do something kind of cool. Because whoever thought I'd hit that. That's a surprise to me, as well as anybody else around so anyway, thank you so much, Bailey, and and my best to your family and to your kids.

Bailey Olsen  43:07  
Thank you very much. Right back, catch it. I guess that's terrible. Our brain is like, halfway finished.

DJ Stutz  43:18  
I love it. All right, well talk to you again soon. We all know the impact that kindness has on society. And we've all felt the relief of a simple act of kindness in our own lives. We always mean to do something kind, but then life often gets in the way. So let's all do something together. Let's make a plan. Beginning today, which is March 13th, Little Hearts Academy USA is hosting the Five Days of Kindness Challenge. So for five days, we will be deliberately setting aside some time for kindness, and get us on the track to make this a part of our everyday lives. And when you register, you're going to receive a morning email each day with a challenge, and then some ideas on how to do the challenge. Don't limit it though, to my ideas. I would love to hear about the ideas that you come up with. And then each evening at 6pm Mountain Time, there will be a live event on the Facebook challenge page, where we will share how things went and you will get a preview of the next day's challenge. So you get that little extra time and bump. And so the link to register is in the show notes. And you'll get the link to the Facebook challenge page when you register.

Now next week is probably one of the most important episodes I have ever done. My guest is Tyson Wright of Operation Underground Railroad. And many of you have probably heard about that. We will be talking about the prevalence of child sex trade thinking and how predators are engaging our children, and how we can better protect them. This is such an important conversation. So please check it out and see. And until next time, let's find joy in parenting. 

We all know the impact that kindness has on society. And we've all felt the relief of a simple act of kindness in our own lives. We always mean to do something kind, but then life often gets in the way. So let's all do something together. Let's make a plan. Beginning today, which is March 13th, Little Hearts Academy USA is hosting the Five Days of Kindness Challenge. So for five days, we will be deliberately setting aside some time for kindness, and get us on the track to make this a part of our everyday lives. And when you register, you're going to receive a morning email each day with a challenge, and then some ideas on how to do the challenge. Don't limit it though, to my ideas, I would love to hear about the ideas that you come up with. And then each evening at 6pm Mountain Time, there will be a live event on the Facebook challenge page, where we will share how things went. And you will get a preview of the next day's challenge. So you get that little extra time and bump. And so the link to register is in the show notes. And you'll get the link to the Facebook challenge page when you register.

Now next week is probably one of the most important episodes I have ever done. My guest is Tyson Wright, of Operation Underground Railroad. And many of you have probably heard about that. We will be talking about the prevalence of child sex trafficking, and how predators are engaging our children and how we can better protect them. This is such an important conversation. So please check it out and see and until next time, let's find joy in parenting.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai