COVID-19 Bonus Episode: Thriving with Kids at Home During Quarantine with Amanda Leman
Philippians 3:20 (NIV) “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,"
*Transcription Below*
Amanda Leman has been married to Drew for almost 20 years (nearly half her life)! Together they have three kids: Will (15), Miles (11), and Simone (9). Their family loves to travel, both trying new places and visiting spots they have been over and over again. Amanda was a Realtor for 7 years, then took off 10 years to stay at home with her kids, and now she works from home as an Assistant to a Realtor. She also fills in as a baker at a local restaurant, 430 Scones. She has relied on her faith in Jesus to thrive during this quarantine.
At The Savvy Sauce, we will only recommend resources we believe in! We also want you to be aware: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Mango Website for Learning Languages
Clean Mama on Instagram @cleanmama
Andy Stanley’s Message How to Win at Life
Sermon on Kindness with Dr. James Merritt
Rhythms of Renewal by Rebeka Lyons
Adventures in Odyssey Club Free Trial
Free Homeschooling Planner by Lara Casey
Nature Scavenger Hunt Free Printable
Picture Books Being Read Aloud Online:
Mary Penn Reading Aloud on Facebook
Instagram @readinglegacies (Every Monday, Wednesday & Friday in April, they'll be posting a new read-aloud video for the whole family to enjoy. 📚)
Amanda’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe:
3/4 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup Butter (Softened)
1 Egg
2 and 1/4 Cups Four
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla
12 oz. Chocolate Chips
Mix together sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and egg. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes
Savvy Sauce Episodes Mentioned:
Episode 21: Promoting a Family Culture of Reading with Blogger, Megan Kaeb
Episode 22: Inspiring Your Children to Be Readers, Part 2 with Blogger, Megan Kaeb
Thank You to Our Sponsor: Chick-fil-A East Peoria
Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website
Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review, and subscribing to this podcast!
Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”
Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”
Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession- to the praise of his glory.”
Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“
Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“
Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
*Transcription*
Laura Dugger: I want to say happy fifth birthday to our precious daughter, Shiloh Savvy. I love you so much, Shiloh, and I hope you have a very happy birthday.
[00:00:12] <music>
Laura Dugger: Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.
[00:00:27] <music>
Laura Dugger: Thank you to Chick-fil-A East Peoria, our sponsor for today's episode. You can place a mobile order for their drive-thru or for curbside pickup. Learn more at cfaeastpeoria.com.
Have you ever considered how the fruit of the spirit enters our current situation with COVID-19? The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So if we think about that, how does love enter this season? What about joy? Peace?
This episode is not intended to make light of a topic that is negatively affecting many people. However, we believe God is still offering a lot of joy and hope in the midst of the coronavirus, and we wanted to make this a one-stop shop for a positive atmosphere, where we can share fun ideas for you to try with your kids, free exercise routines to enjoy, scripture to provide you with hope, and lots of practical resources and questions to get you brainstorming your own list to make the most of this unique time. [00:01:46]
The goal is not to implement every idea we mention, but simply to inspire you to grab onto one or two of these ideas and enjoy the outcome. I'm so excited to have this conversation with my sister-in-law, Amanda Leman. Between the two of us, we have kids ranging from babies to high school, and Amanda is always full of great ideas. So I hope you enjoy our time together.
Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Amanda.
Amanda Leman: Thanks. It's so good to be here, Laura.
Laura Dugger: So fun to get a chat with you. Let's just start this one off by telling everybody a little bit more about both of our current situations.
Amanda Leman: Okay. So we are in a family where we've got three kids and all different ages, high school, junior high, and grade school. Fortunately, right now, Drew, my husband, gets to go to work every day. His work is essential business, so that gives us some normalcy throughout the week, and it kind of helps give us some structure, I would say. [00:02:48]
Our oldest, who's in high school. His life looks a little bit different. This week in particular is our Easter break week, so a lot of downtime. But normally, what our weeks have looked like is him doing some work in the morning with school, and then in the afternoon just having a lot of free time.
Same with our middle schooler. He definitely has more structure as well. He's in junior high, and he actually has to check in by 11 o'clock online. So that gives him a little bit of purpose, I think, when he gets up.
And then we have a grade-schooler, Simone. She's nine, and she, the same thing, has some structure when she wakes up with some schoolwork in the mornings.
So mainly, our morning, mid-afternoons are schoolwork. Afternoon, late evening is just kind of free time. And Drew going into work every day, and then myself being here at home. That's just kind of a different pace for me as well. I'm not used to being home all the time with all three kids, but it's working, and we're adjusting.
Laura Dugger: And with your work too, are you able to do that from home? [00:03:50]
Amanda Leman: I am. So in general, I do a lot of the work I do from home anyway, so it hasn't been a huge adjustment. For my job, I'm a real estate agent's assistant. In general, I've just made it work. I have my mornings pretty free because my boys sleep in, and so I take that time a lot of times to do a lot of that work.
Laura Dugger: Oh, that's a good rhythm. For us, our season looks a little bit different. So our kids are six, five, three, and almost one. My husband is a restaurant owner, so he's just currently trying to keep our team and guests safe while still offering a sense of normalcy by keeping our drive-thru open and carry-out options available.
Luckily, like you, I do already work from home, mostly during nap times, but now we're adding e-learning along with probably everybody else listening. So like most people, we have been hit financially, which I guess is just a good reminder not to place our hope and trust in money. [00:04:55]
And our kids aren't at the age yet for many extracurriculars, so the main way that we've felt the change in this season is the lack of face-to-face community. Our family has always said our ideal number of nights to hang out and socialize with friends or host other families is about five to six nights a week. So this has significantly limited our social connection, which we definitely miss. But there are certainly wonderful aspects of all this family time as well.
For most people, we're hearing that one of the biggest changes for most families is now being launched overnight into becoming a homeschooling family. So what are some of your ideas and ways that you're keeping your kids learning?
Amanda Leman: One of the big things I have to remember is our kids at the ages they are, like Will, who's in high school, he does a lot of independent work anyways. We don't actually help him out too much. I don't even know if I could do his math to tell you the truth, or most of his subjects. [00:06:01] And then Miles in junior high too, he gets some guidance from us, but not too much. I would say both of them are really pretty independent of us. I think the hardest thing for them sometimes is to get motivated in the morning.
Our schedules are pretty wonky right now, and so I think it's hard for them sometimes to get up in the morning and dive right into schoolwork. Sometimes that takes a little bit of urging. My third grader, I think she actually looks completely forward to getting up in the morning and opening up her iPad and seeing what kind of assignments she has. It's just her personality. She loves that kind of structure.
So I think in general, that's been tough. I think for our high schooler, one of the hardest things for him is not having that face-to-face contact with the teacher. He definitely thrives more in that setting. And just, for instance, like a Spanish class, kind of hard to learn just online. And so we actually have utilized an app. I don't know if you've heard of Mango. You can get it through the public library. And so he has been using that because it actually speaks Spanish, and you have to speak Spanish back to it. [00:07:07] So that's been pretty helpful for him. It's just kind of looking for other outside resources beyond what they're given from the school.
I mean, the teachers have done an amazing job with what they've been given on such a short notice, but we have had to just kind of improvise a little bit in those areas. I think another fun thing is we've been given with this time some opportunity to teach them other life skills or just in general.
I think for Drew and I both we have a natural sense of wanting our kids to have a desire to help people naturally. Just let it become second nature to them. And when they see a need to rise up and do it... and that's kind of hard to do when you're in a school setting and you're not with them all the time, to say, "Hey, look, there's a need. Let's try to help."
These last few weeks, we've been kind of given that opportunity, which has been pretty cool. The boys have went and helped landscape at my parents' house and at the church and just cut things down. And Simone helped even with that as well. [00:08:04]
And then we were given an opportunity through our church to make face masks for different hospitals and organizations and nursing homes. And so we cannot sew, but we know how to cut and we know how to tie. So we've done some of that work in packaging. That's been kind of fun just to work side by side with them. I know that's not anything that they're getting a grade on, but I feel like it's hopefully instilling a desire for them to want to give back, especially when we see people kind of suffering right now.
Another thing that they've been doing, Miles, he loves to build and work with his hands. And that's not something he gets to do year round at school. They do have a class, a program where they get to do some of that learning for nine weeks. But he's taken that time to build a shelf that he wanted to build in his room, which was kind of fun to work with him on. He kind of took it on on his own, researched it, and put that together.
And then they've done a lot of hiking in the woods, which is not something that's been readily available. [00:09:05] We live in the woods, but with our schedules being so busy, they weren't ever able, the three of them, to just go wander off for an hour or so. So that's been fun.
I think that's been good for Simone. She's gotten some good sibling time with the boys, something that she probably will never regret. She doesn't get that as much as she would love to because she's definitely super relational and she is missing out on her friend time with the neighbor kids. So that's been good for her and just gives her a good diversion. I think the boys are actually enjoying that too, spending some time with her.
Will's taken a sacrifice. He was supposed to be in baseball right now. And so he was looking really forward to his freshman year. He's been working hard at it. Again, I mean, it's just something that he's just had to kind of take a step back and go play catch with Drew, play some basketball, do some workouts, just anything to just kind of keep his mind going and physically going too.
So I don't know, I guess with it being homeschool, they're getting homeschool plus some different activities that they probably would not have been able to explore had they been in school all the time. [00:10:09] So that's kind of what it looks differently for us. I don't know. How about you?
Laura Dugger: Yeah, that's super helpful to hear yours and being at a different phase. But talking about those life skills, we can definitely relate. I guess teaching our kids, this has been our world for the past six plus years, is that we really value screen-free learning as much as possible. But now overnight, we were just launched into lots of screens that are mandatory for e-learning.
So in some ways, now more than ever, I feel like I'm trying to be intentional to incorporate screen-free learning into our days. And if anyone's listening and they're more of the structured type, we'll put a link in the show notes to a free homeschooling planner that Laura Casey of Cultivating What Matters put together.
I'm not going to say this after every idea we mention, but just in case this is your first time listening to The Savvy Sauce, please know that we're going to provide links with all of these ideas, both in our show notes and on our resources tab of our website, thesavvysauce.com. [00:11:18]
So back to your question, Amanda. For our family, with all of our kids being six and younger, I feel like it's really easy for us to have a lot of options for screen-free learning. Our main areas of focus have been art, music, kitchen skills, movement, play, games, serving, and reading.
I know that sounds like a lot, and we definitely don't do all of those every day, but it is really easy to incorporate each of them into a weekly rhythm because a lot of these take 15 minutes or less to do with little kids.
I'll just try and give a quick example for each of those. So for art, our go-to website for ideas is actually one that you gave me, Amanda. It's artfulparent.com. I think that's where I got ideas just as simple as hanging up contact paper on our window and letting the kids stick all kinds of fun things to it, like scraps of paper or leaves from the yard or muffin liners. [00:12:22]
And for music, we're simply being intentional to just play Pandora whenever we're starting to get restless. And it seems to add fun to whatever activity we're doing. And then I was thinking about this, a huge bonus of music is the power that it has to plant spiritual truths in our heads and our hearts. So even if it's children's music, it's definitely ministering to me as well.
As for kitchen skills, my three goals during this lockdown time were to teach our kids to wash and prepare fruit, to be able to rely on them for some maintenance tasks, such as unloading the dishwasher, and then to introduce them to baking. And the fruit and dishwasher skills are actually going to be beneficial to our family every week. But the baking, I know it has some benefits with math and fine motor skills, but it's mostly just something fun to enjoy together.
For movement, we do motions to songs as simple as Father Abraham, or probably like everybody else, just try and get outside to walk or swing or jump on our trampoline. [00:13:31]
For play, this is something I feel like we've been intentional with for years, because I believe there are so many benefits in independent play. And I think it helps them improve their imaginations and critical thinking skills, not to mention it's totally a break for me when I can actually get my work done.
I agree with this quote I heard from Andy Crouch, when he said, "The more you entertain them, the more boreable they become. Entertain less so kids get better at self-entertainment."
But then when I'm looking for more educational play, I usually look to the toddler website for creative ideas. For example, she recommended a fun way to teach probability and addition. And you give your children a pair of dice and a dry-erase board, and then they roll the two and add the totals on the dice over and over and document how many times they roll a two, three, four, etc. [00:14:32]
As for games, our current family favorite is Spot It. In regards to serving, Mark and I are just trying to encourage our kids to pray for certain people during this quarantine and look for little ways to help others, such as all of us piling in the van and delivering some Chick-fil-A as a surprise to another family, or mailing letters to people who are stuck at home.
As for reading, our six-year-old can practice by reading aloud to her little sisters. We love reading books every day. And I've continued downloading audiobooks from the library. That's been a huge help. And a fun fact, I don't know if you've ever done this, but you can play the Bible through YouVersion in certain translations. Like if you select the NIV translation, you can just press play and it reads the Bible aloud.
We also signed up for Adventures in Odyssey Club. [00:15:31] And right now, they're offering a 30-day free trial. So our girls have been loving those devotionals. We haven't even gotten to their other offerings yet. I know I've also heard that Audible has released a lot of children's audiobooks for free during this season.
This other random goal I have in my head is to collect every picture book in our house, and then we can't put it back on the shelf until we've read it. And then the one screen activity that I can totally get on board with is when I find other adults who are reading books aloud.
My aunt tagged me recently on Facebook because this lady, Mary Penn, is a local woman who's reading aloud a new picture book frequently on Facebook. She could seriously be an actress with her incredible voices and charming delivery of children's books.
Then also one of our guests from Episode 40 is the founder of Reading Legacies, and they're launching a Read Aloud program every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in April on Instagram. [00:16:35] And then if people are more in your boat, Amanda, and they have older kids and they need a book list, I would refer them to Megan Cabe. She was on for episodes 22 and 23, and she has tons of ideas on her blog, Young Book Love.
So I know I get really carried away on the topic of reading, but as you're listening and digesting all these ideas, something to keep in mind is what my daughter's teacher sent us on day one when we were transitioning to e-learning. She emailed all the parents a Winnie the Pooh quote that said, "We didn't know we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun."
And it inspired me to simply keep taking pictures and document what we're doing during this odd quarantine, because we're certainly making memories without even realizing it, even in the simple times when we're slowing down to paint nails or put little plastic buttons in the bathtub and call it button soup, or maybe try a new art project that seemed too time intensive in the past. [00:17:44] These simple things are sweet moments and memories we're accidentally creating.
So changing the focus, Amanda, how are you keeping yourself intellectually stimulated?
Amanda Leman: Yeah, thanks for it. That's a good question. I love to read, and so I have read so many books since this has happened. And you may think, how does she have time with three kids? But remember, my kids are at different ages where they, like you had talked about previously, just independent play or study or entertaining. They're kind of capable of doing that. They don't actually need me all the time following them around.
And so I have had some free time. And I kind of felt guilty at first, but it's been really good. Actually, the other day, I read a book in a day, which I don't know if I've ever done that in my life, but it was just good. I like to read about people and their lives, their biographies or autobiographies. So that kind of fascinates me, and I kind of poured into that.
I've been using the Libby app from the library, which I love because I've got a Kindle. [00:18:45] So I just scroll through and put books on hold and go ahead and read them when I can, which has been great. So I also follow Clean Mama on Instagram, and she's been a guest on some podcasts too. So I just enjoy listening overall, just to her methods of cleaning and such.
Another one, this is my nerdy side. My best friend from high school and I, we play Words with Friends. It's online Scrabble. So we don't sit there and just play a game back and forth. A game will take weeks for us because I may play a word, and then it might be two or three days before she plays a word back. But it's been kind of fun. We've actually played it quite a bit more since this whole quarantine. We make little comments to each other throughout the game. It's been a good little treat to have, to connect with her just randomly and spontaneously. Do you have any fun ideas that you've been doing?
Laura Dugger: I think you have more creative ideas than I do. I would just say a book that I've really enjoyed recently is called Rhythms of Renewal by Rebecca Lyons. [00:19:49] And same as you, I downloaded it to my Kindle from the library app. Then she also has a podcast with her husband to go along with it called Rhythms for Life.
So relationally, how are you and Drew prioritizing your marriage during the lockdown?
Amanda Leman: Yeah, that's a great question. We don't have a lot of alone time now. Before we did, especially during the school week when our kids would actually go to bed. But I was talking to you the other day about this, that it's kind of funny. We go to bed, and then like hours later, I think the boys go to bed. I'm actually not really sure when. I've kind of given up on that. But I think that's part of giving them their freedom in this and not being so controlling on every little piece of time we have.
So Drew and I have taken time out when he gets home from work, if it's nice out, which we've been blessed with here in the last couple of weeks. We try to get a good walk in just around the neighborhood, him and I just getting some quiet time. We have had to tell our daughter like sometimes she has to stay home while we go on our walk, because she'd like to be with us at all times, which is good and bad. [00:20:53] So that's kind of our time together.
And then even throughout the day, I feel like him and I have been talking quite a bit more. Drew will call from work if he's on his way to another property, or if he's got five minutes while he's eating lunch quick, because that has changed for him the whole lunch hour at his office. And so we've been able to connect more through the day.
And then on the weekends, when we're all here together, we just try to get outside when we can. That's kind of our time together and time to reconnect. How about you? I know with little kids, it's got to look probably a little bit different than it does for us.
Laura Dugger: Yes, it totally does. So this is really cool to get to compare both perspectives, because there's benefits to both. It sounds like you and Drew can take off and go outside together. Mark and I, with the little ones at home, we can't do that. But every day we have a time to look forward to when we can just get the kids down to bed, and they're down in the seven o'clock hour. [00:21:52] So we've definitely got adult time built in every day.
But we've always been all about date night, and that's been our lifeline. So in quarantine, it's no different. This is a physically demanding season. I've heard so many people talk about extra time during this stay-at-home order. But I don't know if maybe parents of littles can relate to me, or maybe I'm just doing something wrong. But I almost feel like we've been more crunched for time right now. And just maintaining the home and attending to the kids, I would say we're in go mode from about 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. most days.
But I do love that benefit. The kids are in bed in the seven o'clock hour. We have a few minutes to get the house back in order, and then we have adult time at night. So I guess I'll try and just list a few date night in suggestions. But clearly it depends on your season, because it may not work for people with kids at different ages. [00:22:55] But hopefully, this can at least get you thinking of some of your own ideas.
So, first, you could challenge each other to pick out three things from around the house that remind you of your spouse, and then wrap them up, even if your only wrapping paper available right now is newspaper. And then you get to exchange them on date night and share why it reminds you of your spouse. Or you could add one thing that reminds you of a story of yourself, maybe from your childhood, that you've never shared with your spouse.
Then when the quarantine is lifted, you can do this date by going out to Dollar General, and you get 15 minutes and $5 to buy as much as you can that reminds you of your spouse or reminds you of that personal story to share. This was a date we tried a long time ago, and it was definitely one of our most memorable.
Another thing that you could do at home is just come up with five to 10 intentional questions to ask each other. [00:23:54] And we can list some samples in the show notes to get you started. But before you ask and answer these questions, I would encourage you to pray for the opportunity to get to know each other better. And I think you'd be amazed at the new things you can learn regardless of how long you've been together.
Like you said, if your kids are old enough and the weather's nice, you could try going on a walk to discuss these questions or play a game together after you dive deep into some of the questions. You could play board games if you're indoors, or play something like tennis if you can get outside.
And just like we've learned on previous episodes of The Savvy Sauce for gender differences, men sometimes can connect deeper when we're shoulder to shoulder, rather than times when we're making direct eye contact.
Finally, another idea is you could enjoy a date where you savor a special meal. I know that doesn't sound that out of the box, but let me give this example. Because I remember back to Valentine's Day when we were engaged, and my now husband and two of his friends had planned a super special evening, and you could easily adapt and recreate this at home. [00:25:06]
But they had researched France, created a menu with special French cuisine, downloaded a slideshow of pictures from Paris to play in the background, they lit candles, and then told all three of us significant others to be dressed up and ready for our ride to arrive at 6 p.m. And they picked us all up and we enjoyed a very memorable evening with a full course meal.
It does take some forethought and intentionality, but the anticipation and the cooking is all part of the fun. Some ideas for these types of conversational meals would include fondue, or a five-course Italian meal, maybe a soup and salad bar with a flight of desserts. With our season, maybe you just have a clear the pantry night and see how creative you can be with the ingredients you have on hand.
But you can still get all dressed up and light candles and savor the delicious food. But don't forget to take pictures to capture your dates. [00:26:08] When I stop and think about it, I remember this global pandemic is going to be taught about as history someday that we all lived through. So we might as well make the most of it.
On this relational topic, Amanda, is there anything that your family is doing to enjoy time together beyond just distracting yourselves to simply get through it?
Amanda Leman: Oh yeah. So that's been kind of fun. We have had all this bonus time, I would say. The majority of the time it's been fun. We've had our times where it has been like, we all need out of here. But we have spent a lot of time playing a lot of board games. Our kids are at ages where we can kind of bridge that gap of playing a really basic game. Now Simone can kind of start playing and learning some of these board games that I don't know that we would have taken the time to teach her at this point. But that's been good to do with them.
The other day, I think you were just saying earlier too, about doing activities that just seemed kind of messy or big. Simone had this idea to wash my car, which a month ago I would have been like, that's a terrible idea. [00:27:12] We're going to have soap and water. She's going to be wet. The yard's going to be wet. There's going to be mud. But we took probably a good hour or two, her and I both, just scrubbing around on the car. And it was like 60 degrees out. I was freezing and she was full of laughter, thought it was a blast.
Probably a highlight of her quarantine, which I'm kind of scared. I think all summer long she's going to want to wash the car now. I don't know the last time I washed my own car, but it was a good time with her. It was time well spent. Memories like those that I think, like you said, that we're just going to have to hang on to and think, "That was actually super fun. I don't think I would have done that had we been in this quarantine."
With the boys, we've spent a lot of time watching different series with them on Netflix that we probably wouldn't have taken the time to do. We would have been instead at their baseball games or running them from place to place, from practices and whatnot. We've also gotten some good basketball time in, mainly Drew and the boys. They like to shoot around outside when it's been nice out. [00:28:14]
Our oldest loves to play ping pong. It's been fun this winter. We've kind of got a good friendly family competition going on between him and Drew and I. And so we picked that up a little bit again. Just, you know, a game here and there just kind of helps to divert the day and brings a little bit of extra spark to the family, I would say.
Our kids are at ages where competition is kind of fun. And it's been fun to be in doing that with them. Another thing that my boys have been doing just to stay socially connected, especially with Miles, he's kind of missing out on his travel baseball season right now as well. Like Will is missing out on school ball. So he has been connecting with his friends via video games, which again, a month or so ago, I never would have allowed the amount of video games going on. But just between the lack of social face-to-face time with people, it's just been good.
And some of us moms have been chatting about that. We're actually thankful right now for Fortnite and games like that in order for them to connect with each other. [00:29:20] He just seems to really enjoy that time he spends almost blocking out really what's going on in the world and being able to just laugh in that atmosphere, in that arena for just a few hours at a time. But it's been good to hear him down there laughing and just joking around with friends.
Laura Dugger: Isn't that so funny how standards change, too? Like you said, something that you wouldn't have allowed a few weeks back, and now the standards have changed so much and you're so grateful. This is an incredible way for him to still get to connect with his community.
Amanda Leman: Oh, totally. I couldn't agree more.
Laura Dugger: You had mentioned that Will is especially having a hard time. I know he was supposed to play up on JV Baseball and so he's learning how to handle disappointment. And then not only that, but you guys are adding such great options in with all those ideas you just listed.
I know that you're also great at prioritizing exercise, but I'm sure it looks different right now. [00:30:22] So what do you do to stay healthy and incorporate movement into your new routine?
Amanda Leman: Yeah, that's a good question. I do like to exercise. I have kind of a schedule with that. And so that's looked a lot differently because you know, I'm not able to go to the gym anymore, which that's been okay. It's been good to have other options here at home.
So beyond a lot of walking that I've been doing, I actually have an app that I've been using just on nights where I wasn't able to get out as much this winter. It's called Workout Woman, and it's a free app. And it gives you anywhere from like five minutes to 45-minute workouts. And you can do beginner, intermediate, advanced. And it's kind of got a Pilates theme kind of undertone to it, which I love Pilates. So that's been good.
Funny enough, I sometimes hide in my closet and do these workouts because I figure nobody will come in and interrupt me then. So I'm sure our closet smells glorious right now. [00:31:22]
And then even with the boys, they like to get moving too. Like you said about Will with baseball, that's been kind of tough for him. He's used to going to the school to work out in the mornings or in the afternoons. And so I've been sending him workouts. I'll text him a workout, I don't know, maybe four or five times a week. And he'll usually look at it and be like, Oh my goodness, Mom, are you serious? And I'm like, oh yeah. And then he'll do it and be like, "Actually, that was a really good one." So that's been kind of fun. I think he kind of looks forward to that. And Myles will do them too. I'm like that.
I need accountability of somebody telling me to do something. And so that's been hard for me to not go to the gym and have somebody say, do this, this, and this. It's hard for me to kind of come up with it on my own. So it's been fun to kind of work with that with the boys.
Laura Dugger: That's awesome. I'd never heard of that app before, but I'm like you, I can't come up with a routine on my own. So I'll have to check that app out. [00:32:21]
I would say for me, I'm just going on daily walks. I try to get out before the kids are up. And it's given me so much more energy for the rest of the day. And it's such a great way to enjoy podcasts while getting fresh air.
I know that there's so much research on health benefits and brain benefits of simply walking. And I totally relate to those, that lift of mental fog and the improved mood. So like you said, I think it's great when we can incorporate our kids because everyone's happier when we're moving.
So we've done a lot of nature scavenger hunts and I can link a free printable, but we've also had good workouts on the trampoline with so much laughter. A month ago, I would have sent the kids out to the trampoline to do this by themselves. But now I went out with them and there were tons of giggles when they saw their mom being uncoordinated and jumping. [00:33:21]
And then I haven't begun this yet, I've just downloaded it, but Revelation Wellness right now has 24 free workouts and they also have a podcast. I know that their goal is to educate and inspire people to live healthy and whole lives in Christ so they can love others well, which I think is an incredible mission.
And now a brief message from our sponsor.
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Laura Dugger: I remember a guest Vasu Thorpe, who's a Chick-fil-A wellness expert. Way back in episode 14, she encouraged us that food should either be nourishing our body or nourishing our soul. So feel free to share healthy or indulgent recipes here. But what have you been cooking in the kitchen recently?
Amanda Leman: Yeah, I love to cook and I love to bake. And so this has kind of given me an opportunity to do more of that. The hard part is, is like, I don't want to go to the store all the time right now because of our situation. [00:35:36] So we've been kind of trying to stretch out our pantry and our fridge items as much as we can.
One of our favorite things I would say to make right now is we buy the nans. You can get them at Aldi or Costco, Walmart, anywhere really. And we kind of clean out the fridge at the end of the week. And if we have cooked chicken in there or maybe some sausage or pepperonis or any sort of meat, we've even put pulled pork on there before. And we just kind of grab different sauces or we have different vegetables that are leftover and we throw it all on the grill.
And it ends up being one of our favorite meals of the week, which is crazy. Drew's always trying to write down the different combinations of what we put on there, but I'm not sure that we've ever made the same combination twice because it always ends up being whatever we have left over from the week.
Then on a really unhealthy scale, I think we have made like, no joke, 10 batches of chocolate chip cookies in the last month. [00:36:36] We stick them in the freezer and I always think, well, if they go right to the freezer, they won't be gone very fast. And then I feel like it's every few days.
One of the kids, Miles, may pull out the last cookie and be like, this was the last cookie. When are you making more? So I feel like we've been turning out the chocolate chip cookies about as fast as we can. It's been fun to be kind of free in the kitchen and doing whatever.
Even the other day, Simone was like, "Let's make Easter cookie cutouts." And I'm like, "Again? A month ago, I'm like, that's way too much work, rolling out dough, refrigerating things, cutting it out, icing the cookies. We did that last Saturday, though, and she had a blast with it. She's still eating on those. And so that's been kind of fun to have around the house.
Laura Dugger: Ooh, I definitely want to steal that idea. And you have the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. So we'll need to link to that.
Amanda Leman: Thanks.
Laura Dugger: I would say for us, the kids have been most excited about make your own pizza. [00:37:38] And I don't think we're as elaborate as you. It's not healthy. We just take the pre-made biscuits and roll those out and put them in a muffin tin, add some pizza sauce and toppings and cheese, and then just bake at 350 for about 10 to 15 minutes. But the bonus is they seem to eat better when they get to help prepare the meal.
And then for healthier options, we just throw whatever fruit we have on hand or whatever fruit we have in the freezer. We'll just toss it in a blender with a scoop of ground flaxseed and a little water. And we make smoothies a lot. Everybody seems to like that.
Then also a while back, we had ordered kid nylon knives from Amazon, and the girls have been using those in the kitchen to prepare fruit. Those knives are awesome because they actually work, but you don't have to worry about them cutting their little hands. [00:38:35]
I know that we're talking about a lot of physical ways to stay healthy, but I also think laughter is just as important for health, and it pays dividends both mentally and physically.
So is there anything funny that you've read or resonated with or experienced during quarantine?
Amanda Leman: Yeah, I totally agree with you. That laughter just kind of keeps us going. I don't know, I was looking through some texts just between different friends and groups of people that have been playing around, and there's some really funny things out there.
I don't know that my friend was trying to be funny, but she sent me the other day just a quick text that said, "Toilet paper at Lindy's," which is like a small grocery store only a few miles from us. So she said, "Toilet paper at Lindy's, four generic rolls for 99 cents."
And I thought, "This is so funny. We're going to look back on this someday and be like, we were sharing where to get toilet paper and how much it was." This is so bizarre to me, but I'm glad that we can send each other texts like that and have something to laugh about. [00:39:43]
Laura Dugger: Oh, absolutely. And then you feel connected with them. You're all going through this together.
Amanda Leman: Totally. And then another one, my sister-in-law sent me, which I thought, oh, I should have sent this to you and Natalie, I guess. She said, "Ladies, check on your sister-in-laws. They are stuck at home with your brothers. They are not okay." So it was all in good humor. I think she's completely fine being home with my brother, but I thought, "Oh, it's just good. It's good to stay connected to people."
So yeah, just been having fun sending things off to each other like that. I don't know. How about you, Laura? What do you have that's funny?
Laura Dugger: When I think back to texts, my mother-in-law texted me about twins that were born in April and they named them Corona and COVID.
Amanda Leman: Oh, seriously.
Laura Dugger: And then I am not even on Twitter, but there have been tweets that people have shown me that have made me laugh so hard, such as this was a while back, but @DivergentMama said, "I told the kids we were starting homeschool at 9 a.m. and they're all hiding from me in their rooms with the doors locked. So is this winning? It feels like winning." [00:40:55]
Amanda Leman: Amen.
Laura Dugger: And then there was one other tweet from @mommajessiec. And I think she captured how many of us feel so inadequate in this new role as teacher. And she shared, "
Me: explains math problem
Tween: I don’t understand.
Me: explains the exact same way except more aggravated
And finally, I heard on this other podcast where they were sharing various memes and one of them said something like, "After two days of homeschooling, I now understand why parents in the 1700s married off their children by age 12." Laughter is just good medicine.
Amanda Leman: It is. [00:41:54]
Laura Dugger: Hi friends, you've heard us request you take a moment to rate and review us on iTunes, and I want to give you a quick explanation of why this is important.
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Well, you and I share the same Christian faith, so this is likely the most important area of our lives, and that's no different in this season. So what has God been teaching you over the past month?
Amanda Leman: It's very simple, but just thinking about where he says in the Bible, be still and know that I am God. [00:42:59] It's not like he's detached from all this. He's in complete control of all of this. And so I feel like that just gives me that comfort to know, It's not like God is like millions of miles away looking down and being like, huh, let's see how they figure this out. He's actually in our home. He's with us. He's a part of us.
And I think that when we're frustrated, he feels that. When we're joyful, he feels that too. And it's been just a good time when we do get frustrated or we seem so uncertain or we watch our kids and we're trying to walk them through this part of their life, it's been good to know that we have him, and He's God, and we don't really have to try to fix this or worry about this or be consumed by it. I just like that comfort. I don't know what people do without the Lord in their lives. How about you?
Laura Dugger: Yeah, amen to all of that. I know I've mentioned before on here that Andy Stanley was our pastor previously when we lived in Atlanta, and many of our friends currently work for him, so we love to stay connected to our old church body by listening to his sermons. [00:44:06]
One that I want to recommend had a great impact on us recently. It's called How to Win at Life. My takeaway was to live on purpose during this quarantine. He boils it down to one question we can ask ourselves to ensure we're living on purpose. So I'll put a link to it, but you're going to have to listen to hear his question and how to discern how it applies to you.
But something else God has been teaching me this month is just about kindness. I love learning about the fruit of the Spirit, and I feel like kindness is one fruit that's just snuck in there, and I honestly hadn't really considered it much.
But the definition of kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. And I thought, "Well, I want to apply that within our own home. I want to be the kindest, friendliest, most generous and considerate wife to Mark and mom to our four daughters, but I don't want it to stop there. [00:45:10] I want to grow in kindness and grow in my friendliness, generosity, and consideration of others. I know I obviously can't do this without God's help, so I am praying for growth here.
But anyway, we know that kindness can come in endless packages through encouragement and kind words, through good deeds or random acts to enemies and strangers alike. But I think God has been illuminating how random acts of kindness during COVID-19 is such a special opportunity to be a light in a dark season.
I know Matthew 5, 16 says, "In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." So I thought, how awesome is that? We can participate in random acts of kindness, and it actually glorifies God.
We've personally been the recipient of so many acts of kindness during quarantine. [00:46:11]
First, there was a day when our friend Julie randomly texted that there was a surprise at our front door, and she had brought donuts for our family. Our girls were especially elated with that special treat.
And then our pastor and his family are dear friends of ours, and one evening, the Pharrels surprised us by chalking our driveway with some beautiful artwork. And then there was a knock on our door, and we enjoyed a physically distancing appropriate conversation from our porch.
It was the first time I had seen people's faces in a while, and it just brought tears to my eyes. It was so personal because they know how much we miss people.
And then another one of our neighbors, April, brought us palm branches for our girls to use on Palm Sunday. I could list many other ways that we've received these acts of kindness that have especially touched us in this season.
But more from the giving side, our kids always are doing artwork. [00:47:13] And so I felt like the low-hanging fruit here is letters. This has been a chance for us to reach out more to my grandma, who can't receive visitors right now, and even our kids' friends, who they just miss interacting with.
We love sticking in little goodies or free printables in hopes of sharing a smile for the person on the receiving end. I love this verse that jumped off the page one day last week, as I was considering what are some of the ways we can be spending our time during this season.
So in Hebrews 13:16, it says, "Do not neglect to do good, to contribute [to the needy of the church as an expression of fellowship], for such sacrifices are always pleasing to God."
So then I just paused to consider, okay, who is needy in our church? And then how can we contribute to them as an expression of fellowship? Obviously, that's going to take some creativity with social distancing. [00:48:13]
But it made me think of sending notes to widows in our church, or maybe dropping off a gift card to local restaurants for parents because certainly they're needy in this time, as they're squeezed with work and financial pressure on top of limited time for family and home management.
Actually, our family was the needy one this past week. On top of this homeschooling and potty training and figuring out new challenges with work, my husband actually had non-elective surgery and was basically limited to bed for almost a week with a long recovery in front of him.
And the day after surgery, our friend Ange blessed us so much. She dropped off the sweetest note and a week's worth of dinner meals that she picked up at a local restaurant. So her thoughtfulness not only supported us when we were super needy, but also supported the local restaurant, as this stay-at-home order has likely affected their financial situation too. [00:49:19]
Then multiple neighbors, like Chad and Dick, have offered to mow for us. Another neighbor, Diana, dropped off a card and dessert for the kids. So we were just humbled over and over again by these expressions of love and kindness and I think it inspired us to go out and hopefully provide that for others. So I hope it's contagious to everyone listening right now as well.
Amanda Leman: That's so great. I love all of that, Laura. How cool!
Laura Dugger: Well, now let's just talk about some ways that we can lean into this time and be wise stewards with this season. So, Amanda, what are you learning from your new rhythms or habits that you want to continue once this social distancing order is lifted?
Amanda Leman: I think for me, it's been interesting to go from constantly looking at our calendar to see what we have going on that day and know where I need to be and when to… there's nothing on there right now, which is okay. [00:50:20] And I'm okay with that for now. And I think it's good for us to kind of be free from that constant need to be somewhere. So that's an adjustment for us. And I think it's going to be hard for us to get back into the mode of being back on having things on our schedule.
With that being said, we have more time together as this family time. I remember just like a week ago, you had a guest, Julie Roth was on. And she was talking about how your kids, even though they're from the same parents, are really different from each other. And I won't do her justice and how I will describe this, but I think it's kind of given me an opportunity to look back and say, okay, I can take this time to learn more about my kids individually again.
I think when they were little and I spent a lot of time with them, we had that together. But as they grow up, their personalities have changed, or maybe their habits have changed, or just different needs or wants or desires or what makes them tick has changed.
And so getting to spend time with them and kind of lean into them on that and just observe them from this standpoint has been just kind of interesting and good. [00:51:27] I think that's been really beneficial for us.
Just an example I can share with you on something that I've kind of learned more about my kids is with Simone. She's really social with the neighbor girls. Like she gets on the bus in the morning and goes to school. And sometimes when she gets off the bus, I don't see her till suppertime because she ends up walking home with one of the friends.
So she's been really lonely in that, I feel like. She's carried her bear around with her everywhere, and that's been her best friend for the last three weeks. Last night I was upstairs and she was taking a bath and she wanted me to wash her hair out good. So I was washing her hair and she just kept talking. But quite honestly, she hasn't stopped talking. And she looked at me and she said, "Mom, my throat hurts so bad. It's because I just keep talking. I can't quit talking. I just have so many things in my mind to tell you."
She just has this extreme need to get it all out. And I feel like she was sharing that with her friends. She was getting that time in and now she just needs to be able to get it in with somebody. [00:52:32]
And so we all get to be the recipients of it, which is good. It's been fun. And sometimes it's been exhausting, but that's been good.
And then it's been interesting to watch our kids and how they've adapted to this. I have to think like this is a piece of their childhood that's being just kind of robbed right now. I kind of look at it and I'm like, They're really adapting well to it.
And I was trying to examine like, why are they doing so well? I admire that they're doing okay with this new rhythm and this new routine of being home and learning school from home and activities from home and not being with friends at all. It's been a complete 180 from what they were used to just a few short weeks ago.
And I don't know. I think the one thing I can come up with is as independent as they are, I think they find comfort in home. If all this was going on in the world and they knew people were dying and people were contracting this virus and there's all this uncertainty and they were going out into the world, whether it be to school or to a friend's house, kind of by themselves, I almost think there would maybe be a sense of insecurity there. [00:53:45]
And so now that they're home, they feel safe. I don't mean to say that in a way like, oh, they're weak. I'm just saying more like, I just think there's a sense of peace within them, that they're home with us.
So I think that's going to be hard, though, once this all gets lifted to kind of get everybody back into what it's like... like, what's the reality now?
Laura Dugger: We've grieved so much already. And then I wonder if there will be another process of grief or a wave of emotions when we kind of experience re-entry in the next phase. So yeah, I think that was all so well said.
One more follow-up question to that. Is there anything that you're hoping to look back on and have learned from this season?
Amanda Leman: Yeah, I think that the biggest thing for us as a family is just appreciation of family time. I think we probably took that for granted before. I know before, we were thankful to get a couple meals in a week together. [00:54:48] And now it's like every meal together. I mean, besides breakfast and lunch, but every dinner is together.
So we have a lot of time being together. And I think before we were just kind of like, oh, that's great. It worked out tonight for us to eat together. And so I think I'll miss that part when it's done. I'll look back and think that was really kind of cool that there was nobody that needed to be anywhere during that time. We could just be here at home. I think that'll be good.
And it's just a lesson in that we can have our calendars full of stuff, and we can plan all that. But at the end of it all, the Lord's in control of our days. He's in control of what's going to actually happen.
Laura Dugger: That is so true. And we can find great comfort in that. So I would also love to hear, what are you currently grateful for?
Amanda Leman: Well, I guess I'm sitting here right now, I'm grateful for the sun. It feels so good to have good weather. [00:55:51] It does something, I think, for our spirits and our souls here to just look outside. The sun feels good. The warmth of the sun feels awesome. And I feel like that's been a really good gift from God in this season.
The first two weeks of quarantine were really rainy, and cold, and dreary. And I think that by the end of those first two weeks, we all kind of just felt that way. So that's been uplifting.
And it kind of goes back to, I think, in general, what I'm grateful for is just that we do have this hope. We have a hope of Jesus. And we know that when we have our trust in Him, it's going to be okay. We're going to get through this. We can look back, and we can think, you know what, He's going to grow us through this.
At some point, when this is all said and done, I can look back and be like, that was good for us. We needed that pause in our lives to maybe regroup and reprioritize and be thankful for what we do have. At the same time, maybe thankful for what we don't have. I don't know. I do appreciate that hope that we have in Jesus. [00:56:54] It's, I think, what 100% keeps our family going.
Laura Dugger: Oh, absolutely. That is so well said. I would say on our end, I'm so grateful for all of the commotion of a big family. And then I'd echo what you were talking about. I'm very thankful that this is not what life is all about. And I think it really just gives me a more urgent reminder that this earth is not our home.
We get to spend eternity in heaven someday. So I love, especially now, just to envision us all together feasting and laughing and enjoying conversations with so many wonderful people, all in the presence of God. So that's always something to look forward to, knowing the best is yet to come. And I'm very grateful for that promise.
Is there anything you want to change about how you've lived so far and how you want to proceed differently for approximately the second half of quarantine? [00:57:59]
Amanda Leman: Yeah, that's a great question, too. So I think when this all started, I'm thinking back to like the last time I was kind of out socially on March 13th. My sister and my mom and I went out to lunch with my dad for his birthday and we were all just kind of like, this is kind of like buzzing around, like something's going to happen here in the next few days. We were all kind of like, now, like, really, how serious is this?
My sister's actually in the medical field, as far as nursing homes go. So she was kind of speaking into it from her perspective. And then my mom's a retired nurse and so she was giving us hers. And then, and my dad just recently retired, too.
So we're all just kind of talking about it. And it just felt weird. It was kind of that day when they... I think they announced that day that the [NCAA?] would quit playing, they wouldn't do their March Madness thing. And that was huge. It seemed like a big deal at the time, like, wow, they're really kind of going overboard here.
So we spent that last weekend, we spent a lot of time with friends on that Friday, Saturday and Sunday. [00:58:59] And then I feel like things kind of settled in like this is for real, we have to stay separated from people.
The number of people you could be with was kind of shrinking each day. And you didn't really know what the next day held, what kind of news was going to come out. And so for those next two weeks, we kind of hunkered down. And we played a lot of board games. People were in pajamas at our house, like all day long.
And there was no structure. We watched movies all night long, we just kind of hung out. I kept saying, I feel like we're on vacation in our own house. Like there's no structure.
Then I think, fast forward those two weeks, we kind of got to the point of like, okay, this is the new reality right now and we got to have some sort of structure. And it helped with the schoolwork kind of being the game was kind of up there, they were accountable for more having to check in and actually 100% turn assignments in. It wasn't an optional thing like it had been. [00:59:57]
But I feel like that was kind of a game changer for us in our mindset of like, we can't live in this non-reality of just like we're on vacation all the time. And so that's kind of been our shift, I would say, after those first two weeks was we became more purposeful in our days. I think we needed our space.
We spent so much time together the first two weeks. We went from being together all the time to now all of a sudden realizing for this to feel somewhat normal. We need to have some structure in our time.
And it wasn't like we had this discussion with our kids. It just kind of naturally morphed into that, that we have more of a structure and more of a purpose in our day, which has been good. I feel like it has helped the days maybe go by a little bit quicker for us.
Laura Dugger: Oh, that is all so good and so practical. Is there any final encouragement you want to offer everyone?
Amanda Leman: Yeah, I actually read this thing the other day. A good friend of mine sent it to me. It was a psychologist, I think, out of New York State. [01:00:58] I don't know. He had seen an uprise in the amount of people he was counseling and being with just with all this, which I cannot imagine. I think emotionally it's completely had an effect on each and every one of us.
But one of his advices in that column was that we should chunk our time out. And I don't know, I know that you have a good background in this, Laura, but I felt like this was good wisdom from him. He said, you need to chunk your time out and not look at this as like, this is us until at least April 30th, or this is us until June. Like that seems really long right now to us.
And he said, instead, maybe look at it as in chunks of weeks or chunks of days. And so right now, like for our week, we're just enjoying the passion week of Easter. And just knowing like, this is what's happening this week. We have kind of a purpose for the week.
And then maybe next week, it'll be something else. We'll be back in school next week. So that'll give us again, another kind of smaller milestone instead of looking at it as such a big thing. [01:01:59]
Laura Dugger: I love that idea of chunking time. That does make it feel more manageable and a lot less overwhelming.
Amanda Leman: So I guess that would be my encouragement piece for people that kind of helped me in the last few days. I don't know, like, what do you have, Laura?
Laura Dugger: My encouragement is simply this too shall pass. Vision breeds discipline. So I hope that this time has laid out a healthy vision for intentional living during quarantine, regardless of how long that time is. We know that emotions are contagious. So I hope everyone is feeling more hopeful and more joyful than when they first pressed play.
And now as we begin to wind down our time together, I want to remind everyone, we're called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge or discernment. So as my final question for you today, Amanda, what is your savvy sauce? [01:02:58]
Amanda Leman: Oh, I figured you were going to ask that question. I love it. So I'm actually going to narrow mine into my savvy sauce for during this season of my life, because this wouldn't be my normal savvy sauce, because I would hope I would do this anyways.
But my savvy sauce for now is that it is better for me to wake up and wash my face and put on jeans or put on something besides like leggings and a t-shirt, maybe actually comb out my hair and put a little bit of makeup on as if I was actually going somewhere or going to an appointment or going to the store or going to meet friends for lunch. I mean, I don't get completely made up and done up and stuff, but just something that makes me feel good. I think that's a game changer for me and that I don't feel so sluggish all day long thinking, oh, I could just go lay on the couch, I guess.
So that would be my savvy sauce for right now during COVID-19. So I don't know, Laura, I'm sure you actually have a really good one right now as well. [01:03:59]
Laura Dugger: Well, I don't know how good it is, but especially during this time, I would say my savvy sauce is whenever I notice the sadness or self-pity setting in, I try to pivot and instead think about a way that I could brighten the day of someone else. I found that this not only fights off a sad mood, but it also becomes a natural reminder to consider others' situations and then be able to do something productive with my kids, like the ideas we've been talking about today. Hopefully, it's going to also teach our daughters how to serve and love others well. So I'm still certainly growing in this, but I would say that's my COVID-19 savvy sauce.
Amanda, it has been invigorating to brainstorm ideas with you, and it's just fun to get to talk to another adult right now. I always enjoy time with you. So thanks for being my guest.
Amanda Leman: Oh, thanks for having me, Laura. [01:05:00] I completely appreciated just chatting with you over this time. It's been great.
Laura Dugger: We started this episode off by sharing the fruit of the spirit. And before I share the best news with you, I also want to read a passage from Ephesians 6. My prayer is that this scripture equips you with how to face the rest of this day and this season.
These are verses 11 to 18. "Put on the full armor of God, for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily armed soldier, so that you may be able to successfully stand against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, contending only with physical components, but against rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly supernatural places.
Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to successfully resist and stand your ground in the evil day of danger, and having done everything that the crisis demands, to stand firm in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious. [01:06:20] So stand firm and hold your ground, having tightened the wide band of truth, personal integrity, moral courage around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, an upright heart, and having strapped on your feet the gospel of peace in preparation to face the enemy with firm-footed stability and the readiness produced by the good news.
Above all, lift up the protective shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
With all prayer and petition, pray with specific requests at all times, on every occasion, and in every season, in the Spirit. And with this in view, stay alert with all perseverance and petition, interceding in prayer for all God's people." Amen. [01:07:21]
One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term "gospel" before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news. Every single one of us were born sinners and God is perfect and holy, so He cannot be in the presence of sin. Therefore, we're separated from Him.
This means there's absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So for you and for me, it means we deserve death and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved. We need a savior. But God loved us so much, He made a way for His only Son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute.
This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with Him. That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. [01:08:21] This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.
We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
So would you pray with me now? Heavenly, Father, thank You for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to You. Will You clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare You as Lord of their life? We trust You to work and change their lives now for eternity. In Jesus name, we pray, amen.
If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring Him for me, so me for Him, you get the opportunity to live your life for Him. [01:09:20]
At this podcast, we are called Savvy for a reason. We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So you're ready to get started?
First, tell someone. Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision my parents took me to Barnes and Noble to get the Quest NIV Bible and I love it. Start by reading the book of John.
Get connected locally, which basically means just tell someone who is part of the church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ. I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you.
We want to celebrate with you too. So feel free to leave a comment for us if you made a decision for Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read Scripture that describes this process.
Finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." [01:10:23] The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.
If you've already received this good news, I pray that you have someone else to share it with today. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.
Welcome to The Savvy Sauce
Practical chats for intentional living
A faith-based podcast and resources to help you grow closer to Jesus and others. Expect encouragement, surprises, and hope here. Each episode offers lively interviews with fascinating guests such as therapists, authors, non-profit founders, and business leaders.
They share their best practices and savvy tips we can replicate to make our daily life and relationships more enjoyable!
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